[RyeWhiskeyJoe]

Couldn't happen to a nicer guy.

But if the church really starts cracking down, a lot of Catholics are going to be hit hard. Rome and the Pope have never OKed communion in hand and the Pope has issued several papers against it (against church doctrine for ANY un-annointed hands to touch the host). The US Council of Bishops have consistently ignored the Pontif and have encouraged US Catholics to receive communion in the hand. Also, lay people distributing communoin is against Church Doctrine for the the same reason cited above. Only Priests and Permanent Deacons have been through the training and annoiting process. Parish Priests have taken a vow of obedience to thier bishop, so their hands are tied (although many liberal priests agree with the practice). Something like this could start a real revolution in the Church instead of just the slow decline of the last several decades.

[Campion]

Rome and the Pope have never OKed communion in hand and the Pope has issued several papers against it

Untrue. The Pope personally dislikes the practice, but it is formally approved, by Rome, for many countries, including the US.

But it is true that it started as an abuse which was rather unfortunately "regularized".