Through the eyes of the H1N1 virus, a Catholic church is a playground. The font of holy water near the church entrance is a great place for the virus to leap from one person to another.
The passing of the peace, during which parishioners shake hands, is yet another favorite place for the virus.
And then there’s Communion….
solution: stay home when you are sick. People hug and shake hands at work all the time and touch the same door knobs. If you are worried about the communion cup intinct.
Actually, No. 1, either just receive in one kind or let the priest intinct for you. A lot of people think that intincting is more sanitary, and its actually less sanitary because people always misjudge the depth of the cup and tips of fingers go into the wine. And that’s what is more likely to spread germs, not that there has ever been any definitive study linking the common cup to disease outbreak.
and oh yes, if this kind of thing worries you then you must, must, stop handling coins … or even paper money for that matter … filthy lucre it is. Or go out wearing rubber gloves. And perhaps a face mask.
No. 3, maybe we could invent an edible wafer in the form of a face mask, so people could wear them to church and then we consecrate them. People can commune them as they rush out the door to the Germ-X in their car.
Currently, the Roman Catholic Bishop of San Diego has asked for a ban on the cup (receiving the host, only), and a ban on shaking hands during the Peace (a visiting priest in our Parish suggested using the ASL sign for “I Love You”, instead: some of us flash a plain old Peace “V”, and I’ve seen one or two doing the Vulcan “Live Long and Prosper”! Yes, I know. Nimoy took that sign from a bit of Jewish ritual, the meaning of which I do not know, however.)
This may seem silly to those of us who are healthy, but transmission of the virus could be devastating for the elderly, immune-compromised, pregnant women, and small children. At the very least, parishoners who are at serious risk should avoid sharing a common cup and take a short walk during the peace. Congregations should be educated in the FACTS to prevent unnecessary confusion or fears.
[blockquote]solution: stay home when you are sick.[/blockquote]
This is always the best advice. And remember it even when we are not in the midst of the panic over a “new” disease. The ordinary seasonal flu has already killed about five or six times as many people this year as H1N1, and it is back every single year.
#7 You are right! To put it into persepctive, typically 30,000 to 40,000 people die each year from the seasonal influenza virus. Even more amazing is that 927,000 Americans die each year from cardiovascular disease 444,000 of which are related to smoking.
An Orthodox reply to this non-issue. Noticwe the medical & scientific trainig background of the bishop. No need for comment, he says it all.
http://www.oodegr.com/english/koinwnia/koinwnika/Flu_and_Sacraments.htm
The Archbishops in England have asked that communion be gien in one kind, but the peace is still passed,, chuckle
I don’t agree with #9. He doesn’t say it all. First, I see that his background is in biomechanical engineering and bioethics, and not a physician, with any infectious diseases subspecialty certification, or even general medical practice, or microbiology scientific degree background. What people need is honest scientific information on communion, the peace, etc, being a vector for flu spread. If they are a vector, the weak suffer. God did not give us brains to put them on hold at church. The Greek Orthodox Church forbids cremation, but defers to public health officials in case of disasters requiring cremation as a public health measure, so why is this different? One of the concerns I had when leaving Greek Orthodoxy in 1972 and eventually becoming Anglican, was exactly this type of extremist rhetoric vs. Hooker’s 4 bases of faith. There is legitimate room for criticism of this bishop both in terms of content and tone. If we are going to be Anglican, we should maintain sound Anglican reasoning and our desire to remain conservative should not trump this. Are any of the clergy or physician readers here aware of sound research on this (particularly with regard to flu spread during any latency period)?
Yes, sound Anglican reasoning is why you should be concerned. By that reasoning, which is at the very root of Anglicanism, is the idea that what’s in the chalice is just wine. The bread just bread. It’s whatever you *want* it to be (See Gregory Dix or any treatment of Anglican history & prayerbooks). On that basis I would be very, very anxious about receiving it in an epidemic or for any other reason. Bishop Nikolai has been in biological research for several decades. He doesn’t exactly qualify for a discussion of putting brains on hold!
If you are nervous about communion, well, you have reason to be.
It is a stark example of why christian disunity often has a sound theological basis. I’ve suggested before, go and Google “Communion + disease transmission”. Let us know how many examples in 2000 years there are? Zero? Right. Same for the “Peace”.
If I have something I think is communicable, I usually simply receive the host and leave before the cup comes around. It seems more considerate of my fellow worshipers, and Christ is not divided into body and blood. He is present and I receive.
In Catholic services in India they do a charming Indian practice at the peace: facing your neighbors, palms together chest high, you bow slightly and smile.
#11 http://www.cdc.gov/h1n1flu/qa.htm
Another view, similar to the one mentioned above in post 9
[url=http://southern-orthodoxy.blogspot.com/2009/09/can-i-get-sick-from-receiving-communion.html]Can I Get Sick from Receiving Communion?[/url] if the link doesn’t work, Google and go to the Orthodixie blog and scroll down to the article of that title.
In His Peace
Jim Elliott <><
Oh, to Katherine,
you don’t have to leave the altar before the cup comes around, you can simply cross your arms over your chest, and that indicates you do not wish to receive. My son does it this way, so we all leave the altar rail together.
In His Peace
Jim Elliott <><
oh yea of little faith
The author of the article fails to account for the recent discovery that H1N1 is not easily transmitted by touch, but by inhalation of aerosol droplets (i.e., sneeze, cough). Doubt H1N! would spread by holy water fonts or shaking hands based on the most recent experiments with H1N1.
“…there is virtually no evidence that people can catch the influenza virus from germs that they pick up on their hands, according to Arthur Reingold, head of epidemiology at the University of California, Berkeley, and codirector of the CDC-funded California Emerging Infections Program. Instead, humans are most likely to catch influenza by breathing in microscopic particles exhaled by infected people.”
Hand-Washing Won’t Stop H1N1
http://www.newsweek.com/id/215435