It is well balance and not one sided. 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. Out of reverence towards this sacrament [the Holy Eucharist], nothing touches it, but what is consecrated; hence the corporal and the chalice are consecrated, and likewise the priest's hands, for touching this sacrament. For example, St. From that point on, Communion in the hand received a distinctly anti-Catholic significance. N.S. church delivers Christmas communion to parishioners' homes - CBC Tarsicius or Tarcisius was a martyr of the early Christian church who lived in the 3rd century. Though the entire essay will not be treated here, for the purpose of the subject at hand, it is necessary to point out the central aspect of it: the old paganism had deep respect for tradition, and the new post-Christian paganism has a revolutionary contempt for tradition. Priests, bishop reveal rashness in banning Communion on - LifeSite Let a person examine himself; in this way let him eat the , if the priests opposition to Communion in the hand should be fierce and firm, their opposition to Extraordinary Ministers should be even more adamant. Submit a Rosary Prayer Request to be Read Live Online. And the Council of Trent (1565) added, The fact that only the priest gives Holy Communion with his consecrated hands is an Apostolic Tradition.. 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. 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. Browse other questions tagged, Like any library, Christianity Stack Exchange offers great information, but, Start here for a quick overview of the site, Detailed answers to any questions you might have, Discuss the workings and policies of this site. In all sixteen documents of Vatican II, there is no mention of Communion in the hand, nor was it mentioned during any of the debates during the Council. They conducted the tedious Let us pray to the Lord Lord hear our prayer Prayers of the Faithful, and even greeted us over the microphone before Mass wishing us good morning, telling us what hymns well be singing and what Eucharistic Prayer Father fancies today. @jaredad7 Would you consider posting a question about this. Here's how to make a 'Spiritual Communion' when unable to participate in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. Lay people started reading the Epistle, and the new responsorial psalms. Memoriale Domini, a 1969 Church document on reception of Communion, outlined St. Paul VIs decision on this matter. To do so would be a clear sign of weak and vacillating leadership. Bishop Sheen once wrote that both men and women are slaves to fashion, but with this difference he said if women are slaves to fashions of clothing, men are slaves to fashions of thought. In summary, the letters (which can be found in Michael Davies Privilege of the Ordained) stated that Rome has received many complaints of abuses regarding Extraordinary Ministers. Some of the rubrics in the Old Latin Mass are as follows: These are only some of the rubrics incorporated into the Old Mass. Both ways are permitted within the Ordinary Form of the Mass. 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. The Holy See, not succeeding in stopping this abuse, decided to consult all the bishops on this question. As a result, the Pontifical Commission officially ruled that when Ordinary Ministers (bishops, priests) are present at the Eucharist, whether celebrating or not, and are in sufficient number and are not prevented from doing so by other ministries, the Extraordinary Ministers of the Eucharist are not allowed to distribute Communion either to themselves or to the Faithful.. A Pastoral Guide to Receiving Communion - Crisis Magazine 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. , but within that document the bishops used the curious phrase norms for licit dissent. 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. The most ancient practice of distributing Holy Communion was, with all probability, to give Communion to the faithful in the palm of the hand. And in order not to continually play into the manipulating hands of the New Paganism of Modernism, then a complete, formal, unambiguous condemnation of Communion in the hand and Extraordinary Ministers is our leaders only true Catholic option. Hence, it is not lawful for anyone else to touch it except from necessity (Summa Theologica). In other words, the real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist is just a Papist superstition, and that the bread is just bread and anybody can handle it. Then having partaken of the Body of Christ, approach also the cup of His blood; not extending your hands, but bending low and saying in the way of worship and reverence, Amen, be you sanctified by partaking, also of the blood of Christ. Catechetical Lecture 5. Although a layman, he was also an acolyte. There are quotes from Church Fathers supporting both practices. If it were a sacrilege, that indult would not have been accorded by Rome. The teaching of Saint Thomas Aquinas, in his great, Third, because out of reverence for this Sacrament, nothing touches It but what is consecrated; hence the corporal and the chalice are consecrated, and likewise the priests hands for touching this Sacrament. unworthy manner will be guilty of sin against the body and blood of If you donate just $5.00, the price of your coffee, Catholic Online School could keep thriving. he took a cup, and after giving thanks, he gave it to them and said, 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. The terms lay minister and Eucharistic minister have been used rather loosely up until this point, because this is the terminology often found in parish bulletins. The little that is known about him comes from a metrical inscription by Pope Damasus I, who was pope in the second half of the 4th century. worthless things to the living God, who made the heaven, the earth, The history of the liturgy, however, makes clear that rather early on a . This Christmas Eve, members of St. John's Anglican Church in Lunenburg, N.S., who can't attend the service in person will still be able to take part in communion. The Reception of Holy Communion in the United States Whatever the case, it is clear that Communion on the tongue is of Apostolic origins (that is, taught by Christ Himself), Communion in the hand was condemned as an abuse at the Synod of Rouen in 650 A.D., and the practice of Communion in the hand is never reflected in the artwork of any period whether it be in the East or West that is, up until after the Second Vatican Council. Our Catholic fathers at home, as well as our teaching Sisters in school, told us that it was sacrilegious for anyone but the priest to touch the Sacred Host. Do we exercise ethics and right conduct? Rome allows this by indult in the New Rite. the traditional practice of receiving Holy Communion only on the tongue. performance | 130 views, 3 likes, 2 loves, 36 comments, 1 shares, Facebook Watch Videos from Ginghamsburg Church: Worship is serious business. The question has been asked for a long time since the Church has often allowed both methods of reception. The Eucharist. Whereas in 1985, Communion in the hand was granted by virtue of an indult received in 1977, in the Roman Missal, Third Edition, Communion in the hand is now ordinary liturgical law for the United States, though every communicant retains the equal right of receiving on . Click herefor a handout that can be placed in your bulletin for your parishioner. Moreover, communion separates us from sin. Basil the Great, Doctor of the Church (330-379): "The right to receive Holy Communion in the hand is permitted only in times of persecution.". Pope John Paul II - Dominicae Cenae, 11. In 2009, in the midst of the H1N1 influenza pandemic, a lay Catholic in England in a diocese where Holy Communion on the tongue was restricted due to the pandemic wrote the Vatican about the . Communion in the Hand - AfterTheWarning.com Lycaonian language, The gods have come down to us in human form! He said, We have used ambiguous phrases during the Council and we (the liberal theologians) know how we shall interpret them after., The main ambiguity which probably gave rise to todays proliferation of Extraordinary Ministers was the justification of their use if Mass would be (what was called) unduly prolonged. They must find the courage for opposing this novel practice by remembering that even Pope Paul VI, despite his weaknesses, correctly predicted that Communion in the hand would lead to irreverence and profanation of the Eucharist, and a gradual erosion of correct doctrine and we have seen this prophecy come to pass. Communion in the Hand - JSTOR 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). At the end of Mass, the priest scrapes the corporal with the paten, and cleans it into the chalice so that if the slightest Particle was left, It would be collected and reverently consumed. Library : Holy Communion in the Hand? | Catholic Culture Quite to the contrary, anyone who was raised in the pre-Vatican II Church will distinctly remember being taught that it was sacrilegious for anyone but the priest to touch the Sacred Host. But the introduction of Communion in the hand and lay ministers of the Eucharist shows an arrogant disregard for what our fathers taught us. since all of us share the one bread" (1 Corinthians 10:16-17 CSB). Eucharist (10): Conditions for Receiving Communion The Pope then promulgated the May 28, 1969 Instruction Memoriale Domine. St. While communion on the hand is forbidden in the Extraordinary Form of the Mass and is given while kneeling only, unless prohibited due to physical illness. The risk of touching the tongue and passing the saliva on to. This growth of Christian life needs to be nourished by Eucharistic communion, the bread of our pilgrimage, until the moment of death, when it is given to us as viaticum. rev2023.5.1.43405. Christianity Stack Exchange is a question and answer site for committed Christians, experts in Christianity and those interested in learning more. A flood of requests then followed from countries, including Canada, where Communion on the hand did not prevail. Space doesnt allow all the details, but the propaganda in the 1970s that was used to. Though Communion in the hand was not mandated by the Second Vatican Council, what was canonized by Vatican II was Ecumenism this false spirit of counterfeit unity that had been previously condemned by the Church, particularly by Pope Pius XI in his 1928 encyclical Mortalium Animos this movement of Catholics becoming more buddy-buddy and huggy-huggy with other religions, and especially with Protestants. To do so would be a clear sign of weak and vacillating leadership. On September 21, 1987, a letter was sent from the Cardinal Prefect of the Congregation of the Sacraments through the proper channels to a number of Episcopal Conferences, including the American Bishops, on the subject of Extraordinary Ministers. This document does not grant some revolutionary indult for any and every parish to permit lay-people to administer Communion; it authorizes the use of extraordinary ministers in cases of genuine necessity , which are listed as: The Instruction stipulates that: Since these faculties are granted only for the spiritual good of the Faithful and for cases of genuine necessity, priests are to remember that they are not thereby excused from the task of distributing the Eucharist to the Faithful who legitimately request it, and especially from taking and giving it to the sick.. The Apostolic See therefore strongly urges bishops, priests and people to observe zealously this law.. That they believed there was no such thing as transubstantiation and that the bread used at Communion time was just ordinary bread. The only positive information concerning this Roman martyr is found in a poem composed in his honour by Pope Damasus (366384), who compares him to the deacon Saint Stephen and says that, as Stephen was stoned by a crowd, so Tarcisius, carrying the Blessed Sacrament, was attacked by a group and beaten to death.