The practice of Communion

HOMELITIC & PASTORAL REVIEW March 1997

Has the practice of Communion in the hand really strengthened and clarified our faith in the Real Presence?
The time has come to begin to do everything we reasonably and licitly can to discourage the practice of Communion-in-the-Hand. In fact, the time is long past that we started doing this. It is much better to receive Holy Communion in the traditional manner, than it is to receive the Sacred Host into our hands. In Canada and the United States, it is true that one may receive "on the hand," with due precautions, but it is better to receive on the tongue.

Even as we begin, it might immediately be objected: Communion in the hand is fully approved by the Church, and it is disloyal and disrespectful and therefore not allowed even to begin this discussion. In answer to that objection, let us begin with the legal aspects of the question.

1. The legal status of the two methods

Most Rev. Athanasius Schneider on Communion in the Hand

His book is :"Dominus Est – It Is the Lord! Reflections of a Bishop of Central Asia on Holy Communion"--The book comes with the endorsement from two of the highest officials in the Vatican’s Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments. Order through Newman House Press

Another book,"Communion in the Hand"  by (retired)  Bishop Juan Rodolfo Laise of Argentina,http://www.amazon.com/Communion-Hand-Most-Rodolfo-Laise/dp/0980208459

Communion in the Hand:The deception and diabolical intrigue

Some think one has to be a Traditionalist to oppose communion in the hand. Far from it! The deception and diabolical intrigue to get it approved in the USA, and we would suppose other countries too, is a clear example of the crisis in the Church.

(1) Is the Pope in favor of Communion in the hand? 

(2) Communion in the hand is not an indifferent practice; 

(3) Communion in the hand spread through disobedience to the Pope; 

(4) historical testimony against Communion in the hand; 

(5) the danger of sacrilege; 

(6) consecrated hands; 

(7) champions for reverence to the blessed Sacrament, 

(8) Communion on the tongue remains the law of the Church throughout the world to this day.

(1)  Is the Pope in favor of Communion in the hand? 

 Pope Paul VI:

It is important to know the history of Communion in the hand to defend against the propaganda circulating on this topic. In recent history, Communion in the hand was illegally introduced in Germany, Netherlands, Belgium, France, and the United States well before Pope Paul VI wrote Memoriale Domini.  The Holy See firmly opposed this disobedient and abusive practice from the very beginning. On October 12, 1965, the “Consilium” wrote to Bernard Cardinal Alfrink, Archbishop of Utrecht, Netherlands: “The Holy Father … does not consider it opportune that the sacred Particle be distributed in the hand and later consumed in different manners by the faithful, and therefore, he vehemently exhorts [that] the Conference offer the opportune resolutions so that the traditional manner of communicating be restored throughout the world.”