I attended a funeral Mass once where alot of non-Catholics were present. The priest (I don’t recall his exact words but you get the point) very graciously made an announcement prior to communion that all of our non-Catholics brothers & those who were unprepared to receive the Lord in the Eucharist were welcome to join our communion procession but would receive a special blessing instead of the Eucharist. He asked them to designate themselves by crossing their arms across their chest as they approached the altar so that he would know not to distribute the Sacrament to them but instead placed his hands on them & uttered a very touching blessing.
It ended up being a wonderful way to welcome non-Catholics into our church & many of them seemed very delighted at this. A few were even moved to tears.
Our priest makes this same announcement at both funerals and weddings.
It is also made by our lector at the beginning of Mass.
Something like
We welcome all our non-Catholics brothers and sisters and invite them to come forward for a blessing at Communion time by placing their hands across their chest. (And then it is illustrated by the lector.)
Ir’s wonderful for those people in RCIA who are becoming Catholic to come forward for that blessing.
BTW, only ordained deacons and priests can make the cross on their foreheads and offer their blessing.
I usually place my hand on their shoulder and say “Know that God loves you.”
For the children I just come down to their eye level and touch them and say “Jesus loves you.”
I also utter an “Amen” if someone does not answer after the proclamation “The Body of Christ.” Then I will give them the host.
I think we will see far less of this as more and more people start receiving The Body of Christ on their tongue rather than in their hands.