Posted on 10/07/2005 1:29:49 PM PDT by NYer
VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- It was not listed as a topic for discussion, but the question of Communion in the hand versus Communion on the tongue received attention at the Synod of Bishops on the Eucharist.
Cardinal Janis Pujats of Riga, Latvia, was the first to raise the issue, telling the synod Oct. 3 that he thought Catholics should receive Communion on the tongue -- while kneeling. When communicants stand, Cardinal Pujats said, he feels like a dentist looking into their mouths.
Cardinal Francis Arinze, who heads the Vatican's worship congregation, responded by saying that arguments could be made for both Communion practices, in the hand and on the tongue, according to information released by the Vatican. Ultimately, he said, it's up to bishops' conferences to decide what is best in each country, but he added that Communion in the hand needs better catechesis.
Cardinal Arinze said non-Catholics in particular sometimes fail to understand Communion in the hand. He related a story about one person who went up and received Communion and then took it home and kept the host in his scrapbook.
The cardinal added that Communion in the hand does make it easier for sacrilege against a consecrated host. He reminded bishops that a host reportedly received at a papal Mass in 1998 was put up for sale on eBay earlier this year before being withdrawn by the seller.
Speaking Oct. 4, Archbishop Jan Lenga of Karaganda, Kazakhstan, called Communion in the hand a "fad." He proposed that the Vatican issue a universal norm to gradually do away with it and return to Communion on the tongue while kneeling.
The archbishop said Muslims in his predominantly Islamic country consider it disrespectful to receive Communion in the hand while standing. He said Catholics could learn a lot from Orthodox Christians and Muslims about how to show reverence to God.
He added that Communion in the hand adds to the risk of host fragments breaking off and falling to the ground and to the risk of profaning the consecrated host.
One synod participant noted that objections to Communion in the hand were coming from bishops in Eastern Europe, where the liturgical changes introduced by the Second Vatican Council have been implemented only recently.
A different perspective was offered by Melkite Patriarch Gregoire III Laham of Damascus, Syria. He quoted the fourth-century writings of St. Cyril of Jerusalem, who described how Communion should be received in the hand as if the hand were a throne for the Lord. Communion in the hand was the common practice in the early centuries of the church.
The Vatican opened the way for a return to Communion in the hand in 1969, allowing local bishops' conferences to adopt the practice as an option. At the time, the Vatican cautioned that the change should be introduced gradually and with instruction, so that a sense of reverence was preserved.
Cardinal Arinze said non-Catholics in particular sometimes fail to understand Communion in the hand. He related a story about one person who went up and received Communion and then took it home and kept the host in his scrapbook.
The archbishop said Muslims in his predominantly Islamic country consider it disrespectful to receive Communion in the hand while standing.
Are these prelates distributing communion to non-Catholics and Muslims or am I in the early stages of Alzheimers disease.
Cardinal Arinze said non-Catholics in particular sometimes fail to understand Communion in the hand. He related a story about one person who went up and received Communion and then took it home and kept the host in his scrapbook.
The archbishop said Muslims in his predominantly Islamic country consider it disrespectful to receive Communion in the hand while standing.
Are these prelates distributing communion to non-Catholics and Muslims or am I in the early stages of Alzheimers disease.
Maybe something got lost in translation?
"The archbishop said Muslims in his predominantly Islamic country consider it disrespectful to receive Communion in the hand while standing."
If not, today is First Friday Mass so everyone can go and offer reparations to sins and offenses against the Most Sacred Heart.
I'm sick. Ill. I hope this is just a misunderstanding....
This is either a horribly written article, or the Church changed a rule without telling anyone.
Cardinal Arinze said non-Catholics in particular sometimes fail to understand Communion in the hand. He related a story about one person who went up and received Communion and then took it home and kept the host in his scrapbook.
The archbishop said Muslims in his predominantly Islamic country consider it disrespectful to receive Communion in the hand while standing.
Are these prelates distributing communion to non-Catholics and Muslims or am I in the early stages of Alzheimers disease.
PING
Non-Catholics should not be receiving Communion. Why would muslims care about how we distribute Communion? All that said, though, I'm glad this topic has come up.
And when did people stop doing the Sign of the Cross after Communion?
A_R
The first comment can be interpreted in a normal way.
I agree. I could care less what some Muhammaden meteorite worshiper thinks about how Communion should be distributed.
Sign me up with you. Well time to email this to the pope and CDF.
Are these prelates distributing communion to non-Catholics and Muslims or am I in the early stages of Alzheimers disease.
LOL, you're right, I think there is a translation problem. I think he meant, Muslims converted to Catholicism.
I just called CNS International Newsdesk in D.C., I was told that the Archbishop wasn't saying that but suggesting it would promote better relations between religions if we showed more respect. I told her it wasn't worded that way and either it should be changed or an explanation/correction should be done. First of all the answerer of the call was female not male (male wrote the article, who knows, could have been editor since she fired the answer off so quickly... or she has fielded a lot of calls already).
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Because we're trying to convert them! They take the concept of "Fear of the Lord" very seriously. So then we tell them that the Holy Eucharist, although it appears as bread and wine, really is God, right there in the Tabernacle, on the Altar, in the priest's hands. Why should they believe us? Do we act like we're in the very presence of the Lord God Almighty? Do we act like we're approaching the Creator of all things visible and invisible when we approach the Altar for Holy Communion? Do we act like the Redeemer of sinful mankind is really present in the Tabernacle, when we enter the church? Do we act like we are in true, physical, intimate communion with the Holy, Mighty, Immortal One as we return to our pews from receiving Holy Communion?
If not, why should a potential Muslim (or other) convert think that we believe what we say we believe? If we don't act on our beliefs, where is our credibility?
The bold part has been completely ignored in many places and that's the heart of the problem.
About the same time it became ok for every person in the church to approach the altar for Communion, grab the Sacred Host any way they like and then slouch off in their shorts and flip flops, chomping away as if the Body of Our Lord were a potato chip.
Your our expert on Eastern Rites, but the ones I've been to dump a piece of wine soaked bread into your mouth. It would be very messy if they put it into your hand instead.
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