The Chief Medical Officer, Sir Liam Donaldson has been commenting very sensibly and calmly about the outbreak of pig flu and what we should be doing about it. I was struck by his comments about the use of face masks. He was not very optimistic about their effectiveness and worried that if they were used routinely, they might provide a false sense of security and make the problem worse.
Does that sound familiar?
12 comments:
Excellent!
Indeed! Just shows how vacuous and inconsistent is the advice these Medical 'Experts & Officials' offer the public through the various media channels - who are only out for a good story anyway.
I would have thought that by now we would have seen headlines such as "Killer, flesh eating pig-flu bacteria on rampage in chicken farm - Medics advise against eating sausages, bacon and chicken nuggets!"
Next bit of advice from the Medical Office will be "Pig FLU - be safe - use a condom".
It would be a good idea during any flu epidemic if the bishops conference restricted (ie issued a temporary prohibition) the unsanitary practice of communion on the tongue.
BB - communion on the tongue is not insanitary if done properly but it could be a point of infection. I wonder whether it might be better to advise people not to receive Holy Communion at all - there is also a possibility of infection with communion on the hand.
I would be interested to know what happened, for example, in Milan during the plague when St Charles Borromeo was Bishop, although, of course infection was not well understood then. There might be more recent outbreaks of infectious diseases that could provide us with examples of good practice.
I'm sure many people would jump at the chance to restrict communion on the tongue or the sign of peace for motives other than infection control.
point of inection = unsanitary
See above
Big benny - do you just roll through the Catholic blogs deliberately looking to make confrontational comments because you have nothing else to do? Are you an internet troll?
To suggest that reception of the Blessed Sacrament on the tongue may be a vector for pig flu is ridiculous! If you truely believe that the host and wine is Miraculously changed into the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ, perhaps you might also be thinking along the lines of (if taken to literal extreme) that human flesh and blood is somehow an unsanitary thing to consume??? Think of all those lepers and sick people that Jesus laid His Sacred hands on to cure them. Do you think you might get leprosy from contact with the Blessed Body of Our Lord???
There is a far higher chance of catching said flu during the sign of peace or being next to a person in Church who happens to sneeze, travelling to Church by bus or by tube with hundreds of other people in close proximity, receiving Holy Communion in your own filthy bacteria and virus ridden hands (by that I mean everyone harbours millions if not billions of micro-organisms on their hands - not just you), and by a thousand other means and ways just by living your ordinary daily life!
And not just this alleged 'pig flu', which just happens to be the media's flavour of the day! Why haven't Catholics been dying by the cart-load over the last two millenia from Holy Communion??? Why - let me tell you, because firstly it's not a problem and secondly do you think Our Blessed Lord would allow Himself to be a vector of disease? Jesus came into the world to HEAL not infect! The Sacred Body and Blood of Our Blessed Lord would never be a carrier of infection - and every Catholic should firmly believe that. It is easy to reduce the Sacred, Spiritual and indeed Miraculous to the simple everyday and ordinary, unless you foster that spirit of true Faith.
Good practice???? Oh please! Let's keep that nonsense out of the Holy Mass. It's worked for 2000 years - so let's keep it that way!
Big benny - just one more point, look at the millions of Faithful who share the same water with some seriously sick folk in the baths at Lourdes.
I don't know of a single case where someone healthy has gone to Lourdes, bathed in the miraculous waters and gone home sick!
On the contrary, there are hundreds of documented cures from all manner of illness.
Where's your Faith?
Fr Tim
As this picture shows, St Charles did not wear a face mask when administering the Blessed Sacrament to the plague victims in Milan in 1576, although he did bring with him four servers in cassocks, three of whom were wearing cottas, and one of whom was carry an umbrellino.
The evidence of the painting is inconclusive as to whether the communicants received on the tongue or in the hand, but the patients look too ill to me to stand up and form a "throne" with their hands in the approved modern fashion. So, taking all things into account, I think the balance of probabilities is that they received Viaticum on the tongue and St Charles (who lived until 1584) took a "pastoral" approach and placed a higher priority on the glory of God and the eternal salvation of the plague victims than his own temporal welfare.
"Inasmuch as ye shall have done it unto the least of these brethren of mine, ye shall have done it unto me"
I would suggest that most of the risk in infecting one another would be from receiving the Precious Blood from the Chalice and from the Sign of Peace since both would provide a direct vector for infected fluid transfer from one person to another.
Obviously we don't have to receive from the Chalice and I understand that the Sign of Peace is at the discretion of the priest anyway and can be omitted if there's a risk of cross-infection, so hopefully we can do away with most of the risk provided we're not all coughing over each other.
Perhaps parishes should, this weekend, take the opportunity to remind all parishioners to wash their hands thoroughly before Mass and not to drag themselves into Church if they're feeling unwell - i.e. the obligation doesn't stretch that far! Maybe a reminder in the weekly bulletin?
In the meantime, all Lay Ministers of Communion should be reminded to be exceptionally vigilant about cleaning the rim of the chalice.
As for Communion on the tongue... I would humbly suggest that even if you as the priest manage not to make physical contact with the communicant when depositing the Host on their tongue, if the person exhales while you are doing so they will be expectorating moisture onto your hands at very close quarters. You can't really avoid it and that would certainly present a very real risk of cross-contamination via you to other communicants if they were shedding the virus at the same time. It's a small risk in normal circumstances, but with a particularly virulent bug I wouldn't want to chance it!
Of course, having said all that, none of us need to receive Communion more than once a year do we? (Am I correct?) Provided we turn up to Mass that's enough isn't it, so us lay people, if we're really REALLY worried, can protect ourselves until the panic goes away or we've had the bug, recovered and gained immunity!
It would seem that, what the disobedience of the Modernists failed to do, Swine Flu has achieved - to prevent or, at least, make it difficult to receive Communion on the tongue. Would it not be better to use this Flu outbreak as a means to reinstitute (where needed) a more reverent, unhurried giving and receiving of Communion, kneeling at the Altar-rail rather than standing in a continually moving queue? How about using the plate (as directed in Redemptionis Sacramentum) held in the right place by a correctly traied Altar Server and, perhaps, the longer form of words used in the Extraordinary form - far less likelehood of physical contact than with the often rushed method of distributing Communion in the Ordinary Form. When distribution is so hurried there may well be such a little time in which to answer 'Amen', open one's mouth and put out one's tongue that the Priest's hand 'collides' with one's opening mouth. I definitely feel very nervous receiving standing, sans plate, with the attendant risk of the Host being dropped. To may shame this has happened to me twice.
Re. my original post on the subject I just wish to say that I apologise to anyone who might have been offended by it. It was rather a knee-jerk reaction. Although, as we know, Modernists have, in the past,notably during the Papacy of St. Pius X, I believe, attacked the Church I feel that I was unfair in generalising as I did. Our Bishops and Priests (God bless them) have a difficult task. I thank those who have not felt the need to impose 'Communion in the hand' on us and pray that those who felt they had to do this will soon feel able to allow the choice once more. I still remain unable to receive Communion in the hand - I would find it very hard to bring myself to touch with my hand the Body of Christ.
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