question on taking communion by hand or mouth

[cpbast]

A couple of weeks ago at the end of mass right before the blessing. The priest said the pope wrote a letter to all priest or pastors to ask the people to take communion by mouth. The priest also quoted other people in the church that where against it like Mother Teresa. I was a alter boy and went to catacasim and that is the first time I ever heard that. While I was a altar boy I always took by hand and the priest never said anything. Have anybody else heard anything… Since he said this I have changed to taking by mouth.

 

[FrDavid96]

A couple of weeks ago at the end of mass right before the blessing. The priest said the pope wrote a letter to all priest or pastors to ask the people to take communion by mouth. The priest also quoted other people in the church that where against it like Mother Teresa. I was a alter boy and went to catacasim and that is the first time I ever heard that. While I was a altar boy I always took by hand and the priest never said anything. Have anybody else heard anything… Since he said this I have changed to taking by mouth.

I’ll have to call His Holiness and make sure he has my current address because I didn’t get the letter.

In any case, the Holy Father is certainly encouraging Communion on the Tongue. There’s no doubt on that point. I’m glad your priest is encouraging receiving this way, however if you’re thinking that priests actually received letters to that effect in their own mail, it didn’t happen. He might very well have said something like that in some letter or some homily or some speech, (or whatever else)–I wouldn’t doubt it. The end result is the same though: he’s encouraging Communion on the tongue, and your priest is doing a good thing by encouraging it himself.

 

[CatholicOf94]

A couple of weeks ago at the end of mass right before the blessing. The priest said the pope wrote a letter to all priest or pastors to ask the people to take communion by mouth. The priest also quoted other people in the church that where against it like Mother Teresa. I was a alter boy and went to catacasim and that is the first time I ever heard that. While I was a altar boy I always took by hand and the priest never said anything. Have anybody else heard anything… Since he said this I have changed to taking by mouth.

I think the Pope is doing more than a great job encouraging communion on the tongue:thumbsup: Even if the Pope didn’t really contact your parish priest, i salute your priest for encouraging such a beneficial, and MUCH NEEDED practice. [edited] If I was a clergyman I would be outspoken on the issue. But seriously, I think you should continue on receiving on the tongue, and on your knees if possible.

[edited]

 

[Santi2]

A couple of weeks ago at the end of mass right before the blessing. The priest said the pope wrote a letter to all priest or pastors to ask the people to take communion by mouth. The priest also quoted other people in the church that where against it like Mother Teresa. I was a alter boy and went to catacasim and that is the first time I ever heard that. While I was a altar boy I always took by hand and the priest never said anything. Have anybody else heard anything… Since he said this I have changed to taking by mouth.

I started to receive Holy Communion by hand after Vatican II because the communion rail disappeared and the nuns in school made us receive communion by hand because they did the same. The practice stuck. Recently, however, someone posted this link to a video which made me rethink how to receive communion. It showed tiny particles of the Eucharist which can remain on the palm. It made me rethink receiving communion by hand and now receive by tongue.

youtube.com/watch?v=BiUqDa_Gzj0&feature=related

 

[curlycool89]

Not too many Priests are brave enough to get on the pulpit and say “Communion in the hand is bad, and must not be continued” If I was a clergyman I would be outspoken on the issue.

I don’t want to turn this into a COTH vs COTT threat, but that’s reduces. Communion in the Hand is a perfectly licit (and I would argue reverent, but we’ll leave that aside for now) way to receive the Eucharist. Let’s not make this out to be anything else.

 

[NewEnglandPriest]

IEven if the Pope didn’t really contact your parish priest, i salute your priest for encouraging such a beneficial, and MUCH NEEDED practice.

So you think its ok to sin (tell a lie) in order to produce something that you want???

 

[FrDavid96]

So you think its ok to sin (tell a lie) in order to produce something that you want???

It’s probably more of a case of someone simply misunderstanding the part about the Pope writing letters to priests. It does sound as if the priest opened his mail one day and found a letter from the Pope waiting for him. That might not be exactly what the priest said however. For example, Pope John Paul II had a nice little custom of his annual Holy Thursday “letter to priests.” Now, a priest could certainly say (in that context) and in perfect honesty: “the Holy Father wrote a letter to all priests, and in it he asks…” That would be perfectly true. Even though someone hearing it and not familiar with how “these things work” just might come away with the impression that the priest actually received his own personal copy.

 

[zab]

It’s probably more of a case of someone simply misunderstanding the part about the Pope writing letters to priests.

And probably he was referring to something else stated by the poster.

 

[paperwight]

So you think its ok to sin (tell a lie) in order to produce something that you want???

Well, quite.

Personally I am shocked that a priest would do this, so am hoping that it is a misunderstanding on the OP’s part.

 

[fugadux]

I don’t want to turn this into a COTH vs COTT threat, but that’s reduces. Communion in the Hand is a perfectly licit (and I would argue reverent, but we’ll leave that aside for now) way to receive the Eucharist. Let’s not make this out to be anything else.

Holy Communion in the hand is not as licit as Holy Communion on the tongue though, Communion in the hand is still the exception in canon law and the local Bishop has to approve it. And there are indeed areas of the world where it is not licit to receive Holy Communion in the hand, such as Kazhakstan where the great Bishop Schneider has forbidden it.

The fact that it was introduced after years of disobedience, the fact that particles of the Sacred Species remains on your palm even if you take care to consume all visible particles, the fact that receiving on the tongue on your knees is a more reverent way of receiving the most sacred thing we can approach on earth, all speaks in favor of a return to the age-old tradition of tongue-only kneeling-only. The only ones I think who are really attached to receiving in the hand are people who think we should “grow up” and get rid of “silly” traditions. But you can just look at the number of people who have lost the Faith by giving in to the heresies that deny transsubstantiation since communion in the hand was introduced. That is because it’s a much stronger symbol to receive on the tongue and kneeling, you don’t consume any other food this way…

 

[Digitonomy]

The priest also quoted other people in the church that where against it like Mother Teresa.

I believe this allegation was tracked down and disproven. Unfortunately, I can’t track down the details, so take my argument for what it is - an unsubstantiated internet claim. Assuming I’m right, we have to remember that priests are people too, and subject to believing the occasional dodgy website, just like the rest of us. I think it very unlikely that the priest in the OP was intentionally misleading anyone. [edited]

 

[Newbie2]

I think the Pope is doing more than a great job encouraging communion on the tongue:thumbsup: Even if the Pope didn’t really contact your parish priest, i salute your priest for encouraging such a beneficial, and MUCH NEEDED practice. Not too many Priests are brave enough to get on the pulpit and say “Communion in the hand is bad, and must not be continued” If I was a clergyman I would be outspoken on the issue. But seriously, I think you should continue on receiving on the tongue, and on your knees if possible.

I suggest you watch this video to help shed some light on the situation–>>youtube.com/watch?v=tYqdGzBrmlA

Why on earth would a priest say “Communion in the hand is bad”???

I don’t want to turn this into a COTH vs COTT threat, but that’s reduces. Communion in the Hand is a perfectly licit (and I would argue reverent, but we’ll leave that aside for now) way to receive the Eucharist. Let’s not make this out to be anything else.

Exactly, but unfortunately that is the crux of the matter.

Holy Communion in the hand is not as licit as Holy Communion on the tongue though, Communion in the hand is still the exception in canon law and the local Bishop has to approve it. And there are indeed areas of the world where it is not licit to receive Holy Communion in the hand, such as Kazhakstan where the great Bishop Schneider has forbidden it.

The fact that it was introduced after years of disobedience, the fact that particles of the Sacred Species remains on your palm even if you take care to consume all visible particles, the fact that receiving on the tongue on your knees is a more reverent way of receiving the most sacred thing we can approach on earth, all speaks in favor of a return to the age-old tradition of tongue-only kneeling-only. The only ones I think who are really attached to receiving in the hand are people who think we should “grow up” and get rid of “silly” traditions. But you can just look at the number of people who have lost the Faith by giving in to the heresies that deny transsubstantiation since communion in the hand was introduced. That is because it’s a much stronger symbol to receive on the tongue and kneeling, you don’t consume any other food this way…

Yeah, um…both forms of reception are licit. Being licit or not is like being pregnant, there are no degrees of being licit, either a practice is or is not. One can argue whether one practice or another is more reverant, but not more licit.

Think again. I receive in the hand because I’ve always done so and because the symbolism of receiving in the hand is more meaningful for me. By the same token, I respect those who prefer to receive on the tongue, and their reasons for doing so, not because of a rejection of some “silly tradition”; I’m sure there are some out there, but I don’t know a single Catholic who believes this.

Yeah, but it isn’t “food” that we’re consuming. Agreed, it is more symbolic, but we have to be careful not to make the mode of reception more important than what we are receiving. Comparing it to, for example, how we eat a hamburger isn’t especially helpful in a theological sense, methinks.

Let’s not get into the “particle” argument. If you want to go there, we’ll need to discuss how most altar servers handle the patent…do you really think that it really catches any and all of the particles that fall off a host during reception on the tongue? Those same particles end up on the fingers of the priest when he brushes them out of the ciboria or on the cloth that he uses to do so.

 

[ac_claire]

It’s probably more of a case of someone simply misunderstanding the part about the Pope writing letters to priests. It does sound as if the priest opened his mail one day and found a letter from the Pope waiting for him. That might not be exactly what the priest said however. For example, Pope John Paul II had a nice little custom of his annual Holy Thursday “letter to priests.” Now, a priest could certainly say (in that context) and in perfect honesty: “the Holy Father wrote a letter to all priests, and in it he asks…” That would be perfectly true. Even though someone hearing it and not familiar with how “these things work” just might come away with the impression that the priest actually received his own personal copy.

This is my impression from the OP as well.