Dr. Anthony Stephen Fauci Has declared that we won’t be shaking hands anymore. Yes, you read that correctly, any more.
Somehow I doubt that, but as everyone knows I am clairvoyant.
I know we aren’t having any public Masses, but can a non-public EF Requiem be celebrated for the death of the “handshake of Peace” and the “common, pandemic-producing common chalice”?
16 comments:
Kavanagh, “Mr. Science,” would be hardest hit!
You can be sure that the libs will be adamant that people return to these practices.
And if someone gets the coronavirus from this practice being renewed, I would recommend they sue!
I’ve decided to give up on Novus Ordo mass here in Savannah as much as I love Father Schreck I can’t do it anymore. It makes me ill. 1 PM TLM for me now on if we ever get our mass back.
Sadly, the OF is a Mass is spiritually and intellectually deficient
The 'sign of peace' and Communion in both kinds for the laity are optional in any case. When public Masses are resumed there will still be need for caution for a considerable period of time, so it's unlikely that the suspension of either practice will be lifted immediately.
Once people have learned to live without them, there will be an opportunity to do the following:
a) Do not offer the chalice as a matter of routine. This was not what the Council intended in the first place.
b) Omit the sign of peace or find a more suitable way of doing it. Shaking hands is not a liturgical gesture, and in every other context is not accompanied by 'peace be with you'. What's wrong with a simple bow?
Yes, indeed, John Nolan.
a. Even if the Church reinstates the common Chalice, no communicant has ever been or ever will be (God-willing) required to to receive from the “cup”. It is a personal choice to do so, one that I personally gave up doing years ago.
The “scientific” info on infection transmission by the Chalice, that some here have relied on as “evidence”, is summarized in a letter to the editor in 1998 in the American Journal of Infection Control. That was 22 years ago, folks, and inconclusive at best. (See: https://www.ntnl.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/Common-Cup-CDC.pdf). No one in his right mind would rely on this as current or state-of-the-art research, and there are no good strictly-controlled research studies out there since that time, just anecdotal stuff that no one should trust. The Church, if she deems a reinstatement of the common Chalice as necessary, would do well to hound the CDC for controlled study, if such is even possible given the difficulties described in paragraph 2 of that letter. Read that letter carefully.
I’m guessing here, but having worked in ID, and knowing the pressing workload and underfunding of the CDC in good times, you won’t get much of a response in bad times. The Chairman of my ID department, given his blunt style and with a smirk, would say something like: “I’m too busy for that. Use your God-given common sense!”.
Now, I would NEVER say anything that bluntly of course...
b. Bowing to each other makes sense; I have been doing that during flu season for years. If it offends anyone, I try to explain to him/her after Mass. Yes, call me a germophobe—I’m fine with that.
Blessings on all,
Anon12
I personally NEVER take from the Chalice due to commonsense rather than scientific training. When I do attend the OF, I notice a clear supermajority of folks do not either, so why do pastors persist in keeping an army of folks up there offering the chalice? Is it to give lay people jobs? Quite frankly, the solemnity of the Mass would be restored, in part, by ditching the chalice folks and returning to the practice of kneeling for the reception of Holy Communion.
The shaking of hands at the kiss of peace was an idiotic innovation, which again, ruins the sacred mood as we are readying to receive Our Lord. It also seems duplicative of greeting each other before Mass begins. In my former parish, we were ordered to greet those around us before Mass began.
Even in my previous hyper-NO parish many of the elderly would refrain from shaking hands during flu season. It was the extended and elaborate explanations that made me want to hug and kiss them.
BTW, I’m perfectly willing to be corrected on anything I’ve said here. Just please use a little decorum, and try to avoid disrespectful, knee-jerk sarcasm. We are in this together, God-willing.
Trying for goodness here, as it is Good Friday.
Anon12
Anon 12,
Please give us an example of the "disrespectful, knee-jerk sarcasm" you are seeing here
"b) Omit the sign of peace or find a more suitable way of doing it. Shaking hands is not a liturgical gesture, and in every other context is not accompanied by 'peace be with you'. What's wrong with a simple bow?"
I'm all for omit of what, to me, is profoundly awkward forced interaction.
Why is it that Fr. Allan McDonald's demand that bishops & priests be referred to or addressed using their proper titles does not apply to everyone who posts here?
Anonymous,
"Progressive Privilege!"
TJM, SO SORRY. I tried at 1:30 (EST) to respond to your 11:04 comment, but it never posted...don’t know why.
My 10:42 comment was written before yours, then posted at the same time, I think. In any event, it was NOT directed at any comments in this thread, but rather toward a person who often comments here using “scientific” authority. Specifically in a thread 2-3 days ago, that person took issue with something I said in support of FRAJM, and was knee-jerk sarcastic and disrespectful IMHO—not that my opinion should rule anyones’s day.
I think you probably know to whom I am referring here...
Again, sorry. The timing of those two responses of yours and mine I believe crossed over. Then, my apology never went through. Hopefully this one will.
Blessings
Anon12
Anon 12,
Thanks!
Happy Easter
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