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Wednesday, October 29, 2014

GENERAL INSTRUCTION OF THE ROMAN MISSAL' USA'S ADAPTATION FOR METHODS OF DISTRIBUTING HOLY COMMUNION

When the revised General Instruction of the Roman Missal was issued in 2002 the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops with the approval of the Congregation for Divine Worship and disicipline of the Sacraments' Prefect, Jorg A. Card. Medina Estevez allowed for an American adaptation  for the "Norms for the Distribution and Reception of holy Communion under Both Kinds in the dioceses of the United States of America.

Archbishop Wilton D. Gregory, then President of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops issued the American decree or adaptation on March 28, 2002, Holy Thursday.

The following are the pertinent excepts from this American Adaptation in the 2002 GIRM:

1. (42)Among the ways of ministering the Precious Blood...Communion from the chalice is generally the preferred form in the Latin Church, provided that it can be carried out properly according to the norms and without any risk of even apparent irreverence toward the Blood of Christ."

(Other Forms of Distribution of the Precious Blood)

2. (48) Distribution of the Precious Blood by a spoon or through a straw is not customary in the Latin Dioceses of the USA.

3. (49) Holy Communion may be distributed by intinction...(a brief description on how to do this is included)

My final comments: #42 contains a fib. Communion (by drinking) from the (common) Chalice cannot be seen as the "preferred" method of distributing the Precious Blood in the Latin Rite because it simply is not done in Rome or at the Vatican. It is always done by intinction there, not drinking directly from the chalice and even by the concelebrants at a papal liturgy. In fact this norm of intinction for all concelebrants in the Latin Rite is indicated in #249 of "The Different Forms of Celebrating Mass) in the normal GIRM!

I see an agenda in this liturgical norm of the USA perpetuated by some liturgist who wrote this lie.  However receiving the Precious Blood by intinction is receiving the Precious Blood from the chalice which can rightly be understood as the "preferred" form in the Latin Church, as opposed to receiving by way of a spoon or straw. I've never seen a spoon or straw used in a Latin Rite parish, but certainly in the various Eastern Rites this may well be the case.

5 comments:

Joseph Johnson said...

This is very interesting considering what I remember reading some time back about the original idea having been that Communion under both Forms was to be the exception and not the rule.

If intinction were to be the norm, the priest could control when reception under both Forms would be available in the first place. So, for example, he could make it available on say, Easter or Corpus Christi but not the rest of the year. Very interesting indeed (yes, I think there was an agenda afoot when the impression was created that drinking directly from the chalice throughout the year would be the norm . .).

Yet, when some of us ask for the Extraordinary Form Mass in our parishes, some priests will accuse us of having an "agenda."

rcg said...

JJ heard the same as I. I wonder if Bishop Gregory meant the "Latin Church in USA' so as to allow the Eastern Rites to continue as before? Many of these sorts of easements for the Church in America were taken as the standard way forward. Carol can remind us of how our parish in Dayton was transformed physically into the Spirit of Vatican II one summer both physically and procedurally.

Anonymous said...

The GIRM was revised substantially for the English translation of the RM 3/e. In the 2011 GIRM available at

http://www.ccwatershed.org/pdfs/6865-girm-2011-version-2/download/

I don’t see the quoted paragraphs, but (searching on intinction) find instead the following provisions:

Any of the faithful who wish to receive Holy Communion under the species of bread alone should be given Communion in this form.

285. For Communion under both kinds the following should be prepared:

a) If Communion from the chalice is done by drinking directly from the chalice, a chalice of a sufficiently large size or several chalices are prepared. However, care should be taken lest beyond what is needed of the Blood of Christ remains to be consumed at the end of the celebration.

b) If Communion from the chalice is done by intinction, the hosts should be neither too thin nor
too small, but rather a little thicker than usual, so that after being intincted partly into the
Blood of Christ they can still be easily distributed.

286. If Communion of the Blood of Christ is carried out by communicants’ drinking from the chalice, each communicant, after receiving the Body of Christ, moves to the minister of the chalice and stands facing him. . . . .

287. If Communion from the chalice is carried out by intinction, each communicant, holding a Communion-plate under the mouth, approaches the Priest . . . . .

Anonymous said...

The GIRM was revised substantially for the English translation of the RM 3/e. In the 2011 GIRM available at

http://www.ccwatershed.org/pdfs/6865-girm-2011-version-2/download/

I don’t see the quoted paragraphs, but (searching on intinction) find instead the following:

Any of the faithful who wish to receive Holy Communion under the species of bread alone should be given Communion in this form.

285. For Communion under both kinds the following should be prepared:

a) If Communion from the chalice is done by drinking directly from the chalice, a chalice of a sufficiently large size or several chalices are prepared. However, care should be taken lest beyond what is needed of the Blood of Christ remains to be consumed at the end of the celebration.

b) If Communion from the chalice is done by intinction, the hosts should be neither too thin nor
too small, but rather a little thicker than usual, so that after being intincted partly into the
Blood of Christ they can still be easily distributed.

286. If Communion of the Blood of Christ is carried out by communicants’ drinking from the chalice, each communicant, after receiving the Body of Christ, moves to the minister of the chalice and stands facing him. . . . .

287. I f Communion from the chalice is carried out by intinction, each communicant, holding a Communion-plate under the mouth, approaches the Priest . . . . .

Fr. Allan J. McDonald said...

Henry what I quote is from my Roman Missal 3rd edition but it is an extra addition for the USA when Archbishop Gregory Wilton was the President of the NCCB. This addendum to the GIRM for the USA was added in 2002 but I was quoting from the newest version of the Missal currently in use.