Use of wine for the celebration of Holy Eucharist

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I don’t want to start a discussion about whether to use wine or not or whether they actually meant “grape juice” not “wine” as my hubby was taught) BUT what I am curious about:

For those that use real wine in their service, how would you counsel a recovering alcoholic about taking Communion in both kinds? Can they simply take a sip? Or intincture? Or simply abstain from taking the cup?
 
episcogirl said:
I don’t want to start a discussion about whether to use wine or not or whether they actually meant “grape juice” not “wine” as my hubby was taught) BUT what I am curious about:

For those that use real wine in their service, how would you counsel a recovering alcoholic about taking Communion in both kinds? Can they simply take a sip? Or intincture? Or simply abstain from taking the cup?
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speaking as an ex alky myself, i still take the ‘wine’ at communion, but i dont feel compelled to go and drink myself silly afterwards at all. I think the difference is i know its the blood of Christ and i know he wouldnt like the idea of me running out to the nearest bottle shop and devouring bottles of wine afterwards. Honestly, i have control over it because i know in my heart what the meaning of that wine is, and i know God had helped me gain control of my addiction to allow me to drink his blood.
But im only speaking for myself here, and i dont expect every other recovering alcoholic to try and drink it if they dont feel they can control themselves.
God bless
 
dolphinlove said:
speaking as an ex alky myself, i still take the ‘wine’ at communion, but i dont feel compelled to go and drink myself silly afterwards at all. I think the difference is i know its the blood of Christ and i know he wouldnt like the idea of me running out to the nearest bottle shop and devouring bottles of wine afterwards. Honestly, i have control over it because i know in my heart what the meaning of that wine is, and i know God had helped me gain control of my addiction to allow me to drink his blood.
But im only speaking for myself here, and i dont expect every other recovering alcoholic to try and drink it if they dont feel they can control themselves.
God bless
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That would be my feeling about it but I’m not an alcoholic so I don’t know and can’t say.

I appreciate your frank reply. 🙂
 
episcogirl said:
That would be my feeling about it but I’m not an alcoholic so I don’t know and can’t say.

I appreciate your frank reply. 🙂
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As you can probably tell by some of my post, i can be quite…um… frank :o
 
If a recovering alcoholic really felt they wouldn’t be able to control themself if they took the ‘wine’, they aren’t under any compulsion to take it. Receiving the Eucharist under one species is the same as receiving it under both species. In fact there was a long period of history where they didn’t even use the wine at Communion. (it was in response to some heresy)
 
exoflare said:
If a recovering alcoholic really felt they wouldn’t be able to control themself if they took the ‘wine’, they aren’t under any compulsion to take it. Receiving the Eucharist under one species is the same as receiving it under both species. In fact there was a long period of history where they didn’t even use the wine at Communion. (it was in response to some heresy)
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(emphasis mine)

I seem to remember a time when the wine wasn’t used (I grew up in a RC Church in Buffalo in the 70s and 80s). Would that be part of the period you mention? I think we had wine but only the priests were allowed to consume it up until a certain point in the 70s.
 
They started using both species again after Vatican II which I think concluded in 1965. Although I’m not sure every parish in America would have started up the practice immediately after that.
 
exoflare said:
They started using both species again after Vatican II which I think concluded in 1965. Although I’m not sure every parish in America would have started up the practice immediately after that.
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I don’t know why I didn’t think about Vatican II. That parish in Buffalo may very well have been a bit late in adopting that change. Also, even into the 80s they didn’t allow girls to be Altar Servers (I’m not sure of the correct title even…we just had Altar Boys).

This would explain why I don’t remember taking the cup at that church, although subsequent churches I went to did offer the cup to the congregation.
 
Yeah I’m pretty sure that even once a certain discipline is made permissible by the Church at large, the Bishop of any given diocese would still have the final say in whether or not to allow that practice in his jurisdiction.
 
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