This trend must stop: the EMHC hand sanitizing procession

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I think I’ve found a solution to this, we can just incorporate the holy hand washing show into the liturgy, accompanied by the song “Give Us Clean Hands.”

Give Us Clean Hands

We bow our hearts, we bend our knees
O Spirit come make us humble
We turn our eyes from evil things
O Lord we cast down our idols

Give us clean hands, give us pure hearts
Let us not lift our souls to another
Give us clean hands, give us pure hearts
Let us not lift our souls to another

O God let us be a generation that seeks
that seeks your face O God of Jacob
O God let us be a generation that seeks
that seeks your face O God of Jacob
 
OraLabora said:
it encourages the development of resistant bacteria.
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Cleaning or using any germicidal chemical can create resistance. However, People forget about Dwell Time. I guarantee you that dipping resistant bacteria in 70% ethanol for 15 minutes would kill them. There’s no quick way to kill microorganisms, it takes Time.
OraLabora said:
One problem in our society is that we are too clean.
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Frankly, I believe that you’re seriously misinformed. We’re currently having a Hepatitis A outbreak in Ohio and we’re not alone, California is having multiple disease outbreaks due to squalid conditions.

Locally, with all the rain, our poorly maintained sewer systems are overflowing everywhere. People are unknowingly walking in sewage here. It’s disgusting!
OraLabora said:
Our immune systems are under-utilized and that’s why there’s been an increase in food allergies.
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I assure you that unless you’re literally living inside a CDC clean room, you’re unwittingly exposed to numerous bacteria, viruses, and fungi on a daily basis. They’re on your food, your credit card, your keyboard, even the dust in your home and ductwork.
 
One general observation, and a bit of counsel, based on what I have found to be beneficial.

So many have left the Church, or declined to enter, as they look left and right and see all sorts of behaviors. Sinners. Liars. Hypocrites. Worse.

Who are we there for? If you close your eyes as much as possible, it helps still your mind and you then hear what is being said and can silently, more effectively offer yourself to God as a living sacrifice - a large part of the reason why we are there.

We can all act like the Mass police, but that is not a satisfying job and we are focusing on humans rather than the divine.

Looking left and right is a distraction - the devil’s trick. Don’t fall for it! Laser in on the Tabernacle, as your Salvation resides there.

 
I’ve never seen it done, and frankly don’t want to. It seems out of place. Too utilitarian. Like something out of a megachurch. Sorry, but that’s how I feel.

And there is research out there that we ARE becoming too germless for our own good, and we ARE helping bacteria evolve past our means of killing them.
 
Tis_Bearself said:
I understand why the EMHCs have to sanitize
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Well, they don’t “have to”.

We have sanitizer available and during flu season most do use it as they have just exchanged the Peace with a variety of people. Outside cold/flu season, there is a wide variation on usage of the sanitizer.

Sometimes our priest walks over and sanitizes his hands at some point during the mass.
Since he has several parishes he drives between sometimes he may not have an opportunity to wash his hands between masses and may feel he needs it from time to time.

It is very much an organic thing in our parish-- if you need it, you use it. If you don’t, you don’t.
 
po18guy said:
We can all act like the Mass police, but that is not a satisfying job and we are focusing on humans rather than the divine.
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I agree with this. I found this to be true a long time ago when there was worse things happening at mass by orders of magnitude compared to this issue. So, though I have shared the OP’s concern, I do not think it is that big of deal. Besides, having a choir right next to the altar facing the congregation is a much bigger distraction to the liturgy than almost anything else I can think of, and I have learned how to tune them out visually.
 
This is where my dad would get into his “colour of the carpet, size of the altar” speech. He says if we get so worried about the colour of the carpet, size of the altar, size of the cross, whether we should kneel or stand after Communion, we really lose sight of the whole reason we’re there in the first place.
 
Ok, now this is taking it too far. There should be NO carpet in a Catholic Church. Yes, lots of Church’s installed carpet or were build with them the last few decades, but it is wrong. Carpet is not a distraction, but it gives a completely wrong feel to what a Catholic Church is supposed to represent. Having dealt with Church architecture folks who are very traditional and ones who are very progressive (modern), there are some things they surprisingly agree on. No carpet would certainly be near the top of their list.

The first time I am in a Church that I haven’t been in before, after mass I have a habit of walking around and studying the building a bit, always picking out things in my mind that they got wrong and got right. Carpet never works, regardless of the style of architecture.
 
In my parish the Purell ritual is a part of Mass. It has been years since I have smelled incense. But every week the stench of alcohol and the pageantry of the cleansing of the EMHCs hands is a large part of the liturgy.

So sad.
 
OraLabora said:
I agree with the poster that said all that hand sanitizing is not healthy, it encourages the development of resistant bacteria. One problem in our society is that we are too clean. Our immune systems are under-utilized and that’s why there’s been an increase in food allergies. Immune systems are like humans, if they aren’t kept busy, they get into trouble!

Before anyone quips… yes I do shower every day! But just soap and water
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I agree. Plus, have you tried to find non anti-bacterial liquid hand soap? Impossible! But it’s what I’d prefer.
 
If it were in a courtroom, it would be known as the clean-hands doctrine. 😂
 
This is why plain alcohol gels and bleach or Lysol for the home are the best choices (we have an immune compromised family member, we had to go to class about this stuff!)
 
No incense for years? Really? Not even for a funeral? What about adoration/benediction? For many solemnities, it is almost always used. One more reason I am really glad about where I live.
 
At least most of the rest of you can go to mass incognito. Due to my immune suppression, I must wear a mask and gloves. I am treated as though I am radioactive and people tend to glance at me, then move away.

Hand sanitizer, carpet, choirs, inappropriate fashions, sizes and shapes of objects - ah, so what? With my eyes closed, I can sense the log in my eyes and forget about the splinter in the eyes of others.

Our Lord Jesus Christ is there. Nothing else matters.
 
Not sure about funerals, haven’t been to one in the last several years. None for benediction. Benediction is a recent development over the last month or so. None on the “holy days” unless the Bishop is presiding. I offered to supply the parish with incense and and the priest looked at me like my head was on backwards. We are getting a new priest so we will see…
 
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