Posted on 05/11/2020 5:47:57 PM PDT by ebb tide
KNOXVILLE, Tennessee, May 11, 2020 (LifeSiteNews) – Bishop Richard F. Stika of Knoxville, Tennessee, has confirmed in a tweet that the priests of his diocese “will not give Communion on the tongue as per my instruction.” Taking it further, he says that if the person wanting to receive Holy Communion on the tongue “makes a scene,” then “they will be asked to leave and not permitted to return [until] this passes.”
In his May 6 decree on the resumption of public Masses, Stika described the “mandatory (non-negotiable)” procedure for distributing and receiving Holy Communion.
“Once you leave your pew/chair you will proceed single file (maintaining 6 feet apart) to the distribution point,” Stika wrote. “Immediately before you reach the distribution point you will remove your protective face mask placing it in your pocket and sanitize your hands with 70% alcohol-based sanitizing gel/solution (which will be on a small table directly in front of the distribution point).”
“Standing on the floor-marked X (or kneeling at the 6-foot marked locations along the communion rail), you will extend your arms and hands toward the priest/deacon with the palm of your non-writing hand facing up and completely flat supported by your writing hand,” he continued.
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The priest, in turn, is to wear “a protective face mask and safety glasses.”
Stika added a diagram illustrating the reception of the Eucharist according to coronavirus rules in the diocese of Knoxville.
Stika’s comments on Twitter came after a user sent him an article on the guidelines prepared by the Thomistic Institute, which is part of the Pontifical Faculty of the Immaculate Conception at the Dominican House of Studies in Washington, D.C., and recommended by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops.
According to those guidelines, receiving Holy Communion directly on the tongue is possible “without unreasonable risk.”
“Opinions on this point are varied within the medical and scientific community: some believe Communion on the tongue involves an elevated and, in the light of all the circumstances, an unreasonable risk; others disagree,” the document pointed out. “If Communion on the tongue is provided, one could consider using hand sanitizer after each communicant who receives on the tongue.”
The guidelines specifically referred to Redemptionis Sacramentum, an Instruction published by the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments in 2004. According to the document, “each of the faithful always has the right to receive Holy Communion on the tongue.”
The article sent to Stika, published by Church Militant, was titled, “US Bishops Approve Communion on the Tongue.”
Stika responded, “Actually, the bishops did not. A group made some recommends, actually three for the reception of the Eucharist. But bishops must follow their own conscience. The headline is a distortion of the reality of what a committee stated.”
“You are dispensed from Mass or you may attend Mass and not receive the Eucharist,” he wrote. “You have two options. You have not option to possibility [sic] spread the infection.”
“These are very challenging times and my ministry is not to keep everyone happy but to do what I judge to be right. If I would do anything else, I would be violating my own conscience and the advice I seek from others,” Stika concluded.
The bishop of Knoxville was subsequently attacked on Twitter for his decision not to allow the reception of Holy Communion on the tongue, as well as not permitting Catholics who insist on that manner of receiving the Eucharist to come back to Mass before the coronavirus pandemic is over.
“I have to make decisions based on my conscious [sic] and protecting my flock,” he said. “I prefer to side with caution. I make no decision arbitrarily, but seek advice and then bring it to prayer.”
So much for all that "collegiality" and "universal Church";
So much for Catholic ladies and young girls wearing dresses or skirts to Stikamasses.
Stika responded, “Actually, the bishops did not. A group made some recommends, actually three for the reception of the Eucharist. But bishops must follow their own conscience.
So much for all that "collegiality" and "universal Church"; francisbishops are each their own little dictators when it comes to breaking canon law.
Ping
Ah well I guess there IS something you can do to be banned from Mass.
Not running abortion clinics or passionately defending evil on the floor of Congress though.
First, “as per” is ungrammatical, Your Excellency. Second, it amazes me the dismissive tone that so many of these cretins dare to take with their flocks who are hungering for the sacrament
Just FYI. There's always a way, IMHO.
There’s something off about Stika.
Also, his new cathedral is Disneyland-classical - all the trappings, none of the substance.
Ya gotta lick both paws palms. Like a cat.
That is desecration of the Body of Christ.One does not use a pocket. In fact, one is not allowed to do this or leave the Mass without consuming.
The pocket was in reference to the mandatory face mask, not the Sacred Host.
The only criticism I've heard from (some) fellow Knoxville Catholics is that it was expensive. The counter-argument I've heard, is that it was built to last 500 years. Someone said it had "no substance"? I disagree.
To me, it looks like a Catholic Church, which is, I think, what was wanted.
It has an altar --- a real Catholic altar, substantial and of stone, with relics embedded, not a little wooden Cranmer table--- under a baldacchino on which Mass can be celebrated ad oriéntem as well as versus pópulum, a Communion Rail, a respectable pulpit, and traditional sacred art adorning its dome.
“There’s always a way, IMHO.”
Good comments and I agree. Those who want to find obstacles will find obstacles. Those who want to find solutions will find solutions.
Last time I just licked my receiving hand. Like a cat. Or like some Byzantine Catholics do when they receive the antidoron. I don’t think it quite makes sense to lick your other hand that didn’t even touch the Sacred Host. Why would you think so?
The pocket is for the FACE MASK, not for the HOST, God forbid.
Yes all the trappings.
Architecturally it is a plastic banana.
It looks Renaissance but does not feel or sound such.
Authenticity is as important in building as it is in theology. A building pretending to be that which it is not, is in my opinion, scandalous.
I have been to the cathedral several times.
There is some exceptional new classical churches. This is not one of them.
So it’s pretending to be a cathedral?
Or do some just palm lick the Holy Eucharist?
“Or do some just palm lick the Holy Eucharist?”
Picking a fight with a straw an Marty? Come on - you are better than that...
The way it worked here, is that Fr. Dustin, accompanied by an acolyte with a paten, administered to us as we were kneeling. Fr. Dustin just held out the Sacred Host and sort of dropped it into my receiving hand (left), and I brought my receiving hand immediately and directly to my mouth and consumed the Host. And then quietly and unobtrusively licked the palm of my receiving hand without (I think) anyone else noticing.
As a post-note. In the TLM, the priest’s thumb and forfingers, the only ones that touch the Sacred Host at the Consecration, remain clenched together throughout distribution of Holy Communion to the faithful, except for the administration of the Host to each communicant, in which case the priest’s fingers remain constantly over the ciborium and then the paten under the communicant’ chin.
No palm licking required.
That’s one reason I vastly prefer TLM. Plus, I’m a member of the Schola Cantorum, and I love that to the depths of my tessitura.
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