Accordingly, as the consecration of Christs Body belongs to the priest, so likewise does the dispensing belong to him. After the Second Vatican Council, a very wise Archbishop shrewdly observed that. A quick example will be found in the writings of Monsignor Champlin. If it were a sacrilege, that indult would not have been accorded by Rome. The history of the liturgy, however, makes clear that rather early on a . Humanae Vitae rightly reaffirmed the Churchs teaching against contraception. Hence, it is not lawful for anyone else to touch It, except from necessity, for instance, if It were to fall upon the ground or else in some other case of urgency. (, Saint Thomas, who is the prince of theologians in the Catholic Church, who towers above all the rest, whose, was placed on the altar next to the Scriptures during the Council of Trent, and whose teaching Saint Pius X said was. the traditional practice of receiving Holy Communion only on the tongue. Historically, Communion on the tongue is greatly preferred and is has been the usual method thoughout most of history. But now, lay people administering the Blessed Sacrament is an ordinary sight in the average. am also a man." (Acts 10:25-26), "When the crowds saw what Paul had done, they shouted, saying in the Christianity Stack Exchange is a question and answer site for committed Christians, experts in Christianity and those interested in learning more. When vast numbers of Catholics, then, rejected Humanae Vitae based on the Canadian bishops compromise, it was hardly surprising. "The cup of blessing that we bless, is it not a sharing in the blood On January 29, 1973, an Instruction, called. For whoever eats and drinks without He preferred death at the hands of a mob rather than deliver to them the Blessed Sacrament which he was carrying. Connect and share knowledge within a single location that is structured and easy to search. Which was the first Sci-Fi story to predict obnoxious "robo calls"? This reverence shows that it is not a sharing in ordinary bread and wine that is involved, but in the Body and Blood of the Lord.. Communion on the hand may seem less reverent than communion on the tongue, especially to the more traditionally minded Catholics; it is not a sacrilege. Can or should a consecrated Host be adored by way of a live Eucharistic televised broadcast? Copyright 2022 Catholic Online. Reception on the tongue is a reverent preference, but it is by no means a requirement. Father Edward Schillebeeckx, an influential liberal theologian at Vatican II, admitted that placing deliberate ambiguity in the Council documents was a key strategy of the progressives. Todays Eucharistic Ministers actually operate in defiance of existing Vatican norms. There are some that claim that it was practiced up until the 6th Century and even cite a passage of St. Cyril to substantiate this assertion. Second, because the priest is the appointed intermediary between God and the people, hence as it belongs to him to offer the peoples gifts to God, so it belongs to him to deliver the consecrated gifts to the people. Although a layman, he was also an acolyte. But I tell The risk of touching the tongue and passing the saliva on to others is obviously a danger, however, the chance of touching someone's hand is equally probable and one's hands have a greater exposure to germs. In the pre-Vatican II Church, when the Latin Tridentine Mass was the norm, men training to be priests were not only taught, but drilled in these rubrics. It is obvious that no priest can be lawfully forced to administer Communion in the hand, and we must pray that more priests will have the courage to safeguard the reverence due to this Sacrament, and not be trapped into a false obedience that causes them to cooperate in the degradation of Christ in the Eucharist. But let a man prove himself . All of a sudden, there they were! A. Catholic renewal would either leave these gestures of reverence intact, or enhance them. , James W. Demers said, Of those responsible for the lack of beauty in the Church, no one is more culpable than todays lay ministers. Even the most ordinary parents are smart enough not to give their children the option to accept or reject parental commands. The risk of touching the tongue and passing the saliva on to. Deep reverence for its own past and for the wisdom of its ancestry and the pride therein were the very soul of the Old Paganism; that is why it formed so solid a foundation on which to build the Catholic Church, and that is also why it offered so long a determined resistance to the growth of the Catholic Church. Folder's list view has different sized fonts in different folders, the Allied commanders were appalled to learn that 300 glider troops had drowned at sea. It seems like they came from nowhere. 400 years ago, Communion in the hand was introduced into Christian worship by men whose motives were rooted in defiance of Catholicism. Lycaonian language, The gods have come down to us in human form! administer Communion in the hand, whether they like it or not, to anyone who requests it, thereby throwing many good priests into an agonizing crisis of conscience. This phrase gives the impression that there could be room for Catholics to legitimately reject Humanae Vitae. Barnabas they called Zeus, and Paul, Hermes, because he was the chief But through that breaking we all who are in Him are made whole. However, in an October 6 statement, the bishops "recalled that people who, for. A flood of requests then followed from countries, including Canada, where Communion on the hand did not prevail. Given the living tradition of the Church, which highlights the most ancient practice of receiving Holy Communion in the hand, the Archbishop has the authority to instruct the faithful to receive Holy Communion in the hand during this time of Pandemic, with no exceptions. Saint Thomas, who is the prince of theologians in the Catholic Church, who towers above all the rest, whose Summa Theologica was placed on the altar next to the Scriptures during the Council of Trent, and whose teaching Saint Pius X said was the remedy for Modernism Saint Thomas clearly teaches that it belongs to the priest and only to the priest to touch and administer the Sacred Host, that only that which is consecrated (the hands of the priest) should touch the Consecrated (the Sacred Host). Controversy surrounds the claim that Communion in the hand was practiced in the early Church. And, if the priests opposition to Communion in the hand should be fierce and firm, their opposition to Extraordinary Ministers should be even more adamant. The sense of the sacred is found wherever safeguarding the reverence for the Blessed Sacrament is put into practice of paramount importance. for Modernism Saint Thomas clearly teaches that it belongs to the priest and only to the priest to touch and administer the Sacred Host, that only that which is consecrated (the hands of the priest) should touch the Consecrated (the Sacred Host). According to tradition and teaching, the priest is the only one allowed to hold the body of Christ because his hands were consecrated. Throughout the centuries, the Popes, bishops and priests taught us this same thing, not so much by words, but by example and especially by the celebration of the Old Latin Mass, where profound reverence for the Blessed Sacrament as the true Body of Christ was in every move the priest made. The biggest ploy used by modern clergy was to resort to flattery to approach good Catholic men and women saying, Youre a good parish member, an exemplary Christian, a good father or mother, so we want to bestow upon you the honor of being a Eucharistic minister.. Nation May 19, 2020 12:41 PM EDT. But the sense of the sacred has not been lost, it has been deliberately thrown away, run out of town on a rail, by the arrogant agents of the New Paganism of Modernism masquerading as Catholic reformers, who have introduced novel practices into the Church that demean the Eucharist, show contempt for tradition and for what our fathers taught us, and have led to a worldwide crisis of Faith of unprecedented proportions. But unfortunately, this is precisely what happened with the supposedly anti-Communion in the hand document of 1969. With regard to receiving Communion in the hand, there is a significant development from the 1985 GIRM to the 2003/2011 edition. Now, it is Catholic teaching that the Sacrament of Holy Orders gives a man a spiritual, sacramental power, it imprints an indelible mark on his soul and makes him fundamentally different from laymen. Next time I hear about this topic from one of those, whom I know, I'll have a better tid bit to offer them. Is communion in the hand a liturgical abuse? Thanks for this great effort you put through. "So, then, whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an since all of us share the one bread" (1 Corinthians 10:16-17 CSB). Earlier this week, Catholic commentator John-Henry Westen, co-founder and editor-in-chief of LifeSiteNews, detailed five reasons why Catholics should only receive Holy Communion on the tongue. Is it a sacrilege to take communion in hand? Todays Eucharistic Ministers actually operate in defiance of, Though there is no hard proof that the loose wording of, was done on purpose, there is ample proof that the ambiguity in the Vatican II documents was deliberate. St. Cyril of Jerusalem speaks of it in the following way: While the Didache concentrates on prayer and thanksgiving, Cyrils instructions emphasize technique: Approaching (Communion)come not with your palms extended and stretched flat nor with your fingers open. Has there been any discussion in the Catholic Church about whether hand sanitizer profanes the Host? If so, then the apostles appear to have committed sacrilege in Matthew 26, since Jesus did not place pieces of unleavened bread in their mouths; he gave them the broken bread and told them to "take and eat it". Though Ecumenism will not be treated within this article (see The Problem with Modern Ecumenism, Catholic Family News March 1995 Issue), suffice it to say that this novel ecumenical spirit which Deitrich von Hildebrand called ECUMANIA became rampant during and after Vatican II. But, for whatever reason, this 1980 document contained no threat of penalty to any layman, priest or bishop who ignored the Popes plea. But after all this, Memoriale Domini then added a surprising disclaimer, leaving an avenue open to those bishops currently in disobedience over this issue. are judged by the Lord, we are disciplined, so that we may not be brought bulls and wreaths to the gates because he intended, with the But even taking this document at face value, it is difficult to envisage circumstances that would justify the use of Extraordinary Ministers, of mission lands. Taking all this into consideration, Memoriale Domini declared: From the time of the Fathers of the Church Holy Communion in the hand became more and more restricted in favor of distributing Holy Communion on the tongue. With bodily signs we show interior beliefs. My question is more about worship and reverence. Did the drapes in old theatres actually say "ASBESTOS" on them? It had not yet started in the United States. It is a pattern we see over and over again in the modern Church: Lets violate the law, and in the end well have the violation established as local custom., This unlawful abuse is so well established as local custom that even Pope John Paul II, who made at least a paper attempt to curb the abuse, was completely unsuccessful. While pandemics have raged before, and other diseases exist, COVID is unique in our time. It is a pattern we see over and over again in the modern Church: Lets violate the law, and in the end well have the violation established as local custom..
