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At any rate, throughout the Universal Church the practice was found to be
unacceptable and was eventually universally suppressed. Already in the year
650 A.D. the practice of Communion in the hand was condemned by the Council
of Rouen.
These facts alone should have been sufficient reason to wonder whether the
revival of the long abandoned practice would accomplish anything but harm for
the contemporary Church.
We do not, at any rate, see an increase in faith and reverence for the Eucharist
since the reintroduction of the abusive practice of distributing Holy Communion
in the hand.
In his Apostolic Letter Dominicae Coenae (February 24, 1980), Pope John Paul
II stated that since the practice was introduced, "cases of deplorable lack of
respect towards the Eucharistic species have been reported, cases which are
imputable not only to the individuals guilty of such behavior, but also
to the pastors of the Church who have not been vigilant enough regarding the
attitude of the faithful towards the Eucharist." In a report entitled Should
Communion in the Hand be rescinded? we read:
. . . Hosts . . . have also been found in missalettes, on pews, under pews,
in church vestibules and parking lots. They have also been placed in
pockets and photo albums. Even more shockingly, consecrated hosts have
been found in toilets . . . it is public knowledge that stolen Consecrated
Hosts are used in the worship of satan in terrible "black Masses".
4. ". . . one must take care to not drop or lose any particles of the Eucharistic
Bread, one must also take care to see that the hands are suitably clean . . .
Of the seven conditions, I call special attention to these four, because they are
so widely ignored; in fact, No. 2, 3 and 4 seem to be almost universally ignored,
and this circumstance renders the practice sacrilegious. It was reported in Ave
Maria magazine that from purgatory a priest's soul told a chosen soul that
"Communion in the hand . . . is truly a sacrilege . . ." There even took place an
extraordinary sign of God's displeasure for this irreverent practice a few years
ago in Canada:
One of these last Sundays (June 21 or 28, 1970), at the seven o'clock
parish Mass, in the Beauceville Church (P.Q., Canada), the parish priest
Charles-Eugene Houde (about 50 years old) was celebrant. He had
already told his parishioners that they were permitted to receive the
Sacred Host in their hands, according to the directives given by the
Archbishopric of Quebec. This day, before the Mass, he told his
parishioners the following: "Henceforth, to avoid complications, everyone
of you will receive the Host in your hand for Communion . . .
At the moment of the Communion of the Mass, Reverend Houde turned to
the people, holding the ciborium in his hand. Before he had time to take
one single Host and make a single step, about fifty consecrated Hosts flew
out of the ciborium by Themselves, They went up in the air, and dispersed
Themselves around the celebrant, then slowly fell to the ground . . .
Father Houde was so much struck by the prodigy that for a few minutes
he remained motionless having his face white. Then, interiorly inspired,
he said to the faithful who were approaching the Holy table: "Henceforth,
all of you will receive the Sacred Host on your tongue, not in your hand,
because God just gave us a sign."
. . . Back at his presbytery he is reported having said: "Never in my life
will I give Holy Communion in the hand."
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not allow them to give Holy Communion in the hand. Priests have been
removed from their parishes, and priests are hampered in their work . . .
". . . is it not true that the minister is responsible to God for the proper
administration of the sacraments that he personally administers? But
some priests ask themselves, "How can a priest be held responsible by
God, if God (and the Church) does not also give to us priests the
authority to dispense this most Holy Sacrament according to God's law
and the universal law of the Church?"
"It seems then . . . that a priest is not ever obligated by divine or
ecclesiastical law to give Holy Communion in the hand, even in those
dioceses where the bishop has licitly given permission for the priests to
give Holy Communion in the hand. As the indult given by the Holy See
only dispenses a minister from the law of Holy Communion on the tongue,
it does not command a minister to give Holy Communion in the hand.
". . . the priest giving out Holy Communion must judge if in fact the
conditions set down by the Holy See for this indult are in fact present at
the time he is distributing Holy Communion."
How reverently the same Body of Christ is treated by the Pope here safely
encasing the Blessed Sacrament so that no Particles are lost.
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"... Further, it seems that when the priest finds that to give Holy Communion in
the hand would be against the law of God and his conscience he would be
obligated to not give Holy Communion in the hand. (As for example would
happen when he is morally certain that the faithful through ignorance or
negligence will cause Consecrated Fragments to drop on the ground after they
consume the Host.)
"... I have crossed Canada from the Atlantic to the Pacific Oceans and nowhere
have I seen any sufficient care taken of Particles of the Consecrated Hosts when
Communion is given in the hand. This care to see that Particles are not dropped,
is one of the necessary conditions, without which, no minister of the Holy
Eucharist under the present indult and its governing letter is allowed to give
Communion in the hand.
"... I can be morally certain that Sacred Particles will be dropped on the ground
through the practice of Communion in the hand, and I am therefore bound in
conscience as the one primarily responsible for the administration of the
sacraments that I am personally called to administer to obey the indult
strictly and not give Communion in the hand until such time as I can be
certain that such sacrileges will not take place."
Having exercised my priestly ministry for a number of years in more than ten
countries, and having observed conditions in those countries, I can only confirm
Father Gruner's observations and comments in this matter as being most
accurate.
It is indeed unfortunate that such conditions prevail in so many parts of the
Catholic world today.
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