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Vatican official calls for rethink on Communion in the hand

PAGE ISSUE18

BYMARKGREAVES

ONEOFTHEVatican’s most influential liturgical figures has said it is time to reconsider the practice of receiving Communion in the hand. Archbishop Malcolm Ranjith, secretary of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Sacraments (CDW), said he believed it had led to a “weakening” of reverence towards the Eucharist. He pointed to “a general spirit of carelessness” among communicants and suggested that the Church should “reevaluate” the practice and even forbid it if necessary. His comments appeared in the preface to a book about the Eucharist written by a Kazakhstan Catholic bishop and published by the Vatican publishing house. They follow closely the concerns put forward by Cardinal Basil Hume shortly before his death. In a pastoral letter read out posthumously the cardinal said that Communion in the hand “had weakened the respect and devotion due to so great a sacrament”. A Vatican official stressed that the comments were only Archbishop Ranjith’s “personal view” and that a formal review was not expected in the near future. But as secretary of the CDW the 60-year-old archbishop is tipped to take over as prefect of the department after

the 75-year-old Cardinal Francis Arinze retires, a move that would make him the Vatican’s top liturgical official. The archbishop put forward his argument in a book by Auxiliary Bishop Athanasius Schneider of Karaganda, Kazakhstan, entitled Dominus Est: Reflections of a Bishop from Central Asia on Holy Communion. He said that Catholics were allowed to receive Communion in the hand rather than on the tongue because both parts of the body were “of equal dignity”. But he argued that the introduction of the practice in the 1970s had contributed to “a gradual and growing weakening of the attitude of reverence toward the sacred Eucharistic species”. “We see communicants who often return to their seats as if nothing extraordinary has happened,” he said. “In many cases, one cannot discern that sense of seriousness and inner silence that must signal the presence of God in the soul.” He said that the practice had been introduced “hurriedly and abusively in some spheres” and only later authorised by the Vatican. He added: “I think the time has come to evaluate these practices and to review them and, if necessary, to abandon the current practice that was not called for not by Sacrosanctum Concilium, nor by Fathers, but was only accepted after its illegitimate introduc

tion in some countries. Now more than ever it is necessary to help the faithful renew a lively faith in the real presence of Christ in the Eucharistic species with the aim of reinforcing the very life of the Church and defending it in the midst of dangerous distortions of the faith.” Communion in the hand has been permitted in England and Wales since 1976 when it was authorised by Pope Paul VI after a request from the bishops’ conference. France was the first country to gain such approval in 1969, followed by Canada and South Africa in 1970 and Zimbabwe in 1971. The Catholic Herald’s report on May 21, 1976, stressed that the Church was merely returning to the practice of early Christians. It began: “Catholics throughout England and Wales will on Sunday be able to return to the custom of a thousand years ago and receive Communion in the hand if they wish to.” The report noted that Communion in the hand had been common practice in university chaplaincies and a number of parishes for “several years”. It quoted Fr Anthony Boylan, then secretary of the Liturgy Commission, who argued that the custom... Continued on Page 2

Editorial comment: Page 11

Senior liturgists are questioning whether receiving Communion in the hand has led to a loss of reverence CNS

FEATURE

Don’t despair of meeting your Catholic Mr Right

INTERVIEW

The nun who survived abuse and anorexia

INDEX

News2-5 Catholic Life6 Features7-9

Comment12 Books15 Charterhouse18

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New Good Friday prayer for Jews issued by Vatican

BYEDWEST

THEVATICANhas issued a new version of the Good Friday prayer from the traditional Latin Missal. The new wording of the Latin prayer removes references to the “blindness” of the Jews and the need to “remove the veil from their hearts”. The new formulation was published on Tuesday on the front page of L’Osservatore Romano, along with a brief note from the Vatican Secretariat of State. The old prayer, which dates from 1962, became an issue of contention again last summer after Pope Benedict XVI issued the Motu Proprio liberating the

traditional Mass. But, as reported in The Catholic Heraldlast month, Vatican insiders have long believed that the Pontiff and Secretary of State Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone intended to issue a new version before this Easter. The text begins: “Let us pray for the Jews: May the Lord our God enlighten their hearts so that they may acknowledge Jesus Christ, the Saviour of all men. “Almighty and everlasting God, you who want all men to be saved and to reach the awareness of the truth, graciously grant that, with the fullness of peoples entering into your Church, all Israel may be saved.”

John Medlin, general manager of the Latin Mass Society (LMS), said his group accepted the new prayer and that “ultimately no rite is impervious to change”. He said: “The key idea of conversion to Christ is kept in the prayer and we regard that as very important. The LMS, in loyalty to the Holy Father’s wishes, will use the new prayer in all its Good Friday services.” But Jewish community leaders have criticised the new prayer. David Gifford, chief executive of the Council of Christians and Jews, said: “I am saddened. They could have gone much further and built on the work of the Second Vatican Council.”

Irish bishop sets students a Lent drinking challenge

BYANNAARCO

ANIRISHbishop has urged students to consider giving up alcohol for Lent. Auxiliary Bishop Eamonn Walsh of Dublin, vice chairman of the bishops’ drug and alcohol initiative, challenged a

group of young people to “go teetotal or cut down by one third in personal use of alcohol during Lent”. He said he would be “interested to hear how people found this fast and if they succeeded or failed”. Bishop Walsh met students and teachers to discuss the bishops’ initiative for responsible drinking launched in November last year. He said: “As well as taking personal responsibility to reduce alcohol consumption in our own lives, I believe that at a macro level something should

also be done to radically shift alcohol away from the mainstream cultural position that it currently occupies in Irish society. A good starting point would be to break, once and for all, the link between sport and advertising alcohol. We need to do it with the same vigour and determination as the effort to remove advertising for tobacco from sports. The stakes are high. The quality of life of whole families and communities is what is at risk.” The bishops urge temperance in a DVD entitled Find the Balance: Dare to Dream.

Pope calls for more bylines for women

POPEBENEDICTXVIwants to see more women’s bylines and colour pictures in L’Osservatore Romano, the Vatican’s traditionally stuffy newspaper. In Sunday’s edition new editor Gian Maria Vian ran a colour photograph on the front page for the first time in the paper’s 147-year history(pictured above). There is also a more reader-friendly layout and typeface. “The newspaper had to be renewed,” said Dr Vian. “The Pope asked me for a more international scope, more attention to other churches and religions, and more female bylines.” The papal-inspired redesign will give the lie to claims that Benedict XVI’s papacy is dominated by nostalgia. “This Pope has a keen aesthetic sense –and that extends to newspaper layout as well as to liturgy,” said one Rome source.”

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