Elevation of the Eucharist is depicted in a stained-glass window at St. Anthony’s Church in North Beach, Md., July 15, 2021. (CNS photo/Bob Roller)
Diocese plans to restore Communion on the tongue and via chalice; looks forward to start of Eucharistic Revival
BY ELIZABETH WONG BARNSTEAD, THE WESTERN KENTUCKY CATHOLIC
Ever since the COVID-19 pandemic first struck the United States in early 2020, Catholics have experienced various restrictions and health and safety guidelines when it comes to celebration of the Eucharist.
In the Diocese of Owensboro, when public worship was restored after being temporarily suspended for several months at the pandemic’s onset, liturgies initially required masking and social distancing in the pews.
That, as well as the suspension of Holy Communion received on the tongue and via the chalice.
As COVID-19 cases steadily declined in the region, different restrictions like keeping the holy water fonts empty, masking requirements and social distancing have been lifted.
On April 7, Bishop William F. Medley released a letter to the priests of the diocese stating that he intended to soon restore the options of receiving Holy Communion on the tongue, and Holy Communion under both species of bread and wine.
The bishop said he would implement this change on the Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ, also known as Corpus Christi, which takes place this year on June 19.
Corpus Christi “carries added significance this year in that it marks the beginning of a three-year Eucharistic Revival for the Catholic Church in the United States,” he wrote.
The Eucharistic Revival was initiated by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops responding to a study from the Pew Research Center that indicated only one-third of U.S. Catholics believe the Eucharist to be the true Body and Blood of Christ.
Bishop Medley expressed his gratitude to the priests “for your ceaseless care of the souls and hearts of the people we are called to serve.”
“Amidst all the turmoil of the pandemic, I believe that most people found an oasis of peace and hope in us – even through times of closed churches, limited worship, distancing and masking,” he added.
He emphasized the importance of catechesis in the parishes to re-instruct the faithful on properly receiving Holy Communion on the tongue, as well as retraining the Extraordinary Ministers of Holy Communion to adequately cleanse the lip of the chalice after each communicant.
Lauren Johnson, co-coordinator of the diocese’s Office of Worship, said it was a tradition for Catholics to receive Holy Communion under the species of both bread and wine from the institution of the Eucharist at the Last Supper, up until about the 11th century.
“By the 12th century, the practice of the laity receiving the Body of Christ under the species of bread alone became common,” said Johnson in an email to The Western Kentucky Catholic.
She said the 1415 Council of Constance decreed that the faithful would not receive the Precious Blood, asserting that “’it should be very firmly believed, and in no way doubted, that the whole body and blood of Christ are truly contained under both the form of bread and the form of wine’ (Council of Constance, Session 13).”
This lasted until 1963 when “Sacrosanctum concilium,” the first document of the Second Vatican Council, opened up that option again at the individual bishop’s discretion.
The document, however, maintained “the truth taught from the Council of Constance that to receive Holy Communion under one species alone is to receive Christ whole and entire,” said Johnson.
“Liturgy contains signs that point to a higher and invisible reality; so the offering of the Precious Blood to the faithful— while not necessary to receive the fullness of Christ in Communion—contributes to that more perfect sign,” she added.
Johnson explained that the most ancient practice was to receive Holy Communion in the hand, but by the end of the first century, “the practice of receiving on the tongue had become the norm in the West.”
“The reasons for this transition were likely to avoid dropping the particles of the Eucharist and to increase devotion to the Real Presence of Christ,” she said.
Receiving Communion in the hand did not become an option for the laity again until the 1970s when authorized by the United States bishops and confirmed by the Holy See.
As is the case among Catholics today, Johnson said early saints of the Church have had different preferences on how one receives the Eucharist.
“St. Thomas Aquinas strongly believed that the laity should only receive Communion on the tongue as a matter of reverence,” said Johnson. “On the other hand (literally), fourth century bishop, St. Cyril of Jerusalem, spoke of the reverence of receiving Communion in the hand as if to ‘make a throne’ for Christ.”
Since both options are today fully approved by the Church, “both can show due reverence and devotion to Christ our Lord when the communicant receives with a disposition of humility and adoration,” she said.
Johnson called it “incredibly significant” that Bishop Medley chose Corpus Christi as the date to restore these Communion options.
“This feast was established in 1246 to instill the truth of the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist, which is precisely what the restoration of these options speaks to and why they matter,” she said.
Originally printed in the May 2022 issue of The Western Kentucky Catholic.