ROMAN REPORT
The pandemic and Communion in the hand Alberto Carosa on the difficulties faced by Traditional Catholics
O
ne of the most serious problems for the traditionalist faithful, who would like to continue the practice of faith without compromise, is the current obligation to take Holy Communion in the hand. In Italy, and it seems it is the same story in the rest of the Catholic world affected by the pandemic, including Great Britain, the Italian Bishops Conference (CEI) has issued very clear directives: everyone must receive Communion in the hand without exception, for precautionary reasons. Although some studies have pointed out that there are more risks with this than Communion on the tongue (and despite the opinion of prelates that no authority in the world can ever force us to take Communion in the hand), the rules of CEI remain in place and therefore, at least theoretically, every priest is obliged to comply with them. However, there are exceptions: courageous priests who have come forward publicly, stating that they will not comply with the directive. What about those traditionalists, including myself, who do not have nearby a traditional mass or a Novus Ordo rite in which the priest gives Communion on the tongue? So, the question for traditionalists like me is: how do we limit the damage? Not living in a big city, unfortunately I do not have easy access to the traditional Mass, nor am I aware of priests who celebrate in my village or nearby places who also give Communion on the tongue during a public Novus Ordo mass. However, I know many clergy in the surrounding area and I managed to find a priest willing to give Communion on the tongue outside mass. So, we (my wife and I) can take Communion every Friday and every Saturday. Regrettably, there is no way to remain daily communicants as we used to before the lockdown in early
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Traditional Mass celebrated in the Church of Santa Maria in Marruci, a small town a few miles from L’Aquila, capital city of the Abruzzo region of Italy
March. On the other hand, I remember very well when I was in my teens that in these mountain areas of the Marsica on the border with Lazio and along the ancient consular road of TiburtinaValeria, before Vatican II there was a great abundance of clergy, so much so that every small village had its resident parish priest. Today, however, in this post-conciliar era the situation is totally different because the priests are fewer and fewer, many are elderly and have to move frequently to manage more than one parish with masses, baptisms, funerals etc and therefore one has to be quite careful with one’s requests. The most serious problem is the Sunday Mass, since it is no longer possible to go to the Novus Ordo masses in my area. A crucial decision became inevitable: where before the virus we went once in
a while to the traditional mass in L'Aquila (more rarely in Rome) notably on special feast days, now we go to the traditional Mass in L'Aquila every Sunday, a round trip of around 140 kilometres. In this way we are able to take Communion three times a week, even if no longer every day as before. We also follow streamed traditional masses on the web, followed by spiritual communion. It must be hoped that the CEI will soon lift the restriction on the faithful so that we may once again receive Communion on the tongue. Mind you, by insisting on obliging the faithful to receive it in their hand, CEI will push people towards traditional Mass attendance. In fact, the exceptional interest and concern of the faithful for the issue was noted on some Catholic blogs, whose commentators highlighted a surprising development: against all expectations and for the most various reasons, after the lockdown the churches where the new rite was celebrated remained quite deserted even on Sunday, while instead the masses celebrated with the ancient rite were almost stormed by an unprecedented number of faithful. And this seems to be happening not only in Italy, but also elsewhere, at least so far as I have been able to judge from international contacts and the internet. There is no doubt that many of these new attendees are motivated by the desire to receive communion on the tongue. As is well known, part of the clergy, especially at the top echelons of the hierarchy, are not in favour of traditional liturgy and so if the aim of this continued ban is to gradually eliminate this form of traditional devotion – ie Communion on the tongue - it would seem it is producing the opposite result. And no wonder: it would be yet one more manifestation of the fine irony with which divine Providence, in its infinite wisdom, reverses the manoeuvers of men.
AUTUMN 2020
