This Powerful Meme Tells the Hard Truth About Mistreatment of the Eucharist in Our Parishes

[JulianN]

Well, no. I’m not wrong. You are in no position to determine my interior disposition of reverence. I am telling you that, for me, it is more reverent to receive in the hand rather than stick my tongue out. YMMV, so you are free to express your reverence by kneeling and receiving on the tongue. However, you are not free to state that it is intrinsically more reverent – that is your opinion, not Church teaching.

 

[OraLabora]

Honestly, I’ve seen plenty of arguments why the current practice is not contrary to the faith or sacrilegious (and I agree with those arguments), but not why it leads to greater veneration of the sacrament and profit for the recipient. To me, it seems the opposite has been the result…

I’ll toss out my favourite statement: correlation does not equal causation. There are too many factors involved in a decline in reverence in the Western cultures to blame the method of reception of the Eucharist. Loss of the sacred in church music; a lackadaisical attitude towards liturgy, or simply some (often otherwise excellent) priests who are weak in liturgy; poor catechesis (if there’s any at all), and I’ve heard of catechists stating that the presence of Christ in the Eucharist was “symbolic” (I kid you not, and I’m sure others have heard the same); and just a generally more casual attitude towards everything in life, including how we dress, how we greet each other, our language, a decline in simple courtesy, and I could go on.

 

[halogirl]

As long as you try to be as reverent as you can with your host try not to worry about what others are doing. I’ve never seen it dropped but then I’m a newbie

 

[Shakuhachi]

…and just a generally more casual attitude towards everything in life, including how we dress, how we greet each other, our language, a decline in simple courtesy,…

Ya, I cant help but wonder how and why that happened. Was it all from the 60’s?

 

[Ardent_Fire]

So you think the saints were rude? I’m rude?

I’d never call someone receiving on the hand less reverent but to imply that people receiving on the tongue are being rude is…well, rude.

 

[OraLabora]

In the 60s, from what I remember, I think we were still fairly polite at least in my part of Canada; I was a child going to a Catholic public school. We still went to First Friday, to the parish church directly across the street from the school. My father wore a jacket and tie to work as an OTC pharmaceutical sales rep. My mother would wear a nice dress to go out shopping.

I started work in 1980 in laboratories. When I landed a job as a lab manager in a multinational industrial textiles firm in 1984, I had to wear a tie; that lasted until the early 90s if memory serves. So I would say that the decline accelerated by the late '80s.

 

[OraLabora]

So you think the saints were rude? I’m rude?

I’d never call someone receiving on the hand less reverent but to imply that people receiving on the tongue are being rude is…well, rude.

Where did I say that? You are putting words in my mouth. I actually said the following:

we have different notions of what is reverent, and what is rude. It is cultural.

Please read carefully. I said the notion of rudeness is cultural. The Church has expanded out from being a Western religion to one encompassing the whole world. A good example: if you were to wear black to a Korean funeral, even a Catholic one, you’d be considered rude. White is the colour of mourning in Korea. The opposite is true here.

My notion of rudeness, and yours may vary because we are from different cultures (hint: I am not from the US… nor am I anglophone)

 

[Ardent_Fire]

I was not intentionally putting words into your mouth. But I took issue with some of the things you were saying and wanted you to clarify. Thank you for doing so.

 

[SuscipeMeDomine]

We have a woman at our Church with some kind of disability and she uses a cane. When she goes up to receive, she grabs the Eucharist with her left hand and does exactly that…pops it in her mouth like taking aTylenol.

I wonder if the fact that she has a disability may make her movements less smooth and beautiful to look at than your own. That doesn’t necessarily translate into “popping it into her mouth.”

 

[Inquisitor_rex]

The Catholic Church has always been universal and never locked to just the west. However we are talking about the Roman Rite with the usages of western nations. If we wanted to talk about eastern liturgy (which while say Maronites receive on the tongue, do not kneel due to the normative rite they observe) we’d be doing that. Stop running out into the woods, the Roman Rite exclusively gave the Eucharist in the manner described in this thread for centuries and this was in Italy, Germany, Norway, England, France and other diverse nations. The only thing binding them was their Catholic faith. I’m sure that we can agree that cultural issues about sticking ones tongue out was irrelevant. Clothing and modesty might vary from nation to nation but the practices of the Roman Rite were near universal.

 

[OraLabora]

Is that how you see receiving on the tongue? I have to say that is a touch immature and extremely tone deaf and disingenuous.

Ad hominem.

the Roman Rite exclusively gave the Eucharist in the manner described in this thread for centuries

And the Church no longer requires it. Roma locuta est, causa finita est.

Since you insist on being rude, I’m done engaging with you.

 

[OraLabora]

trannies

My youngest child is transsexual. It’s hard enough composing with that without people using epithets like “tranny” when referring to them.

You’re really not winning points with me with your rudeness.

It’s been the “current year” with regards to the method of reception of the Eucharist for going on 40 or so years now…

 

[Shakuhachi]

I’m sorry but proclaiming “But it’s the current year” is not an argument

No but the General Instructions to the Roman Missal is enough for most reasonable Catholics…