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To: Mrs. Don-o
As I understand it, those who attended the Detention Cente Mass (which included both staff and detainees) were told at the beginning of the Mass that Communion was for Catholics who have observed the fast and are in a state of grace. Those who approached for the Sacrament were presumed to be such. I don’t think any of the offenders received. They may have come up for a blessing, which is what is often done when a person, for whatever reason, cannot in good conscience receive Communion. The priest puts his hand on their heads and blesses them.

Do you know where you heard/saw this info? It certainly is good to hear. We should have this announcement at every mass.

54 posted on 05/11/2013 5:57:53 AM PDT by piusv
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To: piusv
I just went to Google and looked for the article I referred to, and, sorry, I couldn't find it. (And then I had trouble getting pages to load, the 'puter went on the fritz, had to have Mr. Don-o come in and check my avast security settings, reboot, and generally get things kosher again, and in the meantime I did the dishes --- sorry, that's what took me so long!)

But here's pretty good circumstantial evidence: in the immediate aftermath of Pope Fancis washing the feet of the youth offenders, there was a huge amount a'skwawkin, a'sqweekin' and a-freepin' about it, including solidly orthodox canonists (Ed Peters) and liturgists (Fr. Z), as well as radtrads (Rorate Caeli), and provocateurs like Nicole Winfield (whose oh-goodie-a-fight" piece got 21,000 hits in 48 hours (Link). Many blogs construed things in the worst possible light, the frantic anti-papist calumnies raising many a devilish cackle among the Lowerarchy in Flames I am sure.

In the midst of all this overheated huffiness, there was not one word said about "everybody" receiving Communion, which would have been a much, MUCH bigger deal if it had happened.

Le me clarify further, for the sake of comparison. The washing of the feet is not a sacrament, and neither is it a required rite. It is an optional observance; it was restored only in 1955 by Pope Pius XII as a part of the general reform of Holy Week, and governed by rubrics set in place in 1988 by the Office of the Congregation for Divine Worship (only yesterday, so to speak.) Setting aside "viri" to include women is permitted by many bishops' conferences, including in the USA (Link) and in Argentina, where Abp. Bergoglio had often washed the feet of patients in hospitals, including pregnant women.

My point here is, that people who were looking to foment a fight between faithful traditional Catholics and the Holy Father would have seized on, reported, and exploited a violation of Communion in a heartbeat, if it had happened. It would have been incomparably more radical, HUGELY more divisive, compared to just foot-washing, which an optional observance with rubrics set in place only in the 20th century.

Sacrilegious Communion is something solemnly rebuked 2,000 years ago in Scripture itself (1 Corinthians) and would have caused, not just a little lowing from the herd, but a rip-roaring livestock stampede. And for good reason.

Therefore, I conclude that no Eucharistic delict occurred on Holy Thursday. And I have seen no evidence that it did. A few newspaper reports noted in passing that "inmates and staff" received Communion. The Detention Center has 50 inmates ---10 female and 40 male --- and, if you include all shifts, an even greater number of staff, including Catholic, Jewish, Muslim and unchurched. NOBODY reported that "ALL" inmates and "ALL" staff received Communion.

I'd be willing to bet my right hand up to the elbow that they did not.

57 posted on 05/11/2013 9:20:42 AM PDT by Mrs. Don-o ("You can observe a lot just by watchin'." - Yogi Berra)
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