Denver Newsroom, May 29, 2020 / 08:00 am (CNA).- As dioceses across the United States start to reopen public Masses, the scientist leading the government’s response to the coronavirus pandemic recommended that Catholic Churches ought not resume distribution of Holy Communion. But other medical experts told CNA there are ways that Communion can be distributed safely amid the coronavirus pandemic.
Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, told America magazine May 26 that he does not consider the distribution of Holy Communion to yet be safe— even if distributed in the hand.
“I think for the time being, you just gotta forestall that,” Fauci said regarding Communion, calling for “common sense” measures to protect worshippers and the wider community such as masks, social distancing, and prohibiting singing.
“As many times as a priest can wash his hands, he gets to Communion, he puts it in somebody’s hand, they put it in their mouth…it’s that kind of close interaction that you don’t want when you’re in the middle of a deadly outbreak,” he told America.
Fauci’s recommendation on the Eucharist came a month after he said it could be possible for Americans to connect with people through dating apps like Tinder, Bumble, or Grindr.
“If you’re willing to take a risk…you could figure out if you want to meet somebody,” Fauci told Snapchat’s “Good Luck America.”
“If you want to go a little bit more intimate, well, then that’s your choice regarding a risk,” he added.
Deacon Robert Lanciotti is a microbiologist and the former chief of the Center for Disease Control and Prevention’s diagnostic and reference laboratory in Fort Collins, Colorado. Lanciotti told CNA that Fauci’s call for “common sense” measures to mitigate the risk of infection does not exclude the possibility of distributing Communion.
“The primary way that this virus is spread is by direct person to person contact; droplets produced when an infected person coughs or sneezes that land on another person and then enter the respiratory tract,” Lanciotti told CNA in an email.
“Maintaining a 6-foot distance or wearing a cloth mask are both methods that disrupt this process. Utilizing one of these measures in a group setting where infected symptomatic people are not present should be a sufficient level of risk reduction.”
Lanciotti, a graduate of Loyola College, was ordained a deacon in 2017.
He took issue with Fauci’s concerns regarding Communion in the hand.
“With the use of hand sanitizer immediately prior to the distribution of Holy Communion, and being careful not to directly touch the communicant, there is virtually no risk in the distribution of Communion,” Lanciotti told CNA.
Deacon Lanciotti pointed to an April 28 document from the Thomistic Institute in Washington D.C., written by medical professionals, researchers, and theologians.
That group recommended that out of respect for the Mass, the priest ought not wear a mask or gloves during the Mass, and neither should anyone distributing Communion.
Under the group’s recommended guidelines, those who wish to receive could approach the altar, spaced six feet apart; if the priest believed he touched the hands or mouth of a recipient, he could use hand sanitizer sitting on a table next to him.
According to the Thomistic Institute’s recommendations, the Precious Blood ought not be distributed at Mass.
To date, dioceses that have developed Church reopening plans have called for suspension of distribution of the Precious Blood. The Catholic Church teaches that reception of either the host or the chalice is a complete act of Eucharistic reception.
The Thomistic Institute’s document, distributed to bishops by the U.S. bishops’ conference, also recommends— as did Dr. Fauci— that singing ought to be discouraged.
It also states that it could be possible to receive Holy Communion on the tongue “without unreasonable risk.”
The document recommends that the elderly and those with underlying medical conditions ought not attend Mass anyway, as they are at especially high risk.
“I completely agree with this statement…In the setting of a church service, the single most important safety measure is for symptomatic individuals to stay home,” Lanciotti told CNA.
“I would argue that having sick individuals stay home, followed by adopting one more measure— masks or social distancing— is a reasonable approach. Utilizing both masks and social distancing represents a safety redundancy that is excessive and counter to ‘common sense,’” he said.
At St. Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican, Masses resumed May 18, after more than two months of closure amid Italy’s coronavirus lockdown.
Visitors are advised to keep two meters apart, hand sanitizer is available at kiosks in the basilica, and, at the church’s entrance, the body temperatures of visitors are checked with scanning thermometers, by two attendants wearing hazmat suits.
The Eucharist is distributed during Masses at the basilica.
Fauci, a Catholic, attended a Jesuit secondary school and Jesuit university.
In 2015, he told C-Span that he is no longer “a regular church-attender. I have evolved into less a Roman Catholic religion person to someone who tries to keep a degree of spirituality about them. I look upon myself as a humanist. I have faith in the goodness of mankind.”
He similarly told America that he appreciates his Catholic education, and especially the values he was taught at the Jesuit institutions he attended.
“I identify more, much more, with that than the concept of organized churches, religions,” he told America.
Other Catholic medical professionals have weighed in on the question of whether Holy Communion can be distributed safely.
An ad-hoc committee of seven Catholic doctors and medical school professors released on May 12 a document entitled “Road Map to Re-Opening our Catholic Churches Safely.” That group of doctors concluded that the safest recommendation is to receive Communion in the hand rather than on the tongue.
The document calls for Mass to be held with social distancing, and for the use of masks and hand sanitizer. Singing should be avoided, and those who are ill or believe they may have been exposed to the virus should stay home, it says.
One member of that committee is Dr. Andrea Baccarelli, chair of Environmental Health Sciences at Columbia University’s School of Public Health.
Baccarelli told CNA that he agrees with and appreciates Fauci’s suggestions, and that there is a risk to the distribution of Holy Communion.
“Our committee wrote a plan to minimize the risk to distribute communion. That doesn’t mean that there will be no risk nor that we advised on whether it was safe to do it now or in the future,” Baccarelli added. “We just provided a document to guide masses and distribute Communion whenever it will be safe enough to do so.”
“If Dr. Fauci suggests it is not time yet to distribute communion, I think we should listen to him and wait before doing that again,” Baccarelli said.
Another member of the committee told CNA last week that he believes Catholics can attend Mass safely, and sacraments can be administered with appropriate precautions.
“I think that if we just use common sense to compare apples to apples for metrics that we know matter – like density, for example – then there’s no real kind of objective scientific reason why Mass is any more dangerous than going to the grocery store. I think the difference here is a perceived risk,” Dr. Andrew Wang, an immunobiologist at the Yale University School of Medicine and one of the plan’s co-authors, told CNA.
The plan calls for confessions to be held in outdoor or well-ventilated indoor areas, with the use of masks, an impermeable barrier between the priest and penitent, and frequent sanitization of surfaces.
Wang said that distributing Holy Communion on the hand, rather than on the tongue, represents an appropriate precaution for churches, especially while some things about the coronavirus spread are not yet completely understood.
Acknowledging that some people may object to that recommendation, Wang said that in his perspective, “it boils down to, is it better to not have communion at all – and by extension not have Mass at all?”
Ultimately, Wang said, going to church at this time is not risk-free, just as any other public activity is not without risk during a pandemic. He noted that dioceses throughout the country have granted dispensations from the Sunday obligation for those who are unable to attend or are not comfortable with the risk involved.
Deacon Tim Flanigan is a member of the Thomistic Institute’s working group, an infectious disease specialist who has battled Ebola outbreaks, and a professor of medicine at Brown University. Flanigan also told CNA that Catholics can return to Mass and the sacraments safely – if they observe CDC protocols.
“The question is: can I follow the CDC guidance just as carefully, in each setting, in order to decrease transmission of coronavirus? Can I maintain safe distancing? Can I maintain good hand hygiene? Can I ensure that I am not ill?” Flanigan told CNA last week.
If CDC guidelines are followed, “There is no reason to prohibit church services when you don’t prohibit other gatherings,” Flanigan said.
“The CDC gives us that guidance to decrease the rate of transmission. It’s just as important that guidance be followed at a house of worship, as at a conference, as at any other gathering.”
“If somebody makes an arbitrary judgment that a church is not going to follow that guidance, without any evidence, that is biased and there is no evidence for that,” he said.
Flanigan questioned the categories of some governors who classified religious gatherings as “non-essential,” compared to more “essential” activities like grocery stores.
“Being able to come together and pray together, being able to receive the sacraments, to encounter the Lord, right there in the sacraments, is so important,” Flanigan said.
Mental health is just as important as physical health, just as important as spiritual health,” he said. “We are a whole self, which has a mind, a body, a heart a soul. To be able to pray together, to be able to support each other, to be able to worship together, to be able to receive the Lord in Communion, is so important for us to be healthy and to thrive.”
“That is why our churches are essential,” Flanigan told CNA.
[…]
Make a mess papacy strikes again…
I am so tired of this nonsense.
How long, Lord?
Revenge pure and simple. What a disgrace.
Yes, it is a typical narcissistic revenge. Say “no” to a narcissist and he will attempt to destroy just but also anything connected with you including other people (this is actually an ultimate test for that disorder but a very costly one).
Such moments are very sad but they serve to reveal how truly concerned those who trumpet “for the good of others” are about those others.
Does a bishop’s order, premised on bald-faced lies (“celebration of the liturgy according to the liturgical books approved by St. Paul VI and St. John Paul II in accordance with the Second Vatican Council”) even need to be obeyed?
Great question!
Silliness
save a soul today
If you want to steer devout people to the SSPX this is a way to accomplish that.
A few months ago I visited a part of the country where the SSPX offered the only Catholic Mass in the entire county. They were thriving and not only flourishing in numbers but involved with local community and charitable projects.
The other growing faith community there were the Amish.
That’s what our future will look like. Devout Catholics, Amish, Hasidic Jews and whoever else embraces tradition above the world. Especially traditional teaching on marriage and family.
It’s a shame our hierarchy doesn’t see the demographic writing on the wall. Even for the sake of job security.
Mrscracker,
Actually, I strongly suspect that the Pope does see the demographic writing on the wall. In my opinion, the relationship of cause and effect is so strong that a person would have to be fairly stupid not to see it.
I’ve heard that Pope Francis does not use the internet & relies on his advisors for information. I pray every day that God will send him holy advisors who have our best interests at heart.
With all the troubles in the Church and in the world – Christians persecuted even killed, Chinese Catholics suffering – wars in Ukraine, the Middle East, perhaps in East Asia, secularism rampant in the West – the Vatican spends so much time and energy to wipe out a Latin Mass – in a cathedral in a small diocese in Texas!!!!
Is this how we evangelize? preach the gospel?
Oh! We have a Pope? I must not have been paying attention.
The City of Man grows at the expense of the City of God.
“Let us walk together, except for you Latin Mass types.”
The Church of Abandonment strikes again. I echo Leo’s comment.
As a convert from Evangelical Protestantism who considers “understanding” a major priority for me–I don’t care for the Latin Mass or any Mass in a language that I do not speak because I can’t understand it and looking at a translation is not conducive to my ability to worship. I also love the hymns in my own heart language, and perhaps because I grew up in the 1970s (horror movies e.g., Hammer films!), I find any form of chant “spooky.” But I certainly have no objection to others who love the Latin Mass and who are blessed and edified by it, and who are willing to put in the time and discipline to learn the various chants and the musical forms (Gregorian chant, etc.) that are used in the Latin Mass. I don’t understand why the Latin Mass is being taken away from its loyal attendees and celebrants. It seems like a waste of time and energy when there are so many other pressing issues in the world today.
My sentiment exactly
It’s mostly not about the language. It’s about the Tradition that is transmitted, in word, deed, smells, bells, song, and statues. That’s what is hated. And it is hated in large part because of the pressing issues of today. Traditionalists have all the normal sins and failings of human beings, but people who think homosexual acts, fornication, contraception, or abortion are OK, are almost nonexistent there. People who reject the Real Presence either don’t go there, or come to believe it. This results in communities where people actually support each other in believing and living the Faith, and are therefore willing to speak those truths out loud, because they aren’t alone. It is those beliefs that strengthen the family and make it possible to raise healthy, happy, holy children. And it is against children and the family that the devil is currently waging war. Breaking up those communities is a divide-and-conquer maneuver by the devil – who is entirely capable of inspiring irrational dislike or harshness in the hearts of men.
When you better understand what the Mass is, a holy sacrifice of the Son, re-presented to the Father and for the Father (not for you), then you will see that it is deep, like reading scripture. You are always finding something new. Do some research on each part of the Mass and then follow carefully what the priest is doing and I think you will appreciate that you don’t need the vernacular to know what is going on on.
Why does the Vatican have to approve the order?
“Let us build a house
Where love can dwell
And all can safely live
A place where
Saints and children tell
How hearts learn to forgive
Built of hopes and dreams and visions
Rock of faith and vault of grace
Here the love of Christ shall end divisions
All are welcome, all are welcome
All are welcome in this place…”
*******
Even Marty Haugen got some things right. All should be welcome, not selectively excluded. “Catholic” means universal. Imagine if Spanish Masses were suppressed in the same way in Texas?
oh, mrscracker, something for you to read (and only one of many articles giving the information about Marty Haugen [I chose the first to come up in my search]); but I would be quite surprised if you didn’t already know about this?
https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/260341/diocese-reverses-hymn-ban-in-favor-of-synodal-selection-of-sacred-music
Oh yes, thank you very much for that link. I used to sing in the choir & not a few of us would wince every time our choir director picked another “Marty” hymn for us to practice for Mass.
I think his songs are mostly rubbish even without the association to his alleged behaviors. But it’s always interesting how “all” being welcome doesn’t always translate to “all”. Just as “diversity & inclusion” doesn’t either. Some are more welcome than others. Only certain forms of diversity apply. Inclusion ends up excluding.
Mrs C, the most vicious of all intolerances is the Liberal “Catholic” (it is a contradiction in terms) who cannot tolerate undiluted sacred liturgy nor watered down doctrine. Tragically, the Liberal “Catholics” are running Rome (into the ground).
Liberal “Catholics”: apostates who adopted liberalism to undermine Catholicism for freemasonry.
Your avatar is wonderful!
I take everything literally. At first I thought: “Nye-Eve” what an interesting name…
🙂
Oh, thank you.
It is self-revealing, especially on this forum/website.
I learn quite a bit reading the comments.
It wasn’t enough to fire the Bishop. Now, bergoglio further crushes a small but innocent diocese underfoot as if it were no better than a cigarette butt. There isn’t a single molecule of “shepherd” is his entire being.
The adage applies to those who do good as well as those who do evil – What goes around comes around.
In God’s good time.
Suggestion – Schedule the last Latin Mass in that Cathedral for Saturday, November 30, spread the word, and then make ABSOLUTELY SURE that the Pope is told 1) how many people attended the Mass, and 2) from how far many of them came for the Mass.
Suggestion #2 – Read this piece and then go to Crisis Magazine and read the review of the movie ‘Conclave’, and then …..
(BTW – In the dictionary under the definition of the word ‘petty’ this article should be there as a prime example.)
Mrs. Whitlock – I agree with you – well said
Where’s the year-long synodal process for this massive change to the lives of the faithful?
Francis claims to be promoting unity, but it’s not unity, it’s just favoring one form of uniformity over another. I can attend Mass in Poland or Brazil or the Philippines or Japan, but I don’t know Polish or Portuguese or Tagalog or Japanese. So we’re separated by Francis’s “unity.” If they all had the Traditional Latin Mass, it would be the same in each of those countries, and having studied Latin and the one Latin Mass in particular, I could follow along and participate everywhere.
Yes, that’s the benefit of a universal prayer language. It works the same way for Hebrew.
Inimicus Missae Latinae est procurator Satanae.
We must pray for Pope Francis.
I pray for the Pope-the next one-especially because I know he’s like to be from the packed college and a fellow traveler.
Since Pope Francis is so into synods; how about cadaver synod 2.0?
Francis’ burial Mass should be in Latin and Strickland should be the principal celebrant.
It would be the best comment on his Papacy since Biden lost control.