Just Take It!

When churches in the Boston Archdiocese reopened in the midst of the pandemic last year, several safety protocols were in place.  Seating capacity was limited to just a fraction of what it used to be and in our parish, every other pew was roped off with blue masking tape.  To ensure social distancing, the remaining pews were marked with Xs every six feet using that same blue tape.  Hand shaking was out along with ushers passing the collection basket.  Instead parishioners were encouraged to place their weekly donations into a small bin at the church's entrance.  Hand sanitizer stations were placed at every doorway and parishioners had to make reservations in order to attend Mass.  At times, our temperatures were taken with a hand-held thermometer before we entered the building but other times we just walked right in after our names were checked off a list.  
 
One of the most dramatic changes during Mass was how communion was distributed.  Instead of forming a line and approaching the altar, parishioners now remained seated while the priest and a few Eucharistic ministers delivered the host to everyone by walking across those empty pews.  And here is where something of a controversy begins.
 
Some people feel that it's a lot safer in these times if parishioners wishing to receive communion simply hold out their hands so the priest can drop the host into waiting palms without having to touch anyone.  A few archdioceses have even gone so far as to ban communion on the tongue and this ruling has been upheld by the Vatican.  
 
In our church, I think the priests just assumed everyone would follow this guideline because when one parishioner wanted to have the host placed on his tongue during that first "post-Covid lockdown" Mass of 2020, my pastor looked very confused and wondered what to do next.  He then told the parishioner that he would oblige but only after everyone else had received communion on the hand first.  After giving this person communion, our pastor returned to the altar to liberally spray his hands down with sanitizer.  

Over the next few weeks, anyone who wanted communion on the tongue had to wait until everyone else received it by hand.  Then at some point, our pastor changed this practice.  Now communion would be given to everyone right then and there and if someone wanted it placed on their tongue, the priest or Eucharistic minister would do so immediately.  Then they would return to the altar, spray their hands with hand sanitizer, and continue to distribute the host as usual.  Two problems quickly arose from this new procedure, however.
 
Some Masses were attended by several people who wanted to receive communion on the tongue so instead of delivering the hosts to everyone in a timely manner, the priest or Eucharistic minister had to stop, walk all the way back to the altar and spray their hands down before returning to the pews.  Suddenly the well-oiled machine of socially distant worshiping ground to a halt.  While I was glad to see people attend Mass, this start / stop way of of handing out communion got pretty annoying fast.  There are times when I find myself yelling in my mind at these worshipers, “Just take it!”
 
The other problem occurred when more than one person in the same group wanted communion on the tongue.  The priest or Eucharistic minister would grab a host, place it on the tongue of one parishioner then reach back into the chalice for another host without sanitizing his hand!  Such a sight had me hoping and praying that these people didn't have Covid-19 because more often than not when the priest or Eucharistic minster placed a host on one person's tongue, he would reach in for another host but pick up two by mistake.  The second host was then allowed to fall back into the chalice to be given to some unsuspecting worshiper six feet away.
 
In a May 7, 2020 article from Church Militant on the subject, Father Jeffrey Robideau defends communion on the tongue during the pandemic remarking, "Where I did give Communion in the hand, I touched each and every hand.  With the tongue, I very rarely have any contact as described above. So you tell me which one is safer."  To that I say maybe this priest has fat fingers because I've never felt anyone accidentally bump into my hand when delivering the Eucharist.  It does seem pretty difficult to pluck out a single host from the chalice without touching other wafers, though.

The debate on the preferred way to receive communion is a pretty old one with some Catholics getting pretty riled up about it.  Some say communion on the hand isn't as reverent and sometimes these arguments quickly devolve into claims that Vatican II is the cause for most of the Church's problems.  I've had a few priests on either side of this debate lecture us from the pulpit but in reality most clergy tend not to care one way or another...just as long as you're going to Mass in the first place.

There are still many unknowns regarding Covid-19 so I think it's important that everyone errs on the side of caution.  The fact that some Catholics stubbornly refuse to do so tells me the Church has bigger problems to deal with than the pandemic.