Thousands of children will be making their first Communions in Catholic churches across the region this weekend, their first opportunity to partake in what Catholics believe is the body and blood of Christ.
But the ceremonies may not go off exactly as planned for some, as churches consider suspending the communal cup for sacramental wine, along with other precautions to stem the spread of the swine flu.
Concerns about a possible swine flu pandemic spread through Wisconsin houses of worship this week, where leaders were taking steps to educate their congregations and minimize any potential spread.
There is talk about this in my diocese as well. I’m amazed. Haven’t these people ever thought about this before? The ordinary flu, strep throat, tonsillitis, mononucleosis, pneumonia, whooping cough – all diseases quite worth avoiding, even if we’ve got medicines to deal with them.
Ironically, risks from other behaviors than Americans engage in every day, every hour are much higher.
The option of intinction is available, I believe, and it seems to me this is the smart thing to do anyway.
I have noticed that the way intinction is done in many places actually can further transmit germs. Those who wish to intinct should not dip their own communion bread into the cup. Rather, they should hold the bread in the palm and let the chalice minister pick up the bread, dip it, and place it on their tongue. Even so, the chalice minister must be careful not to touch the surface of the communicant’s tongue with his or her fingers.
Here in the diocese of Fort Worth the bishop has recommended communion in one kind only this weekend (for all those other than the celebrant, of course). We will follow his recommendation at the cathedral. Of course, we have had an unusually large number of confirmed cases here in FW, so extra precautions make more sense here than in some other places.
I guess I have a pretty high theology of communion and have never worried about the common cup. As pointed out in an earlier comment, diseases are out there everywhere.
America is turning into a country of wimps. We are teaching our children to be afraid of everything. Put the kids outside, in the mud, spraying their germs on each other. It builds immunity and character.
The “regular” flu kills hundreds of thousands of people a year and someone names a flu after a pig and it kills one person and suddenly we are in a full panic.
Stop already.
Intinction is simply not part of the western catholic tradition and is particularly un-Anglican, since the BCP has always made such a point of the separate delivery of the Bread and the Cup. And the way it’s so often done, with the communicant “dipping” his own host, besides actually being less sanitary as #3 poins out, diminishes the sign of ministry. It ought firmly to be discouraged.
And then there is [url=http://edola.org/dfc/newsdetail_2/176]this[/url] from Bp Jenkins:
[blockquote]This is an opportunity for us to undertake some basic teaching about the Eucharist. I have been asked to issue a policy statement against intinction but I shall refrain from doing so at this time. If the pandemic worsens, such may be necessary. The practice of dipping the consecrated host into the chalice, whether such is done by someone administering the sacrament or by the communicant, does not constitute a more hygienic practice than drinking from the common cup. In fact, such dipping may well pose a threat to those who receive after us. The faithful receive the fullness of Christ in either species. Receiving both bread and wine is part of our Anglican tradition; however, if one is concerned about disease, I think it better to receive only the bread than to dip the host into the chalice. It should be noted that we who share the common cup are no less hearty than those Christians who do not do so. It is better to introduce this subject now as a pastoral matter rather than waiting for something more to happen.[/blockquote]
During the 1918 (1919?) world flu epidemic, the bishops of New England advised communicants to intinct “during the present emergency.” They did not, however, send out an advisory to resume “normal” communicating when the epidemic subsided. As a result, 80 or 90% of the members of my parish (and I think of most Episcopal churches in New England) do intinct. They do so neatly, by the way – only the bread touches the wine, not their fingers.
I take a practical approach to this–no one gets more “cooties” than the celebrant, who has to drink what is left over at the end. But the clergy that I know, and of whom I have known, seem to have life expectancies in excess of the statistical average (look at the reported clergy deaths in The Living Church and The Anglican Digest), and they don’t seem to be keeling over from infectious disease. So if Father is able to dodge a bullet, I guess I’ll be OK too, with much less exposure to any beasties roaming around in the cup.
oh, yea of little faith.
So this morning the Priest read the letter from the bishop advising caution about common cup and the intinction process and the congregation was greatly amused. The Chalice is silver, the wine is alcoholic, the Chalice lip is wiped and turned after each communicant partakes, God is present…what’s the problem? We did as we have always done: most of us drank from the common cup and a few dunked the wafer. God is present. Frances Scott
Boy does the 2000 year old faith look like a stranger to some people. OK, Google “infection + communion” or something. Look in 2000 years of history. Got all those references to people getting sick from the chalice? Took a while, didn’t it? How many? ****ZERO****
examples. Sigh. Now for the Zwingli-ists among you, remember it is the Blood of Christ if you think it is, it isn’t if you don’t. So you folks better be careful, because it might just be nothing but wine in the cup. Refrain, just eat the wafer…Oh, and that probably isn’t anything either.
Now, for a person *with* a 2000 year old faith (Catholics, Orthodox) this is just nonsense and blasphemy. The Eucharist is life giving, not death dealing. It only hurts you if you shouldn’t be taking it. Sadly, one can see Roman bishops writing precautionary letters to their communities about this. How odd. No Orthodox bishop would think of it.
I am not personally a fan of intinction myself, and I agree with the historical argument about the safety of the common cup. As indicated in this article from The Episcopal Church, intinction is markedly less safe since some people may dip their fingers in the wine as they intinct, which therefore would spread infection much more easily. As an occasional chalice bearer, I can definitely say that not everyone is as careful as we would want about where their fingers go in the chalice!
Sorry about my previous post, I cannot seem to figure out how to get the HTML tags for a link to work properly.
Here is the link I meant to post:
http://www.episcopalchurch.org/79901_107136_ENG_HTM.htm