text:
Getting "out of hand"?
In a Jan. 11 post I noted thata bishop from Kazakhstanwrote an essay in the Osservatore Romano about the superiority of receivingcommunion on the tongue, while kneeling. As with most posts on liturgy, it occassioned a good deal of comment,and many informative historical references. In those comments there seemed to me to be a notable effort to keep the bishop's piece in perspective, and avoid prophecies about the rollback of Vatican II.And yet...CNS has a story saying the secretary of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Sacraments"thinks it is time for the Catholic Church to reconsider its decision to allow the faithful to receive Communion in the hand." Archbishop Albert Malcolm Ranjith Patabendige Don makes his comments in a preface to a book by that same Kazakh bishop who wrote in the OR. Given the Archbishop's role--he has used the bully pulpit recently to decry "obstructionist" bishops who he says are blocking implementation of the Latin Rite motu proprio that will correct "abuses"--this does seem like an undeniable sign of a back to the future push. On one level, I am not surprised, as it reflects the thinking of the current pontificate. But Benedict has also been careful about "disorienting" the faithful with yet more changes, even if he would like to implement them. Restoring a separate Latin rite, as the motu proprio did, for a smallminority of Catholics attending their own Mass is one thing. Making everyone go back to kneeling and receiving on the tongue--or simply indicating that the current practice is less reverential--seems far more controversial.
About the Author
David Gibson is a national reporter for Religion News Service and author of The Coming Catholic Church (HarperOne) and The Rule of Benedict (HarperOne). He blogs at dotCommonweal.
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Ther Archbishop reveals his hand (yes, pun intended) in the following quote by him in the CNS story:"'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,'" the archbishop wrote."While maybe not exactly a red herring, the stand/kneel//hand/tongue issue he raises is not as worrisome to me as his belief that reversion to pre-VII reception of the Eucharist is a necessary concomitant to the Church's defense of itself against "dangerous distortions of the faith" that he leaves unspecified. Internal distortions? External distortions? VII a distortion? I could be wrong, but me thinks the Archbishop has a long list of "distortions" he'd like to correct.
Apropos the good Archbishop's attempt to rewind the clock:"Anyone who wants to think about religion in a really serious way must inevitably come up with heretical ideas." Czeslaw Milosz, A Year of The Hunter (1994)
Just speaking practically, changing the mode of reception is going to require some remodeling and extra expense, isn't it?I suppose the cheapest way to do it is to have the ushers move portable kneelers in front of the priest/EMs when communion time rolls around, and then removing them so the recessional can take place. If there's no room at the front of the Church (the set up at our local parish is pretty cramped), they'd have to push the altar back and install a rail and kneelers there.I think it's about time somebody questioned whether some of these moves instill a more "lively faith" than, say, having some kind of viable program for the poor, Scripture study, and whatnot. In my experience as an Anglican and as a Catholic, liturgical changes seem to annoy most people.
I think it would be helpful if we simply talk about the symbolism of the actions themselves, before considering their historical meaning.What is implied by kneeling that is not implied by standing?What is implied by receiving, rather than taking?
Taking? I've never taken the host. It's always been placed in my hand.
William,I am not skilled in reading between the lines of such statements, but I would assume that, by "distortions of the faith," the archbishop is simply referring to a waning of belief in the real presence. I have found references to a Gallup poll done in the early 1990s that put the figure of American Catholics believing in the real presence at 30 percent. I can't imagine it has gone up since then, although who knows.Speaking just for myself, the old rules of fasting from midnight, kneeling, and receiving communion on the tongue did give you the impression you were dealing with something way out of the ordinary. I am not taking a position on standing versus kneeling, or hand versus tongue, but I am saying the old ways almost certainly gave more of a sense that something extraordinary was going on. (Of course, in the very old days, the eucharist was a meal in people's homes. Who's to say that should not be the model?)The switch from Latin to English did not make much of an impression on me until I moved to New York and heard a priest with a heavy New York accent saying mass. To someone who grew up in the midwest, it sounded "unholy."
Here we go again. The truth is that the post Vatican II Catholics have the clearest understanding of the faith. Secondly, it really does not make that much of a difference whether one recieves on the tongue or on the hand. We should not contend one way or the other, whatever our position. I beleive it is more appropriate to receive in the hand but I will not object to others doing otherwise.As far as the theology of the Eucharist is concerned the real meaning is that in breaking this bread and wine, body and blood we are united with Jesus in a most special way in being as much as we can like him. That is loving our enemies, doing good to those who hate us, becoming humble like (not acting like) little children, serving one another, and offering to God all that we are with Jesus. Going off on treatises on the real presence is not what it is about. It is about celebrating the life of Jesus in us. This bishop might use his energy to helping the lower classes increase their income in a country with such vast resources and fewer opportunities for those at the bottom
May I suggest a title for implementation of this retro propsal?"Re-arranging the prie-dieus on the Titanic''
Grant,I know, I was thinking the same thing as I wrote that: wait a minute, I receive the Eucharist in my hand.But then, I take it.
"Here we go again. The truth is that the post Vatican II Catholics have the clearest understanding of the faith. "Aye! Aye! And that Anselm guy who didn't understand much about his faith - what an benighted rube!
Well, St. Thomas didn't always give props to Anselm, either...This is a very interesting problem. Viewed antithetically, the liberals are probably right in saying that the conservatives want God to be too remote.And the conservatives are probably right in saying that liberals want to be so comfortable around God that they show God disrespect.But what's interesting is that the effective result of both being too formal and too casual are exactly the same: we lose mystery.Jesus Christ lives among us, reducible neither to our neighbor nor to abstract formalism. Yet somehow mystically involved in both. Put God and humanity in the same room--in the same Person--that's the mystery of Christ. And who's at ease with that?
So Kathy, Patrick: hand or mouth? (Or foot, as is my preference.)
David, your foot and mouth seem conjoined.(Emoticon)I think of the tongue as a personal part of the body and I don't go around exposing it in normal life. I'm happy to have the option of Communion in the hand. But I'd be happy to change if they changed the rule. Things are really strikingly casual in Catholic churches. Go to a Methodist church on Communion Sunday and see the difference between them and us. They're, you know, praying.
For me it is pretty simply. Infants are fed and adults feed themselves. Receiving Communion on the tongue from a minister infantilizes the communicant. If the source of the Eucharist is the meal Jesus shared with his disciples, then the Eucharist is food for adults broken and shared, taken with the hand. The dichotomy between a God too near or too far is besides the point here. Jesus did not telegraph the bread he shared on that night from a distant planet. He broke it and gave it to his disciples in their hands.
l'Osservatore Romano is seriously pushing the image of the faithful as nursing infants as some sort of antidote to modern lack of belief? Give us a break.
Ah yes, Kazakhstan, that mecca of Catholic liturgical piety... And that "Kazak bishop" (whose name is Schneider by the way) yes, he really has his finger on the pulse of world Catholicism.But seriously, folks. There are no Catholics in Kazakhstan. I mean, there are more Catholics in my parish than there are in Kazakhstan. It says volumes that Archbishop Ranjith had to go all the way to Central Asia to find some bishop crazy or bored enough to make as issue out of this.The incident says more about the Curia than it does about Communion. If you ask me, all that's happened is that Archbishop Ranjith has made himself look silly.
Alan:amen legw humin hos an me dexetai ten basileian tou theou hws paidion ou me eiselthe eis auten
Leaving the specific issue of whether receiving on the tongue is preferrable aside, it seems the concensus here that there is no problem in the Church regarding belief in or appreciation of the True Presence. I disagree with that if it is true. I have been given the Eucharist from what can only be described as a plexiglass salad bowl held on the priest's hip. He might as well have been slinging hash. Over the years I have seen and experienced a lot of the same. Am I wrong to be concerned? If there is a problem, does anyone have any suggestions to help remedy it?
Kathy:In response to your Mark 10:15/Luke 18:17:hote hemin nepios elaloun hos nepios ephonoun hos nepios elogizomen hos nepios. Hote yeyona aner, kathergeka ta tou nepiou. (1 Cor 13:11)The logion you quote means to be receptive of the Kingdom, not Communion and it does not mean to return to childhood. Did you miss the hos before paidion?
Sean,What you state I agree with. The Lord's Supper should be a most profound, joyful, engaging moment for all of us. It is the center of our week and our lives culminate in that union and community. It is not a comedy event nor is it like any other event. All should treat this precious time accordingly.
Alan,The quotation from I Cor is one half of an analogy that expresses the difference between the earthly life and the heavenly; it is not advocating human earthly maturity but describing it in order to distinguish between earth and heaven, faith and sight.I take the "hws," on the other hand, to mean that there is a characteristic way in which children receive things that we as Christians are supposed to adopt. An attitude of trust, maybe, or of joy. I take it to be in tension with the way in which adults accept things, which is nearly always with calculation.
Kathy:I think you missed the parallelism in what Paul wrote. Being a child corresponds to what is partial and being an adult corresponds to being complete. Child:knowing in part :: adult:knowing fully. Despite the eschatological context, for Paul the goal is to be an adult not a child. This is the goal of developing Christianity (Hebrews 5;11). Regarding the logion, I agree that receptivity of the Kingdom is the issue. I fail to see how receiving Communion in the hand compromises that. How do you equate the reception of the Kingdom as a future reality with the reception of the Eucharist in the present?
Quoting oneself is the sure sign of a hack, but since I got no response from the previus thread on this topic when I raised St. Cyril--and since the shoe may indeed fit in my mouth, I reprise what I wrote a couple weeks ago, namely why has no one cited St. Cyril of Jerusalem? In a well-known passage from the fourth-century on receiving communion he wrote:When you approach, do not go stretching out your open hands or having your fingers spread out, but make the left hand into a throne for the right hand which shall receive the King, and then cup your open hand and the Body of Christ, reciting the Amen. No less a commentator than OSVs excellent columnist Msgr. Mannion cited St. Cyril in a Dec. 9, 2007 response to a reader asking about a return to communion on the tongue. Mannion also commented: Do I think we lack reverence by receiving Communion in the hand? No, I dont. Nor do I know of the existence of evidence one way or the other. Everything depends on the attitude of the one receiving Communion and the general atmosphere that surrounds the celebration of the MassI have heard nobody suggest that Pope Benedict will abolish the reception of Communion in the hand and revert to the pre-1977 practice of receiving on the tongue. I do not think this is a major concern, except for a small group of people who are generally unhappy with liturgical reform.Rita, I would agree with your point (and Mannion's) that this is a small group of disaffected souls. But a neuralgic point in the Church today is that if that small group should happen to occupy the high ground, so to speak, they can--and will--do as they like. Sean, I am actually quite skeptical of surveys on belief in the Real Presence. In general, the way they are phrased would make me wonder if I should respond Yes or No. They are often so literal-sounding, you feel as if you are confessing to cannibalism should you respond in the affirmative. Moreover, the Real presence can't be reduced to a poll question. I am sure there is always a crisis regarding the understanding of the Eucharist. But history shows that the form of reception has little impact on reverence. On the contrary, in many episodes of the past, Catholics had little sense of the Real Presence, or a childish and superstitious view of the Eucharist and its "powers." It would be easy to argue, as Bill Mazzella indicated, that today's Catholics are more sophisticated in this and other beliefs than ever before. Maybe that is the problem, but maybe it is a good problem, one that can be ameliorated through discussion and education.
Alan,There is a kind of maturity that Paul promotes, eg I Cor 2. But I still don't see the I Cor 13 passage as prescriptive but descriptive. I was a child, I am a man, I am seeing through a glass darkly, then I shall know even as I am known--and that will be the end of the charisms that the Corinthians place too high in their value system.But Paul's maturity is the maturity of the cross. It's about love and involves suffering.Look, if you give a child a puppy, the child is going to want to take the puppy home. They don't think about how the puppy is going to fit into their life. It's attractive and they hold onto it. In the Gospels the Kingdom breaks in, and the crisis is: are you going to accept it or not? It's attractive to Herod and the rich young man as well as to the poor. But who will accept it wholeheartedly, just as it comes?Symbolically, Communion in the hand looks to me a little like "I'll receive the Kingdom, but I'll take charge of the process at some point."
David,Fundamentally, I disagree with the idea the modern Catholics are any more sophisticated than previous generations. They are certainly no more knowledgeable, and probably much less so about their Faith. And as much as I'd like to say Catechesis can address the problem, I know it won't for a lot of reasons. First, no one will do it. Whenever anyone, including a priest, tries to address the issue, there is an imediate backlash. "Who is HE to tell me how I should .... fill in the blank . . . what is he, some sort of throwback to the middle ages?" Unfortunately, many priests prefer to be liked than to say anything. Second, if Catechesis could address all the issues everyone has been saying better Catechesis will solve for 30 years, why doesn't it happen?I am not saying that people can not reverently recieve the Eucharist in the hand, I think they can. However, over the years, with the introduction of this method and Lay Extraordinary Ministers etc. communion has become banal. Relatively few people even abide by the norms established in the US. Symbols and gestures carry great meaning. You get french fries, cookies, and asprin handed to you. There is nothing else that you would recieve kneeling and placed on the tongue. The symbolism this sends has an immediate impact that all the explanations in the world don't.
Ranjith claims that communion in the hand was an abusive, unauthorized innovation. But Paul VI allowed bishops to allow it, asking for papal permission in each case, and the bishops did so. So what is he talking about???Anyway, you cannot put the toothpaste back in the tube.
Receiving communion on one's knees and on the tongue could suggest a double distortion -- (1) that the Real Presence means a reified presence of Christ in the host, rather than the dynamic presence of Christ in the living reality of his paschal mystery, not to be dissociated from his presence in the Word and in the community; (2) that the communicant is in an isolated one-to-one relation to Christ rather than participating in a communal meal-event expressions the community's participation in the paschal mystery.
Fr. O'Leary,I wonder if you consider genuflection before a tabernacle or monstrance a distortion.If so, I think Paul VI, who wrote Mysterium Fidei, would disagree with you.
Kathy:I am sorry, but I do not make sense out of the first part of your post. Is the maturity of the cross, i.e. suffering, expressed in receiving communion on the tongue? How so? Is receiving the Eucharist supposed to be an experience of suffering?The telling part is the last sentence. It sounds to me like you have a fundamental mistrust of people, whom you see as trying to take charge. Is taking Communion in the hand a manifestation of "taking charge"? Do you want people to adopt a submissive posture of kneeling and receiving on the tongue? To what end? Did the Lord expect this at the meal he shared with his disciples on the night before he died? A literalist interpretation of that meal always serves the hierarchy well when it wishes to close any discussion of who can be ordained. Well why not take that approach with the reception of the Eucharist? Did those present kneel before Jesus and receive the bread he shared with them on the tongue or did they take it in their hands?
Receive vs. Take sounds like a false option. How about words like "give" "with" "do this in remembrance"? These are dynamic words and phrases that are relational in character.As for where the Mystery of God's presence is located, the very idea that one might think it could be located suggests a profound misunderstanding of that very real Presence.
Alan,I don't agree with your original adult/ child schematic: For me it is pretty simple. Infants are fed and adults feed themselves. Receiving Communion on the tongue from a minister infantilizes the communicant. If the source of the Eucharist is the meal Jesus shared with his disciples, then the Eucharist is food for adults broken and shared, taken with the hand.However, since you brought this up, I thought it worthwhile to discuss, briefly, spiritual maturity according to Scripture--your field, I remember.
To restrict "delivery" of the host to the lay-faithful by the imposition on the tongue by the priest is one part of a two-part retrogression: who can believe that the Chalice will still be offered to the riff-raff? "They" are not as other men are.
Genuflexion before the Bl. Sacrament, such as I usually perform when putting hosts back in the tabernacle, is fine. But even there if it is carried too far it can distort the nature of eucharistic adoration as an extension of the Mass (as stressed by Pius XII), that is, as part of the extended communal meal-event whereby we participate in the Paschal Mystery.I have received the Eucharist kneeling in Anglican Churches, though not on the tongue, and under both species. The gestures of themselves do not have an ineradicable connotation, but in the present context when people like Abp Ranjith call for a return to an exclusive practice of kneeling and receiving on the tongue all the emphases are pointing away from those of Vatican II. That is why I say the practices, though lauded by Paul VI, "could suggest a double distortion".
"As for where the Mystery of Gods presence is located, the very idea that one might think it could be located suggests a profound misunderstanding of that very real Presence."That is going too far. The eucharistic presence is non-local, according to Aquinas. But nonetheless the divine shekinah is identified as present in Jesus (Jn 1.14) (or in the Christ-event if you want to finesse it). And Jesus is identified as present in his word, his community, and in the eucharist (or eucharistic meal-event if you want to finesse it).
Why must it always be about human power relationships? The question is do we, as a Church, have a problem with reverential treatment of the Eucharist that undermines understanding of and belief in the True Presence? If not, then that answers the Bishop's question right there - the current state of affairs is just fine. If not, criticizing his idea as "infantailizing" the "riff raff" by requiring them to take a "submissive" posture, without having an alternative of your own isn't very helpful.
I've never seen a plexiglass ciborium. We used crystal chalices and ciborium in our parish until somebody narc'ed to the bishop. The Altar Guild had to buy precious metal items PDQ.I've never seen a puppy at Mass, not even on St. Francis Day. Nobody in this area blesses animals. It's dairy country. People aren't too sentimental.For those concerned that the ignorant who do not believe in the Real Presence are communing, maybe the priest could say, as he often does at funerals where there are many Protestant mourners, "Catholics believe that this IS the body and blood of Jesus Christ. All faithful Catholics may now receive." Thus cuing non-Catholics and lapsed Catholics to keep their seats.But I have never believed it was my place to ferret out those whose belief was not perfect, nor that God needs protection from the ignorant. Sean and others have pointed out that those who KNOW their beliefs are not in accord with the Church make a mockery of communion, so I think it's enough that I don't receive. I do hunger for communion occasionally when I attend with my husband and son, so the whole argument over how to receive strikes me as ludicrous and sad. In my view, you're lucky if you have enough grace to be fit to receive however it's done.
I also don't know how anybody can say they know that Methodists are praying over their once-a-month Tastee-Bread squares and grape juice and Catholics are not. Divine revelation?
In regard to "take", I simply include a translation into English from the Maronite Rite: 'Come, O brothers and sisters, take the body of the Son, drink His blood in faith and sing of His glory'."My concerns about reception while kneeling is whether or not a comminicant would receive as one does in, for example, the Maronite Rite, (kneeling, and the priest says to each one to receive, "The servant of God (add name) receives the Body and Blood of Christ for the forgiveness of sins and eternal life." or will we return to people lined along a rail so the priest moves about in the manner of a typewriter platen distributing the Eucharist with great efficiency.If people are to kneel as they receive, I would prefer something such as found within the Maronite Rite because it provides for some slower exchange of mutual reverence between two people in a manner that is not rushed. People who wish to kneel as they receive in the Roman Rite can still have a "chop chop, Father" attitude about them.In my small parish, I have many more guests than parishioners who wish to receive kneeling. I will never deny them this opportunity and I will only be concerned for them if they believe that they are somehow better Catholics simply because of the posture they choose to use. I have encountered such grandstanding. It saddens me.As for the supposed lack of reverence of many who receive, I am glad that a mentor told me to remind people that what they are about to do and who they are to receive is the most important they will do both today and ever. It's a simple message that seems to be easily understood and accepted.
Joseph O'Leary: Perhaps I communicated poorly, for your examples all indicate the point I was trying to make. The Christ event, the Word, the community, and the meal are not reductive locations; instead, they are dynamic relations.
Forgive me for asking this, but is it possible people have thought too much (or perhaps I should say speculated and theorized too much) about these issues over the past 2000 years to the point where it's now more pseudoscience than religious mystery? At the Last Supper, or during early Christian eucharistic celebrations, did anyone believe, or "have to" believe, that something called "transubstantiation" took place? Can anyone imagine Jesus at the Last Supper explaining that he was giving them bread and wine, but they need only eat the bread because he was present--body, blood, soul and divinity--under both species? I believe I mentioned before that someone I told about this debate (who is Jewish) said it sounded like the Big-endians versus the Little-endians.Having said that, I think Sean's message written at 6:44 a.m. today restates the central question that is not getting much real discussion:
The question is do we, as a Church, have a problem with reverential treatment of the Eucharist that undermines understanding of and belief in the True Presence?
The formula for administering Holy Communion was for the priest to make the sign of the cross with the host over each kneeling communicant while saying: "Corpus Domini nostri Iesu Christi custodiat animam tuam in vitam aeternam. Amen." This was later abbreviated to: "Corpus Christi." Newly ordained priests took forever to give out communion. Pastors would try to hurry them on. You didn't want to be a newly ordained priest in St. Agnes Church in Manhattan, right near Grand Central Station, where 40,000 people used to come to Church on Holidays of Obligation.
Fr. Komonchak,Does Newman talk about the issues surrounding doctrines that develop as response to error?As I understand the development of Eucharistic doctrines, they began to be spelled out in a time when Augustine was taken as the highest authority, but the question was how to interpret Augustine.
The length of this thread -which will go on and on, I suppose, - shows that liturgy is "where the rubber meets the road.Whether one receives standing (in union with the risen Christ) or kneeling (adoring Him -did Christ institute the Eucharist to be adored?) does little or nothing to convince folk of the real presence.That's more "apologetics" for going back to the good old days.I concur with those here who see this kind of approach as another atempt to infantilize the laity before the clergy who are "other than.'I suspect we'll se more liturgical and canonical dithering of this sort as they try to put the toothpaste back.Meanwhile, they really engender more cynicism among many, often the young, who see diviseness promoted.
I wonder if there is any data about whether there has really been a decline in the number of Catholics who believe in the real presence, and if so, the reason for that decline.Beliefs may dictate behavior, but also behavior has a real impact on beliefs. If people consider standing less reverential than kneeling, and receiving in the hand less reverential than receiving on the tongue, then I don't see any problem at all with hypothesizing that what people do in practice influences what people believe.
Joseph [or is it Father Joseph?],I am perplexed that you claim to have received "the Eucharist" in Anglican churches. Do you believe that Anglican churches have the Real presence? Your objections "(1) that the Real Presence means a reified presence of Christ in the host, rather than the dynamic presence of Christ in the living reality of his paschal mystery, not to be dissociated from his presence in the Word and in the community; "(2) that the communicant is in an isolated one-to-one relation to Christ rather than participating in a communal meal-event expressions the communitys participation in the paschal mystery"appear to contradict the formula of the giving of the Host: "the body of Christ" - a reified presence. [I refrain from asking the meaning of the phrase "meal-event"]. In preparation for reception of Communion, do we not go into a one-on-one relationship in the confessional? Those who have a problem with the infantilization of being fed might consider that we [as did our parents and grandparents] address priests as father, as we address the first person of the Trinity in the Lord's prayer. And might heed the words of Our Lord [of God] [Matt 18:3]: "Amen, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven.4 Whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven".
Father Komochak touches upon the very core of the problem in the pre-VII days:"Newly ordained priests took forever to give out communion. Pastors would try to hurry them on. You didnt want to be a newly ordained priest in St. Agnes Church in Manhattan, right near Grand Central Station, where 40,000 people used to come to Church on Holidays of Obligation". Too many devout souls taking up too much of the parson's time and delaying his lunch! It seems to me that it was for such problems rather than the logic chopping of the theologians that John XX III thought it necessary to allow fresh air into the Church. Alas the council fathers like the Pharisees got bogged down into discussions of rites and rituals and risked throwing the baby out with the bath. Now we're looking for the baby.
Gabriel, How far are you willing to take the "little children" sayings? Should those of us who are adults not have jobs? Should we play with dolls and color in coloring books? In addition to receiving communion on the tongue, should everyone fidget during mass? Quite obviously, Jesus did not mean we must become like children in every respect. Clearly the meaning has something to do with trust, dependency, and perhaps innocence. And for Catholics, wouldn't becoming as little children apply at least in part to their relationship with the Church, since it represents Christ on earth? It seems to me that "conservative" Catholics expect strict obedience to the Church in large matters (sexual and reproductive issues) but can't find it in their hearts to obey the Church when it comes to standing versus kneeling, or communion in the hand versus on the tongue.Don't you think your use of Fr. Komonchak's remarks about distributing communion to large numbers of people were inappropriate and unfair?
Fr. Komonchak: Yes, your points make good sense. Not every parish is as small as mine. I guess I have a luxury in being able to not rush things here. My heart goes out to the churches as you described where the time it takes to do something can be a legitimate matter of concern.Here's a case in point with this Sunday: Would it even be feasible to do individual blessings of the throats at St. Agnes rather than a group blessing? One thing is for sure - the administrators of the blessing would get sore throats.
I hate to be negative and I hate to be angry, but this seems to have gotten more replies than it"s worth. I believe and feel, when you take away all the dressing, it's just about denying Vatican II. The Church says it believes in the teachiing authority of the Pope, and bishops in communion; but, when the greatest gathering of bishops and theologians since Vatican 1 and maybe in the history of the Church was convened by the by by the Pope, disagreed with the power structure, it knew that the Holy Spirit couldn't work through that group. They have spent the last 50 some odd years in trying to erase Vatican 11. This is just another step. I'm sure in many years they'll be able to say it was a hoax and never really happened( something like Peking Man).
Andrew,I am no expert on these kinds of things, but I did find this paragraph of interest:
3. The option offered to the faithful of receiving the Eucharistic bread in their hand and putting it into their own mouth must not turn out to be the occasion for regarding it as ordinary bread or as just another religious article. Instead this option must increase in them a consciousness of the dignity of the members of Christ's Mystical Body, into which they are incorporated by baptism and by the grace of the Eucharist. It must also increase their faith in the sublime reality of the Lord's body and blood, which they touch with their hand. Their attitude of reverence must measure up to what they are doing.
http://www.ewtn.com/expert/answers/communion_in_hand.htmAs I have said a couple of times already, the implicit question in the document cited is whether the practice of communion in the hand is having a negative impact on what people believe about the real presence. It appears from the paragraph above that one of the stipulations allowing communion in the hand was that it not result in changed attitudes toward the Eucharist. If it indeed has, then it seems to me it would be perfectly reasonable to maintain that the conditions stipulated when permission was granted have not been met. It seems to be a relatively simple question, and yet there is some of the most esoteric reasoning in this thread that I have seen on dotCommonweal.Sean, whom I almost never agree with, summed it up quite nicely as follows, but nobody seems willing to address his question:
The question is do we, as a Church, have a problem with reverential treatment of the Eucharist that undermines understanding of and belief in the True Presence? If not, then that answers the Bishops question right there - the current state of affairs is just fine. If not, criticizing his idea as infantailizing the riff raff by requiring them to take a submissive posture, without having an alternative of your own isnt very helpful.
I would agree with Andrew (angry or not, I think it's a good comment) that we must not overlook the parsimonious explanation of this proposal, which is that it is about the larger battle over Vatican II (as Ranjith states explicitly) rather than a esoteric debate about adults and infants and lactating hosts, or bleeding, depending on which symbol is preferred. Going to arguments over which is more reverent--hand or tongue--is a relevant outgrowth of the topic, as per David Nickol and Sean. The clear answer from almost everyone here (I can find no comments supporting communion on the tongue as the sole means for properly receiving, though I may have overlooked something) is that the Archbishop is wrong. Everyonehere seems to indicate that there should be the option (as in deed there is now, with the exception of the kneeling part, though that happens all the time in my parish anyway). In light of this, and the absence of any hard data, whether one posture is more reverent or not seems fated to be an academic argument. Clearly Christians since St. Cyril's day have very reverently received communion in the hand, and still do today. I think I am reverent (and am probably less so when I have to receive on the tongue because I have an armful of toddler--probably not the attitude Ranjith has in mind). And certainly the old days of receiving on the tongue was no guarantee of reverence. There was a great deal of ritualism and outright superstition and silliness back then--Don't crush the Body of Christ with your teeth! He has to melt in your mouth! Has Catholic belief in the Real Presence diminished from 1950? From 1900? It is surely far higher here in the US than it was in the 19th century, when many immigrants were largely ignorant of the most basic doctrines of the church, and of communion. But hard data is hard to come by, and what do people mean when they are asked about the "Real Presence"? And what is the connection with how communion is distributed? I suspect the kind of reverence has changed--and in a good way. But I suspect it is also as deep as ever. Less fearful, perhaps. Is that good thing?
Whoa! With all due respect, I don't see that much consensus here. The consensus I do see is-high clericalism: bad-community: good-devotion to God: goodEvery liturgical gesture expresses. Posture vis-a-vis another expresses relationship. So the question is, which gestures adequately describe, and foster, our dignity as members of the Body, love for one another, and devotion to God?
Kathy, you said you take comunion in the hand, and you like the option. So I assume you are doing the most reverential thing, no? And also that you want the option. As for what is the most reverent posture, again, it becomes an academic exercise, since history has shown both are possible and the Church has decided that both are good. It becomes a matter of personal preference, like the Latin Mass, and nothing objectively superior or inferior. So wouldn't adopting Ranjith's proposal mean the Church was (gasp here) wrong?
Mr. Austin: You might try taking a course in not jumping to conclusions. The reason the young priest would be hurried along by the legendary pastor, Msgr. Dinneen, was that to accommodate the 30,000 people coming for Mass, he had to schedule them every thirty mintues, and the newly ordained priest was disrupting the schedule. It was not very kind of you to assume that it was because the pastor wished to rush off to Mass.And, of course, St. Agnes was not typical, even in the archdiocese of New York. I was simplty reminded of it when I wrote about the lengthy formula that used to accompany the distribution of Communion.
Fr O'Leary asked rhetorically what was unauthorized about the introduction of communion in the hand given that "Paul VI allowed bishops to allow it [with] papal permission in each case". In response I would say that Pope Paul VI offered bishops the possibility of permission only because there were already bishops allowing communion in the hand, and he wanted to somehow regularize the situation. It seems that the illegal introduction of communion on the hand was considered a relatively insignificant violation: Since this was an ancient practice patristic precedent, neither Pope Paul nor anybody else thought that it would lead to a lack of faith in the Eucharist. But, I happen to think that the way communion in the hand was introduced in the West, it did lead to certain laxity about belief in the Real Presence. I do not think that is necessarily the case in other parts of the word, such as the Archdiocese of Bombay in India, where communion in the hand was allowed only in the 1990s. For example: On my last visit to Mumbai, I frequently noticed communicants examining their hands to make sure that they had consumed all the particles. When I returned to North America I kept an eye out for this, but I seldom saw anyone do it. Communion on the hand has indisputably contributed to carelessness about fragments of the Host, which contributes to a diluted doctrine of the Eucharistic Body and Blood of Christ. With respect to the difference between "taking" and "receiving" I tend to side with Kathy on the symbolism, but I don't have much to contribute to the debate about it. I just want to share a curiosity that I have noted: In Nigeria, where I spent the greater part of my childhood, communion was (and I believe still is) only given on the tongue. I never once heard the expression "take communion" from a Catholic. Catholics, I understood, always "received" communion, whereas Protestants "took" it. Perhaps the commonality of "taking communion" in North American Catholic parlance has to do with the longstanding dominance of Protestant culture. I'm not sure if this has any deeper significance, but I thought it was an interesting observation.
Does anyone really think that when Jesus said "Take, eat" he meant "open your mouth and stick out your tongue".
That's "labete, phagete" for you Hellenists.
David Nickol, I think your point is well taken, but I don't know if you can establish a nexus between reciving communion in the hand and decrease of belief in the real presence, but whenever there is change, there always possibilities "things may change and go a little too far," but that doesn't mean you go backward. Just last week or so they had a conference for Christian Unity, and we used talk about Ecumenism. In doing these thing do you weaken the belief in the doctrines that are unique to the Catholic Church. I think that's a real "Maybe". Does that mean you stop doing them. I'm sure some would say "yes". We live in a more extensial world than we did in 1940 and 50. Maybe that contributed to the change in attitude toward the Real Presence. Who knows? You can't go backwards just because of dangers and problem. You must fight forward. Find solutions. Build a stronger faith. I think literalists in the show where you go when you go backwards.
PS I'm sorry. I hit the send button too fast. That should be Literalist in interpretation of the Scriptaures.
In fairness to Archbishop Ranjith, he seems to be advocating only a "reconsideration" of the discipline, not calling for its abandonment, and saying the practice should only be discontinued "if necessary" - presumably after due consideration, discussion and debate. Who can object to a responsible reconsideration? It could be a good thing, particularly if it leads people to a renewed appreciation for the many meanings and graces of the Eucharist.What interests me is his narrative of how communion in the hand came about: "a practice that was 'introduced abusively and hurriedly in some spheres' and only later authorized by the Vatican." I'm sure that's an accurate summary, and it parallels developments such as permitting females to serve at the altar (and to proclaim the readings?). It seems that not everything in liturgy is top-down, despite truckloads of Vatican rubrics, canons, decrees and directives. Genuine, organic development still happens, such that the Vatican is obliged from time to time to hurry to the front of the mob so that it may lead them. There is a tension in liturgical matters that can be healthy between regulation "from above" and variation "from below". So long as the folks in Rome show a modicum of forebearance (as, istm, they do for the most part in liturgical matters) and the folks in the pews are willing to submit to just authority, matters get settled with relatively little fanfare and fuss.
Joseph,I think "take, eat," includes "take and eat within the ecclesia," "take and eat and know what you are doing."Probably human beings can't live in astonishment all the time. "Yeah, yeah, another beautiful baby," says the obstetrician. But the Eucharist is a mind-blowing thing. It ain't a walk in the park.
I don't know if Joseph Gannon's question is meant for me, but I don't think Jesus meant "open your mouth" when he said "labete, phagete" or rather its Hebrew or Aramaic equivalent. Perhaps I wasn't sufficiently clear. What I meant to point out is that "taking" and "receiving: denote different attitudes, not only different ways of receiving Holy Communion. Whether we receive on that hand or on the tongue, it is important to note that we are always receiving. As I said above, I'm not sure whether there is a causal connection between communion in the hand and the widespread "take communion" attitude. But, I do think the "take communion" attitude is deeply problematic. If communion on the hand turns out to have been a significant influence in causing this, then that would be enough reason for me to reconsider it. Probably not to ban it, since I'm not in favour of hastily prohibiting practices that have been allowed for lengthy periods of time, but to reconsider whether there is need for substantial and focused catechesis on the proper disposition to receive the Eucharist. My personal preference is for a great deal of liberty in this area: My favourite parish in this respect is one where the priests distributes communion at the altar rail, but people are free to receive on the tongue or in the hand. They are free to stand or kneel while they do so, and about equal numbers choose each posture. Kneeling is considerably more important to me than communion on the tongue. However, I always receive on that tongue and kneel only when I can do so without disrupting the procession or causing a distraction...
Jim and Kim:Please document this :What interests me is his narrative of how communion in the hand came about: a practice that was introduced abusively and hurriedly in some spheres and only later authorized by the Vatican. Im sure thats an accurate summary, and it parallels developments such as permitting females to serve at the altar (and to proclaim the readings?)Otherwise it is nothing more than urban legend.
Who can object to a responsible reconsideration?I agree. Lets start with mandatory clerical celibacy, the creeping magisterium, the method for selection of bishops and parish priests, the role and authority of the laity in the non-spiritual aspects of the parish, term limits on the papacy, etc.Im ready when you are.
The problem I have with the expression "introduced abusively" is that it suggests that doing anything not explicitly authorized is always an abuse. It allows no room whatsoever for good development "from below"; yet this is how change normally starts. The history of the liturgical movement is replete with examples. It's an appropriate role for authority to judge and direct developments that arise; this is what the Vatican did in the 1960s. In short, I don't think the Archbishop has made a compelling case for reconsidering the practice now. As David has noted, there is warrant for the practice in tradition. Conversely, there is no warrant for equating it with a lapse in belief, or at least none that anyone here has been able to adduce. Has something changed? In Kazakhstan, perhaps?
I'm also sensitive to certain ironies here. It was not so long ago that there was a great hue and cry for the canonization of Pope John Paul II, yet everyone seems now to have forgotten everything he said. In "Spiritus et Sponsa" he described five "prospects for liturgical renewal": liturgy in service to the new evangelization, recovery of the art of mystagoic catechesis, appreciation for silence, developing a "taste for prayer" through broader use of the Liturgy of the Hours, and the exercise of pastoral guidance in following the norms of the Church faithfully and creatively. This ought to have kept us busy for a generation or two, but no, what we're doing instead is policing "abuses," and revisiting and reviewing critically every decision made since Vatican II.
Alan C. Mitchell:I would refer you to the single most complete primary source about that period: Annibale BUGNINI, La Riforma Liturgica 1948-1975 (Roma: Centro Liturgico Vincenziano Edizioni Liturgiche, 1983). I think pages 623-641 should provide ample documentation. This memoir is available in English translation, but I dont have either the book or the page numbers handy.In addition from the unauthorized introductions in the Netherlands and Belgium, I found an interesting online article from Time Magazine (Monday, November 26, 1973) entitled A Host of Problems, which adds that there were Catholic congregations quietly practicing the hand-to-hand form of Communion even though the US bishops had twice voted down the proposal. See: www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,908184,00.html
Of course the eucharist is a gift and one receives a gift. But Jesus seemed to be inviting those present to take the bread. I do not see why one cannot take the host and also recognize that one is receiving it as a gift, a gift from the Lord. If someone offers you something as a gift, you may take it from her/him without in any way not also being conscious that you are receiving it.As for belief in the real presence, I do not see that it is affected either way.
Rita Ferrone:You raise an interesting question about the way the term abuse is used and the possibility of inadvertently excluding authentic and organic "grassroots" developments in the liturgy. It warrants serious consideration and I want to give it much thought before I comment on it, but for now I just want to thank you for pointing out what is a stake. I do think that you are creating a straw man when you speak of "equating" communion in the hand with a lapse of belief. Neither Bishop Schneider nor Archbishop Ranjith is equating the two, but they are both asking whether one has not contributed to the other. Bishop Schneider also appears to be re-examining the witness of Christian antiquity on the question. Please refrain from hurling ridicule at Bishop Athanasius Schneider on the grounds that he is serving the Church in Kazakhstan. A look at his curriculum vitae suggests that your disdain is rather unjustified. The bishop was born in Tokmak, Kyrgyzstan, to parents of German origin. As a child he immigrated back to Germany. In 1982 he joined the Order of Canons Regular of the Holy Cross in Austria. He studied philosophy in Rome and theology in Brazil, where he also eventually obtained a doctorate in Patristic Theology. After serving in a seminary in Brazil and doing pastoral work in Austria, he moved to Karaganda, Kazakhstan, where he served as spiritual director of the seminary and chancellor of the diocesan curia until his appointment as auxiliary bishop in 2006. He served as auditor at the Synod on the Eucharist in 2005. He was formerly secretary of the liturgical commission of Kazakhstan and is now general secretary of the episcopal conference. Besides Central Asian languages, he speaks German, Russian, Portuguese, Italian, French and English. So, it is rather uncharitable to assume that "that Archbishop Ranjith had to go all the way to Central Asia to find some bishop crazy or bored enough to make an issue out of this." Given that we are talking here about an erudite polyglot who has lived and ministered in three continents, perhaps he really does have his finger on the pulse of world Catholicism!Finally, I would hope that we have not forgotten "Spiritus et Sponsa." I haven't, but I don't think my commitment to the agenda laid out by Pope John Paul II excludes me being open to a reconsideration of certain aspects introduced in the 1960s in the name of liturgical reform.
Joseph Gannon:The Greek "labete" like the Latin "accipite" can mean both "take" and "receive". When I say to you "take this" the sense is that you are receptive, so you're quite right that one can simultaneously both take the a gift and receive it as a gift. Any dictionary will say that. However, I hope that you would agree that common parlance usually sees taking as very different from receiving. This is what I was getting at. As I said before, I'm not sure that the use of the phrase "to take communion" can be equated with a mentality that subconsciously excludes receptivity, but I do think such a mentality is present although I can't estimate quite how widespread it is. This is the disposition of those who think that they can claim the Eucharist as their right. My claim is that this mentality is inimical to belief in the real presence because one who has realized that the Eucharist is the Body and Blood of the Lord, substantially present under the appearances of bread and wine, realizes that this is a gift that must be received -- and perhaps also taken, but never only taken without receiving. (Incidentally, as an extraordinary minister of the Eucharist, I think people who seize the Eucharist from the hands of the minister are usually acting out of nervousness or unfamiliarity rather than the "taking" mentality.) Also, I don't think that communion on the hand can be equated with the mentality I am criticizing since, when I am preparing children for their First Communion and training altar servers, I regularly encounter children whose families have taught them to "take communion by mouth." But, Kathy's post about the symbolism of taking rather than receiving made me wonder if there is not some connection, and prompted me to think back to my experience in Nigeria. Anyways, I don't know if I'm making myself any clearer, but I thought it was worth one last attempt to elucidate the train of thought that was sparked by Kathy's post.
Alan Mitchell gave me a bit of homework, which Kim was kind enough to do. I'd like to add that the Holy See acknowledged in 1969 that "certain communities and in certain places this practice [of communion in the hand] has been introduced without prior approval having been requested by the Holy See, and, at times, without any attempt to prepare the faithful adequately." (Sacred Congregation for Divine Worship, instruction Memoriale Domini, 5/29/69).http://www.ewtn.com/library/CURIA/CDWMEMOR.HTMBtw, inasmuch as I've both quoted EWTN in a favorable light and construed Archbishop Ranjith benignly in this thread, and those two facts taken together may suggest a certain sympathy for Bishop Schneider's thesis, let me just state for the record that I have no objection to communion in the hand. :-)
Point of interest: Would those who consider "abusive" the spread of communion in the hand and altar girls before those practices were formally authorized also be of the opinion that the use of the Old Rite Latin Mass before the recent motu proprio was also a liturgical abuse? And if so, would that not also raise questions about the re-authorization of the Latin Mass, just as Archbishop Ranjith is doing with communion in the hand?
I suppose "abuse" is an imprecise word (which I don't ordinarily use, btw) but what I believe it refers to here is a practice unauthorized by the proper authority. This is a relevant Canon: Since the sacraments are the same throughout the universal Church, and belong to the divine deposit of faith, only the supreme authority in the Church can approve or define what is needed for their validity. It belongs to the same authority, or to another competent authority in accordance with can. 838 3 and 4, to determine what is required for their lawful celebration, administration and reception and for the order to be observed in their celebration. (841)The Missal of 1962 was authorized by an indult given by the proper authority.
Recommend following article:Mark Francis, "Beyond language," THE TABLET (July 14, 2007).Available at www.THETABLET.co.ukFree registration required (last I knew).
Just to speculate a little further on the question of innovation.Historically what has happened in the Latin Rite (as distinct from most of the Eastern rites, which have been remarkably preserved through the centuries) is, innovations occur. This is the "organic development" of the liturgy that the traditional liturgists actually approve of. Innovations occur on the local level. Bishops and popes find out about them. They either approve or disprove.One example of an approval precipitated the East-West schism of 1054. The addition of the expression "filioque"--"and the Son"--to the Nicene Creed began as a pious practice in Toledo. In Spain. It caught on, became a custom, and was not only approved but mandated. Now there was a lot more going on in disagreements between the East and West, but the "assasination of Archduke Ferdinand" moment of the schism was this imposition of liturgical novelty on the Greek-speaking Church by Rome.An example of a disapproval was the tossing out by Trent of an enormous body of musical literature, developed for the Mass, called the Sequences. We still have 5 sequences but we're missing, for example, most of the works of the prolific and poetically admirable Adam of St. Victor. It's a great loss, in a way, but the Council judged (rightly I think) that the Gospel processions that the sequences accompanied were taking over too much time in the Mass. The proportions of the Mass, in terms of time, had radically changed. I can understand that it seems unfair that on the local level, we stick our necks out, making innovations, and in the end everything is judged--and that this is exactly the way things are supposed to go ordinarily. However, I think it should be acknowledged that we've lived through some embarassingly interesting liturgical times in the last 42 years. Innovations have been developed often without rationale. It's not too surprising that there would be some reaction.
David,If Summorum Pontificum was not motivated in part by a desire to regularize in some way the unauthorized celbration of the Pius V mass, the indult granted by John Paul II was. As stated in Summorum Pontificum:But in some regions, no small numbers of faithful adhered and continue to adhere with great love and affection to the earlier liturgical forms. These had so deeply marked their culture and their spirit that in 1984 the Supreme Pontiff John Paul II, moved by a concern for the pastoral care of these faithful, with the special indult 'Quattuor abhinc anno," issued by the Congregation for Divine Worship, granted permission to use the Roman Missal published by Blessed John XXIII in the year 1962."No small numbers" is telling. Of course, under the indult, one needed permission of the local bishop. Also, the indult only permitted masses using the John XXIII missal. Was that requirement always followed? Was permission always sought form the local ordinary? There are anecdotes to that effect, but I do not know how reliable they are.In relation to the return to the John XXIII missal (the extraordinary usage) one thing that I have not seen discussed much is the use of scripture in that mass. The lectionary was on a one year cycle, as opposed to a three year cycle under the Novus Ordo. Most of the readings during the year were taken from the New Testament. The Church under that "usage" is biblically impoverished in my opinion. That seems however not to be a big concern of Benedict's.
I knew this thread would go on and on.I want to thank Andy for referencing Christian Unity wek in Rome where Cardinal Kaspar (per John Allen) hoped we'd all (Christians) share at the table of the Lord by 2050.In the meantime, we make mountains out of rubrical molehills - hung up(if I can repeat) on rubrical and canonical dithering.I canno tbeleive the exegesis of becomin gas little childrenhby some here . Of course we should be guiless as doves too (but sharp as sepents.)Just think...
Was all this "organic development" over the centuries good?What do we mean by "good?"Was it "good" then?Is it "good" today?In his contribution about the liturgy in the old Catholic Encyclopedia (1910), Adrian Fortescue acknowledged the reality of development within the context of worship: "All ceremonial evolves gradually out of certain obvious actions done at first with no idea of ritual, but simply because they had to be done for convenience." He noted that "the fundamental outline of the rite of the Holy Eucharist was given by the account of the Last Supper." Over the centuries, the simple and humble in the liturgy became the elaborate and royal. Regardless of intervening attitudes, beliefs, and practices between the Last Supper and the Novus Ordo, what do we understand the eucharist to be and to mean today?As I've noted on a separate thread, the Middle Ages would see the gradual but certain "objectification" of the eucharistic bread/wine. The consecrated host became an "object" of belief. Surely, the earliest Christians did not have monstrances, benediction of the Blessed Sacrament, etc. On the other hand, they had community (with all the disagreements, arguments, joys, frustrations, etc. that community would imply).Let's not overlook the development of a clerical culture facilitated by cultural changes --- that would be eventually to our detriment!Is eucharist an "object" or have deeper meaning?
Dear Father Komonchak,'Twas you not I who suggested that the pastor was hurrying the new priest along to accommodate the 30,000 people. Having been a parishioner of St. Agnes in the 1950s, I permit myself to doubt the number of 30,000 but perhaps age is making me forgetful. Were you a priest at St. Agnes? It is not [laus Deo] a Jesuit parish. Please do not bother to answer. I have about given up reading this thread which has gone quite academical.
Mr. Austin: I didn't say anything about lunch--that was your guess.No, I was never assigned to St. Agnes. I am not a Jesuit (laus Deo). I can vouch only for the fact that I heard that for Holy Days of Obligation--not Sunday Masses--that many people would commonly attend Mass there.
Gabriel:Im finally getting around to this:Those who have a problem with the infantilization of being fed might consider that we [as did our parents and grandparents] address priests as father, as we address the first person of the Trinity in the Lords prayer.I suggest to you that the use of the word father to refer to priests is significantly different than calling the first person of the Trinity, Father. I recommend that you read this and the verses around it: Matthew 23:9.
At the risk of throwing this thread in another, but very related, direction, I would like to pick up on something Bob Nunz noted above; namely, that Cardinal Kaspar has a hope that all Christians will be able to share at the Communion table by 2050. I was wondering what he could possibly be thinking, as I see the obstacle to such a reality to be primarily a Catholic insistence that Real Presence be defined in terms of transubstantiation (please note, I am not claiming that this is an unreasonable position). It is my understanding that as far back as the ealiest years of the Reformation there was an effort by many, including one Martin Bucer, to compromise on this issue by agreeing in the real presence of God in the eucharistic celebration, and by also agreeing that the manner of the real presence being actualized would not be specified, leaving all to have their own understanding of this mystery. The Catholics simply could not go with this as they were committed to transubstantiation. If my history books are correct, this single issue, rather than justification by faith, or sola scriptura, was the primary stumbling block preventing a coming together of the Catholic and reforming traditions.My questions are twofold: 1) Does Kaspar know something that is not well publicized such that some movement on this impasse is conceivable? and 2) much more controversial, how important is the real presence/transubstantiation distinction to dotCommonwealers?For what it's worth, in my church [Christian Church (Disciples of Christ)] all Christians are already welcomed at the communion table, but, I know, it's not REALLY/valid communion.
Joe,I think that your information on transubstantiation is a little too unnuanced. As I understand it, we're required to believe that the bread and wine are gone, and the Body and Blood are there, stably. But I don't think that we have to use that particular word or philosophical background.However much Trent commended it, it does not (to my reading) require it.About Kasper: The big energy in ecumenism has to do with something called "communion ecclesiology." A lot of people think that this is the key to all of our ecumenical problems. Don't ask me what "communion ecclesiology" means because I'm not sure anyone really knows. Just kidding. John Zizioulas (Orthodox) and after him Paul McPartlan (RC) are two of the leading names, and when they use the expression I think they mean something particular and meaningful about what it means to be one in Christ, who is one with the Trinity.However, as Lawrence Cunningham, in his 2001 Commonweal review of Dennis Doyle's book Communion Ecclesiology, writes, "Use of the term is not without peril. Noted ecclesiologist Joseph Komonchak has argued that in order to avoid two conceptual pitfalls--that communion ecclesiology denotes vague feelings of fellowship or, oppositely, a highly mystified church unrooted in history--it is necessary to define what communion ecclesiology is (and is not). Should, for example, communion ecclesiology start from the exigent reality of the local church and circle out to the universal church, or must we give priority to the universal church replicated in the local communion? What is the precise relationship between the church and the larger culture? Is that relationship to be counter-cultural or dialogical? To what degree can communion ecclesiology deal with the historical reality of the church's human failings? Different theologians respond to these and other questions in quite different ways."A recent accord I have studied, between 2 major Christian US bodies, uses the expression "communion ecclesiology" throughout, but never once defines it. I think this is the stage of the discussion that we are in. I'm not convinced that this is the saving framework, though if definition becomes more clear, I believe it could be useful. I would imagine Kasper would be sympathetic to this framework, which seems to be energizing many of the ecumenical discussions.
Kathy, your background on communion ecclesiology is very helpful. Thanks. However, I confess I find little added nuance with the addition of "were required to believe that the bread and wine are gone, and the Body and Blood are there, stably." I do not want to contest this position, although I do not agree with it, but it does seem to me something of an ecclesiological deal killer.
Joe,I think that's okay, for now.It's not that I'm gloating about it (I hope) but the presence of the living God is not something to negotiate about or to consider sacrificing. Especially if, as I believe, peace among us can only come about by the presence of God, which is multiform but at its most intense and efficacious among us in the Eucharist.
I should be clear, btw, that I don't know what Cardinal Kasper is saying these days, and that I'm just guessing (rather wildly, actually) at his reasons for optimism.
What we are required to do is follow Jesus in loving our neighbor which includes our enemies. Returning good for evil, helping the lowly, healing the sick, visiting prisoners and helping those most rejected by society. We are not required to believe transubstantiation because no one knows what that term means. Thomas attempted to give Muslims an explanation but the hierarchy placed his opinion in stone. This insistence is a priority for those who place dogma over practice of the faith. It is much easier to "believe" dogma than to practice what Jesus preached. Jesus always praised strong belief in God, not a particular tenet.
The one thing that always strikes me about these discussions is what kind of symbols resonate with people. I found the discussion about infants and adults to be completely baffling, and I am still trying to figure out how reverence has become linked to taking communion on the tongue. Hands make us human. Many gestures are associated with a reverential attitude. When I see someone taking communion on the tongue it makes me think of a dog getting a treat from its master. It always makes me cringe.The other thing that hasn't come up: I remember once being told that taking communion was, prior to a certain time, a lot less routine or regular than weekly -- like monthly or eve several times a year. I wonder if this is true, and if so, when and why it changed. Making something pro forma or routine almost always lessens the value of it, whether you kneel or not.
Barbara, its not less valued now. The Eucharist is offered more and people know its their right not the hierarchy's possession. It was, (it wasn't just the fast), the hierarchy's scare tactics and snobbery which distanced communion. This is tied in to the dumb reverence for the clergy where they could take advantage of the people constantly. We are in better times. Unless we pang for the Knights of Columbus and Malta who are part of the old aristocratic, private power order.
Given the strong clericalization in the pre-Vatican II church (and the apparent willingness of not a few bishops and priests to restore and strengthen this communal/sociological mindset in the church), the reference to adults and infants (ordained and non-ordained) makes perfect sense.What does the Catholic Church mean by the "Real Presence?" (Please, no catechism answer; I know the "correct" answer.)What should the Catholic Church mean by the "Real Presence?" If ancient Christians brought the eucharist to those unable to be present at worship (as I think they did, anyway), what belief did such action reinforce: that the sick were members of Christ's body or that the consecrated bread was the Lord's body and blood? Church historian Timothy Thibodeau has referred to the development of the "objectification" of the eucharist during the Middle Ages, and liturgical historian Keith Pecklers has reminded us of the various eucharistic devotions (Corpus Christi processions, benediction of the Blessed Sacrament, etc.) that sprang up during this period. I gather that monstrances made their "debut" during the Middle Ages. As I've mentioned elsewhere, most if not all these practices elevated the ordained and subordinated the laity. The State had its privileged, and the Church likewise. To repeat what I asked the other day: Is the eucharist an "object" of adoration, or does the eucharist convey a deeper meaning? Where do we Catholics put the emphasis? Please note I am not asking an "either/or" question.As I see it, if the eucharist is primarily seen as an "object," I think we have a failure of genuine catechesis.If Vatican II called for renewal/restoration (synonyms), we must take our "cues" from the ancient church and the Last Supper. We must strive for ecclesial community, not a bifurcated clerical-lay divide that took shape during the entire Middle Ages and was crystalized at Trent.For me, kneeling is absolutely out of the question. History shows that institutionally enforced behaviors affect beliefs about one's role in the institution. Under no circumstances would I kneel or stick out my tongue to communicate with the Lord. No way!!!
Joseph,In the parish where I grew up the stained glass windows show an 8 foot tall priest bending way down to give Communion to a person kneeling on a surface that is obviously 2 or 3 feet beneath the priest's feet. Obviously there can be exaggerations and abuse.However, there's an old moral theology maxim: Abusus non tollit usum. That is, the abuse does not take away the use. Just because something can be (and even has been) exaggerated or deformed is not a valid argument against legitimate use.The Eucharistic presence is a positive good. Positive goods can be mistreated. Almost anything at all can be used for domination over others. Education, a positive good, can become a weapon. Just as an example. If I may make a suggestion: I think that your most interesting questions have to do with what you call the objectification of the Eucharist. To me this is interesting because once again, it seems to me that what we like to think of as theological arguments having to do with Jesus according to the Gospels instead come down to the same old philosophical dichotomy: is everything fundamentally at rest, or a heraclitean fire?Is the Eucharist the abiding presence or an intimate sharing?
Is it not both?
Kathy, I agree that something good can be abused and that said abuse does not justify negation of the good.In this context, I see the good as the eucharist, not its "objectification." Self-described "orthodox" Catholics emphasize eucharist in the sacrament. Progressives, on the other hand, stress eucharist in community. Catholicism, of course, embraces both meanings. The Middle Ages saw development of various eucharistic devotions and practices that resulted in the "objectification" of the eucharist. Priests and bishops enjoyed "honor by association" in this picture. This ecclesial arrangement would help solidify church stratification. And, of course, we've seen recently what can occur in an institution that elevated the ordained and subordinated the laity. Kneeling at eucharistic reception, no matter the intentions/understandings of priest and communicant, contributes to and is associated with the "objectification" of the eucharist, and the latter necessarily contributes to and reinforces a clericalized church. The documents of Vatican II emphasize community. All of us, ordained and non-ordained alike, constitute the church, the People of God. Given the dangers associated historically with a stratified church and an "objectified" eucharist, Kathy, do we situate the eucharist in a monstrance or in a community? To rephrase your closing question, is the eucharist an abiding presence on the altar or in the community?The issue is one of emphasis, not exclusivity.
A couple of other random thoughts about Archbishop Ranjith:1. In the article linked in the CNS story, he seems to consider it significant that communion in the hand was not authorized by Vatican II. My interpretation of that remark is that he's questioning whether or not the practice is truly grounded in what the liturgical reforms hope to accomplish. Istm it's a fair question. For example, does receiving communion in the hand enable full, conscious and actice participation in the liturgy in a way that reception on the tongue doesn't? It's not self-evident to me that it does. 2. Is it possible that the fact that he is from the Third World, and that most folks in this forum presumably are from the First World, could be a source of disconnect on this issue? Isn't it interesting that both the prefect and secretary of the Congregation for Divine Worship are from the Third World, as was Cardinal Medina before them? I wonder if this just a reflection of the traits and abilities of the individual prelates, or if it represents a conscious attempt to inject non-First-World liturgical sensibility into the church?
Regarding the comments of Jim Pauwels:I am in the Third World - In the state of Kerala in India where Christians, though a minority, are still a significant presence. And geographically we are very close to Sri Lanka, Archbishop Ranjit's home country.The majority of people here receive communion in the hand. Kneeling to receive communion? May be I see it once in an year. The motu proprio regarding the Latin Mass is a non event here. No one is asking for the Latin Mass. So I really dont think these are third world sentiments.
Hi, Sunil, thank you for commenting.<>That has been by experience in Chicago, as well.
Sorry for that previous "", for some reason when I cut and paste in this forum, whatever I paste doesn't seem to make it into the blog.I was attempting to quote Sunil's comment, "The motu proprio regarding the Latin Mass is a non event here. May be I see it once a year."
Useful in this discussion might be the comments of Avery Dulles when he was resisting the call to conversion [A TESTIMONIAL TO GRACE 1996]: "While the Protestant churches left me with a sense of mere inadequacy, the Catholic Church I found in many respects positively repellent. I stubbornly resisted the emotion which swept through the edifice at the moment of the Transubstantiation" [p.64]"To advance in the life of grace is to become more childlike" [93].


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Auto Meter's Custom Shop - Custom Gauges Designed By You!Written by on September 1, 2012 Auto Meter's Custom Shop makes any gearhead a custom gauge creator
Half of hot rodding is personalization. It's the little touches and changes that express your personality that make your car unique. On the exterior it's really the wheels that set the tone for a car, but on the interior we'd have to say it's the gauges. Think about it: you spend an awful lot of time staring at your instrument cluster. Matter of fact, if you're driving the way we like to drive, they're the only thing getting a regular glance. You better like the way they look.
Our buddies at Auto Meter certainly have never been thin on options and offerings, and some of their out-of-the-catalog gauges have graced the highest-level hot rods and muscle cars without alteration; their American Muscle series are some of the best-looking ever created in our opinion. But there's just something about being able to tweak and tailor a gauge to exactly what you want it to look like. Now imagine if you could do it hassle free and at home while staring at your dash.
That's exactly what Auto Meter's Director of Social Media Joseph Mills challenged his team to create. "We've always gotten special requests, and while we've always worked with our customers to provide them exactly what they want, there were limitations in what we could do, and the process wasn't as easy as it should have been," Mills told us. "We knew that we could do it better so we came up with a program that allows customers to design their own gauges." Sounds like a simple idea, but implementing it in a user-friendly way was not: "It took 17 people working seven days a week since last May to perfect it," Mills added.
The result was well worth the effort though; now just by clicking through a few screens and choosing your options in the Auto Meter Custom Shop, the possibilities expand exponentially; so far there are over 14 trillion combinations of Auto Meter gauges that you can create in the Custom Shop—and that number is only going to continue to grow as Mills and his team expand and refine the program. As of now the Custom Shop allows users to pick the number and type of gauges they want, dial color, font style and color, ticking style and color, retainer color, pointer style and color, bezel style and color, curved glass versus flat, and LED illumination versus incandescent. Yeah, it's a lot to ponder.
We decided to create some distinctive gauges to replace the awful factory ones in Project EcoNova, our '77 Nova disco-era machine, so follow along as we take you through the whole process from concept to experimentation, to getting the real deal in the car.
First you tell the Custom Shop how many gauges you need in your package; customization begins with a clean white six-gauge system. We opted for electric sending units on our 160-mph 3⅜-inch speedo, 8,000-rpm tach, and 21/16 ancillary gauges. Fifteen colors are preloaded into the system for the dial, but since Custom Shop are hand-assembled per order, there is an option to choose a custom color that you provide.
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A silver pointer doesn't work well on a brushed aluminum face, so it's time to splash some color. We almost went with the knee-jerk traditional red, but instead decided to call out the green from the EcoNova's logo. You can even do a different color tail if you prefer; match it to the gauge face and you get a floating effect. When have you ever been able to choose your pointer color? We also switched the color of the ticking to white and the retainer color to black to add more contrast to the face.Chrome bezels are standard and look great on just about anything, but in the EcoNova's black interior the cool Black Nickel bezel option creates a smoother transition of color to the gauge face. Auto Meter even lets you choose whether you prefer curved or flat glass. We stuck with flat.Usually different series of gauges only carry one option for illumination, but in the Custom Shop you choose between traditional incandescent or LED. If you go with LED, you can pick from white, blue, red, green, or amber illumination. We went with white.Auto Meter has a bank of cool images from eight balls to iron crosses you can add to the center of the gauge face, but customer-supplied images aren't available currently. Or, you can just add the model year of your car.The virtual dashboard is the last step in the configurator. Here you can change the layout of the gauges, swap the dashboard colors, or add textures like carbon fiber and brushed aluminum or wood veneers. Like what you see? Hit "Print Kit at Actual Size" to get a high-quality 1:1 printout of your creation. Now you can place them in the car and see if you like them just as much.Custom Shop gauges really are just that—fully custom. Once Auto Meter has your build sheet, each gauge is hand-painted, lettered, assembled, and tested by talented technicians. Check out the full step-by-step creation of our beautiful brushed speedo in the extended online version of this story at PopularHotRodding.com.Usually pointers are just made in a solid color plastic with no options; in the Custom Shop they can be whatever you want them to be.Instrument clusters don't come much more useless than the factory setup in the EcoNova. We've got a speedo, a gas gauge, and a few idiot lights that don't work on the left. The far right circle is blank.Awesome instrumentation doesn't do you much good if you can't mount 'em. Classic Thunder Road carries drop-in dash inserts with and without gauges for most muscle cars pre-mounted, and they're the only shop that actually builds them for our late fourth-gen ('77-79) Nova. They're available blank or drilled for your gauge configuration. The stock dash is hopeless; these are really a no-brainer for only $279.
Installation in the precut Classic Thunder Road dash insert only takes minutes, thanks to holes that are precut to exact dimensions for the gauges, and Auto Meter's user-friendly gauge retainers. Want to see how all these gauges got wired? Watch for the web exclusive story on PopularHotRodding.com.Love the look? We sure do! The Custom Shop gauges are gorgeous and the Classic Thunder Road insert makes the swap look like GM had this much taste in 1977. We don't mind sharing either; if you like our recipe for Auto Meter gauges just go to the Custom Shop instrument gallery and click on the Popular Hot Rodding EcoNova package. You can even change the pointer color!

subset: commoncrawl


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I've been playing around with WordPress for a couple of months now and when a client requests that he/she be allowed to modify, add content without my intervention, my defacto standard is WordPress. I've found WP to be extremely transparent and flexible compared to other CMS I've experimented with.
Say I have a phone review website and I use custom post types to list the phones. I'm assuming this is one of intended applications of custom post types, and I would like your suggestions on how best to store the technical specifications of the phone.
Here's an example http://www.theverge.com/products/xperia-acro-s/5697
Click on Full specs and this is an approximate picture of what I'm trying to achieve.
My question is 1) Should I use custom fields ( post meta ) for every single specification? This would mean at least 25 custom fields (Screen size, processor,display and so on..) for each custom post ( here, the phone).
2) Have a separate table in the wordpress database with fields as the tech spec (Screen size, processor,display and so on..)
In addition to display the tech specs every for every phone, I would also like it implement a 'Compare' feature as well as search for a phone based on the spec. Which of the above methods would you suggest for optimum performance during 'compare' or 'search' ?
Thanks for your time.


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SupportNet - Making a difference, one student at a time.
SupportNet is an early alert referral program whereby faculty and staff can refer students who need academic and/or personal assistance. Students are encouraged to meet with a SupportNet advisor who will provide the appropriate academic assistance and university resources.
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The information on this website is available in alternate formats. Please call our office at 559.278.8370 to make your request.


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Is Cain able? (II)
As Herman Cain prepares for tonight's eleventy-seventh GOP debate, he's doubtless relishing the news that, according to a new poll,he's become Iowa Republicans' favorite candidate. Yet, with the Hermanator's surge comes increased scrutiny. Take, for example,this piece, which digsinto his work at Godfather's Pizza. To those who question whether Cain deserves much credit for his company's dramatic turnaround, he says,Theres more between these ears than pepperoni and pizza sauce. People who say I was just going out and giving the speeches and smiling, they have no idea how I manage and lead."Certainly true. But for those of us who have read This Is Herman Cain! by Herman Cain, there can be no doubt about the abiding power of those speeches.
And what I say [on the campaign trail] must be striking a chord, because I invariably get a standing ovation. In fact, if I don't get one, I'm sure I didn't give a good speech. Actually, there was one time that I didn't get a standing ovation and I thought, "It's because I didn't give a good speech." Well, I had--I was told it was a great speech--but the reason I didn't receive a standing ovation was that I was speaking at an accountants' convention. They're trained to be unemotional, so they sat there and just applauded. [This Is Herman Cain! by Herman Cain, p. 152, italics his]
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"Theres more between these ears than pepperoni and pizza sauce."I think this is entirely possible.
The full title of the book is deliciously egomaniacal: This is Herman Cain: My Journey to the White House.And, of course, the final lines of this immortal work:
Well, Im just about at the elevator up to the family quarters. But bear with me for just a minute more as I confirm who I am. Its obvious; Im the president of the United States of America!
...in his mind, apparently.
Thanks for ruining the last post of my series, Brian.
Maybe Romney can 'evolve'/flip flop into a Deist like the founding fathers?
What ever happened to all those Republicans I used to see around (OK, I'm thinking way back)? They were almost never egomaniacs, or religious firebrands or, God help us, fans of Ayn Rand! They sometimes owned a business, and almost all seemed well to do. When it came to religion, they were Episcopalians, with a handful of Lutherans thrown in. A few wore bow ties, but other than that you'd never mistake one for Herman Cain (egomaniac), or Ron Paul (Rand fan), or Rick Perry (religious firebrand), much less Michelle Bachmann or Sarah Palin (religious firebrands who happen to be women, something else Republicans hardly ever were). Only Mitt Romney fits the old mold. And he's a Mormon, for crying out loud (!). Again I ask you: Whatever happened to all those Republicans I used to see around? Did these guys take them out back somewhere, knock them all out and steal their party cards? There, I said it. I'd bet a lot of other people my age (old) are wondering the same.
Cain in first place????, NH and Iowa talking about moving their primary to Dec and one then would go Nov. ... Thanksgiving anyone? And Cain in first place!!!!! what would the Supreme Court have to say if the GOP just forfeited the election? Is a forfeit legal? Is there towel that the GOP has, and where would they throw it.. Potomac?
@Beverly Bailey (10/12, 5/35 pm) Ronald Reagan used to tell a story about a couple who started dating when they were young and would cuddle next to each other, holding hands, when driving in the car.Time went on. They got married, had kids, got a bigger car (to have room for the kids and their gear), and got into the habit of sitting each by their own window.Time went on. The kids grew up and moved out of the house. Now that they didn't need as much space, they got a smaller care, but remained in their seats by their respective windows.One day, the woman said to her husband, "Remember when we were first dating, how we used to go driving and cuddle together and hold hands? Why don't we do that anymore?He replied, "I'm still sitting right here where I've always been."Reagan went on to tell the "lesson of the story"---that he, and that woman, and a lot of people were still "sitting right there where they'd always been", but it was the Democratic Party that had changed, and had left *them*.I suspect "all those Republicans (you) used to see around" feel that way about today's Republican Party. Some of them have migrated to the Democratic Party or consider themselves political independents. Some remain Republicans, in more-or-less uneasy alliance with the Randians and religious firebrands (and (ex?)-segregationists and nativists) who now run the party.
@ed gleason (10/12, 10:11 pm) Before we get too far ahead of ourselves, it's worth it to take a look back at, say, October 2007. That's when Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton had a commanding lead, as Barack Obama, John Edwards and the other challengers struggled to gain traction. Meanwhile on the Republican side, front-runner Rudy Giuliani, though still well ahead in the polls, was facing a serious challenge from Fred Thompson.Regardless of who the Republicans nominate---and I think it's highly likely at this point that they'll nominate Perry or Romney---that candidate faces an excellent change of winning the election, if for no other reason than the economy.
Luke -- What an odd story for Reagan to tell. He started out as a Democrat.
@Jim Jenkins (10/13, 12:15 pm) I agree Herman Cain won't (as far as I can imagine) be the Republican nominee---for a whole bunch of reasons.I don't think Rick Perry is 'toast' just yet. First, he's got $15 million in the bank, plus his own Super PAC. So he can afford to run a real campaign (staff, offices, research, ads, etc.).Second, there seems to be a ceiling on Romney's support in the polls. If most of the non/anti-Romney voters can coalesce around one candidate, that candidate can win the nomination. And Perry is still, I think, the candidate best positioned to fill that role.Third, "harboring undisguised racism" and being a "strangely incoherent public speaker" are not, I would submit, disqualifying characteristics for a candidate for the presidential nomination in today's Republican Party.That doesn't mean I think Perry will be the nominee; just that I think it's too soon to write him off.
Luke, I agree with the essentials of your analysis, but I would add that these televised Republican debates have been a terrific primer for Republican primaries, and there is no getting around that Romney is just head and shoulders above the other candidates in *seeming* presidential. He looks and feels like a president.Perry is failing the primary test before the primaries get under way. It's surprising and disconcerting that apparently he doesn't know how to prepare for a high-stakes campaign debate. It seems to be a window into some sort of character flaw. He hasn't looked like presidential timber so far.
P. S. He was a liberal. anti-isolationist Republican, which perhaps shows which way the rank and file Republicans will go when the Republican establishment fails them. Subsequently, during WW II, he got along with Roosevelt. Them were the days.
Anybody besides me remember Wendell Wilkie? He was the dark horse Republican candidate in the 1940 election. He lost to Roosevelt. The Republican convention was split between three strong candidates, Taft, Dewey and Vandenberg. Wilkie, a former Democrat, seemed to come out out of nowhere and got the nomination.Would that some rational Republican candidate would emerge now. The Republicans need him/her, and they've surprised us before.
I have been watching Herman Cain with interest. His position as frontrunner (which I think will be short-lived) seems to indicate the degree to which Republicans are in anybody-but-Mitt mode. I was initially attracted to the 9-9-9 plan as a way to simplify the tax code, but that 9 percent sales tax is a killer, especially as states and some municipalities add sales taxes. Some pundits say that even though the plan would be disastrous for the middle class, it is easy to explain and that makes it more attractive than plans that are fairer but more complicated. Meantime, I still think the rent is too damn high.