With both San Bernardino and Riverside counties moving into less restrictive tiers in California’s reopening blueprint, Bishop Alberto Rojas has moved to reinstate two practices related to Holy Communion.
Parishioners who desire it can once again receive communion on the tongue, Bishop Rojas has stipulated.
“Bishop Rojas expresses his gratitude to the members of the faithful who have obediently abided by the practice of receiving Holy Communion in the hand in time of pandemic,” states a letter to the priests of the Diocese announcing the changes. “As we have learned more about Covid-19 and continue to take seriously the various safety measures issued, we are now at a point to once again resume the traditional practice of distributing Holy Communion on the tongue.”
The letter acknowledges that additional health and safety precautions will need to taken as this practice is reinstated. “It is highly recommended that all Ordinary and Extraordinary Ministers of Holy Communion assisting with distribution of Holy Communion on the tongue receive the Covid-19 vaccination (both doses) to ensure the health/safety of the minister and of all members of the faithful,” it states.
Bishop Rojas has also given clearance for clergy and Extraordinary Ministers of Holy Communion to the Sick to visit the sick in hospitals, care facilities and homes, upon request. Again, all health and safety protocols of facilities must be observed, and ministers are advised to keep their visit to no more than 15 minutes.
The above comes from an April 6 story in the Catholic Byte.
In my humble opinion, the bishop should require Covid vaccinations from all EMs and priests. Do civil health authorities agree with [optional] Communion on the tongue?
Fortunatly, no one is asking your opinion.
The odds of getting covid from a communion wafer are zero. The timed interaction between EM/Priest and worthy reception is seconds.
There is no record of anyone getting covid as part of holy communion.
If this was common mode of infection, the ladies checking me out at safeway and costco would all have been infected months ?, year? ago.
Life goes on. Why are you so afraid, Mike?
I agree mikem that all EM’s (and all communicants actually) ought to get vaccinated for the health of everyone at Mass. I haven’t seen any studies that deal with this directly. However, assuming the EM has disinfected hands, I don’t think there is any additional risk to the communicant by receiving one way versus the other. There is a slight risk that should the fingers of the EM touch the communicant’s tongue, there is a slight chance that they might transfer virus to the next host ad therefore the next communicant, but I think most protocols have the EM disinfect between such situations.
As to the red herring that another poster asks, what are we afraid of, I’m not afraid. I get into a car after knocking a few back all the time. I’m only hurting myself, right? I’m gonna die sometime, right? And if some other driver doesn’t feel safe with me driving while drunk, they should stay off the highways, right?
Your fear of dying does not mean I have to get a vaxx derived from aborted baby cells. If you are scared, then you stay home. Your malformed conscience makes you OK with the deadly exploitation of human babies. Reprehensible that you will use dead babies to get over your fear, reprehensible.
There are no aborted baby cells in the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines and they are not used in the production of these vaccines. They are simply not derived from aborted fetuses at all.
And I’m not afraid of my own death. I’m afraid of giving others a deadly disease. Given those facts, The Vatican and the Bishops have all said that is morally reprehensible to not vaccinate, though not in so many words.
Read the horrible truth:
https://www.lifesitenews.com/news/vaccines-using-fetal-tissue-12-faulty-assumptions
Dear “Save Unborn Babies but not Adults”: Your link confirms exactly what I said: There are no aborted baby cells in the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines. In fact, it explicitly says that these two vaccine are not even grown in fetal cell lines. It is important that all of us who are not allergic to the inactive components of these vaccines, do so, to save lives. How often are we asked to do something that may save someone else’s lives? We get to lead heroic saintly lives because we put aside our fears and do what we can out of love and compassion for others.
Shame on you for lying about what the linked article. When you do finally die, thousands of aborted babies will witness against you for your complicity and denials. Your lack of compassion for our unborn brethren is horrific.
” the Oxford/AstraZeneca and Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine are produced in cell lines derived from abortions [2] — by contrast, Moderna and Pfizer’s vaccines used them in testing.[3]”
—https://www.lifesitenews.com/news/vaccines-using-fetal-tissue-12-faulty-assumptions
So it would follow that Your Fellow Catholic would condemn the sodomical practices that spread HIV AIDS, out of love and compassion for the health of others.
Your Fellow Katholic: “The Vatican and the Bishops have all said [Huh? That’s not true. Just look it up.] that is morally reprehensible to not vaccinate [as if the USCCB is an authoritative guide anymore to what’s morally reprehensible].”
Dear “Stop Your Lies”…and might I say, what a clever name you’ve given yourself!
My answer is YES. There are widely available drugs that prevent the transmission of the fatal virus known as HIV, and yes, I would happily disavow behaviors that spread that fatal virus unless people take those drugs. And most young people DO take those drugs…because they want to stop the spread of the HIV virus. They do it because they care about life.
We have a drug – a vaccine – that nearly prevents the spread of THIS fatal virus – SARS CoV2 – and we ought to behave like mature responsible adults and protect those around us from this sometimes fatal virus.
You are saying that if people engaging in HIV AIDS causing sexual behaviors take anti-viral meds, you are ok with their immoral behavior.
This is a lie. Well formed Catholics don’t separate morality from behavior. There are serious moral issues with covid vaccines, don’t lie about it.
Your Fellow Katholic: “I would happily disavow behaviors that spread that fatal virus unless people take those drugs.”
What? So then you would not_disavow those behaviors as long as they did take those drugs?
And you wonder why the pews are empty.
So take the COVID vaccine already and stop the lies about its morality.
The truth is that covid vaccines are tainted by abortion. Organs from aborted babies were harvested for vaccine research and production for an illness that more than 97% of those who get it will recover.
Accepting dead baby parts in exchange for a vaccine most people don’t need at all is morally reprehensible. Period. That’s the truth.
Wrong.
mikem, I’m glad you left us deacons out of the mandatory vaccine requirement of yours.
I believe the bishop is acting pastorally and prudently. He is a pastor of souls. Since health care professionals have not advised him as you have, he is moving forward as a responsible pastor. It’s likely that most of his priests and Extraordinary Ministers of Holy Communion have been vaccinated. Yet, he is not giving them, or other parishioners, medical orders.
The health of the Church would be well served by pastors reminding those not in a state of grace, including public figures, to not approach for Holy Communion for the sake of their souls as well as those of others. That’s the kind of advice that doctors of souls should provide.
Good for you, Sir. As a one of the faithful this is nice to see once again. God bless you and our community. May God be with you as you serve our diocese Of San Bernardino and Riverside. God bless you, Bishop Rojas
I have received on the tongue where allowed and in the hand throughout this epidemic. I have not had any COVID 19 shot, and have NOT gotten a cold, the flu or COVID 19. I mask where and when necessary, sanitize my hands when receiving in the hands. and go to priests who allow kneeling and know how to give on the tongue without touching the mouth. I avoid receiving on the tongue if I think I have been exposed to COVID 19. A vitamin routine and eating healthy the majority of the time helps the immune system greatly Better to pay more for healthy food and eat less. Get throat blessed St. Blaise Day.
The Bishop didn’t have the authority to ban communion on the tongue. Reception of Holy Communion on the tongue, cannot be banned nor may an Ordinary or Extraordinary minister refuse a person requesting Holy Communion on the tongue. [Cf: Redemptionis Sacramentum 92. “Each of the faithful always has the right to receive Holy Communion on the tongue at his choice.”
Nice of the Bishop to allow what was always the right of the faithful.
The Lifesite News article has been completely misrepresented by one having the audacity to call himself a Fellow Catholic. Supporting abortion’s rotten fruits, then boldly lying about it is not Catholic behavior. Glad someone called you out on it.
I quoted the article directly
Any coincidence that the loudest proponents of “required” vaccines and “required” follow up booster shots are the very same people pushing for massive depopulation programs?
Bill Gates has not taken the vaccine.
Of course that is not true. He is over 65 and received the vaccine earlier this year: https://www.cnet.com/news/bill-gates-shares-photo-of-his-coronavirus-vaccine-says-i-feel-great/