Posted on Mar 2, 2008 by admin
Albert Malcolm Cardinal Ranjith, November, 2007: “I mention, for example, a change not proposed by the Council Fathers or by the Sacrosanctum Concilium, Holy Communion received in the hand. This has contributed to some extent to a weakening of faith in the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist. This, and the removal of altar rails and kneelers in church and the introduction of practices which oblige the faithful to sit or stand at the elevation of the Sacred Host, weakens the genuine significance of the Eucharist and the Church’s profound sense of adoration for the Lord, the Only Son of God.” Bishop Joseph A. Fiorenza, 2001: “It is the grave responsibility of the Church to direct and regulate the celebration of the Eucharist and to protect this most precious gift from abuse and faulty teaching.” Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, 2000 “The Spirit of the Liturgy” (Ignatius Press) “There are groups, of no small influence, who are trying to talk us out of kneeling,” wrote then-Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger. “‘It doesn’t suit our culture’, they say (which culture?) ‘It’s not right for a grown man to do this — he should face God on his feet’.”Cardinal Ratzinger continued: “The kneeling of Christians is not a form of inculturation into existing customs. It is quite the opposite, an expression of Christian culture, which transforms the existing culture through a new and deeper knowledge and experience of God.“Kneeling does not come from any culture — it comes from the Bible and its knowledge of God . . . The Christian Liturgy is a cosmic Liturgy precisely because it bends the knee before the crucified and exalted Lord. Here is the center of authentic culture - the culture of truth. The humble gesture by which we fall at the feet of the Lord inserts us into the true path of life of the cosmos.” Bishop Juan Rodolfo Laise, San Luis, Argentina, 1997 “Although the Church recognizes legitimate change, it nonetheless considers that ‘the temerity and daring of those who introduce novel liturgical practices, or call for the revival of obsolete rites out of harmony with prevailing laws and rubrics, deserve severe reproof’. We must keep in mind that reversing the course of a development and returning to a previous phase, is not a development but rather a corruption. “Therefore, to say that ‘Communion in the hand is not a novelty’, that ‘we only do it as the Apostles, as the first disciples did, and as the Christians did for almost one thousand years’ with the purpose of ‘dispelling fears’, is not a valid argument. It is not true that we will ‘only’ do it as the Apostles did. As we have just seen, the return to an ancient manner is not in itself a reason for tranquility. Even less so when that manner was first abandoned and finally forbidden, due to its imperfection.” Father John Harden, S.J., November, 1997: “Behind communion-in-the-hand – I wish to repeat and make as plain as I can – is a weakening, a conscious, a deliberate weakening of faith in the Real Presence.” Blessed Mother Theresa, Good Friday, 1989: “Wherever I go in the whole world, the thing that makes me saddest is watching people receive communion in the hand.”
Pope John Paul II, Dominicae Cenae, February 24, 1980: “…cases of a deplorable lack of respect towards the Eucharistic species have been reported, cases which are imputable not only to the individuals guilty of such behavior, but also to the pastors of the Church who have not been vigilant enough regarding the attitude of the faithful towards the Eucharist. It also happens, on occasion, that the free choice of those who prefer to continue the practice of receiving the Eucharist on the tongue is not taken into account in those places where Communion in the hand has been authorized.”
Bishop Bernard D. Stewart, Sandhurst, Australia 1950-1979: “Children are known to have fiddled with the Sacred Host placed into their hands at Holy Communion; adults have been seen to pass the Blessed Sacrament from one to the other in a queue. Rightly does the Sacred Congregation ask whether such people who act like this really believe in the Real Presence of Christ. One must pass over in appalled silence the unspeakable abominations of demonism when the Sacred Host is sacrilegiously carried off to the satanic rituals of black masses. Sacrileges have occurred in the past and will occur in the future. But today the Holy See testifies that they are numerous and widespread; it also says that Communion in the traditional manner [on the tongue] is a better safeguard against adulteration of doctrine and profanation.”
Cardinal Carberry, March, 1977: “We are facing again another struggle in our Bishops’ Conference in May [1977]. It has been decided, for the third time now, that we have to talk about Communion in the hand…. So I would be grateful beyond words for any way that you could possibly help by prayer. I’m thinking, I know I can use a great deal of canonical reasons and law and the rest of it, but you don’t get very far with these. People don’t seem to want to listen to this kind of reasoning. But some kind of reasoning that would reach into the hearts of the Bishops, and to place it, I hope, on the basis of danger of irreverence to the Most Blessed Sacrament which is growing and growing and growing throughout our country. And if any of you have any reading matter on this, or any thoughts on how it could be presented; ways that it could be presented; ways that it could be presented before us, I would be so grateful to hear and receive any suggestions. And I pray most earnestly to our Most Blessed Mother that the beautiful prayer, ‘O Sacrament Most Holy, O Sacrament Divine’ might be an ejaculation of all of us who want to preserve the reverence and devotion by the traditional way of receiving Communion, which has the blessing of our Holy Father, the Pope.”
Pope Paul VI, Memoriale Domini, 1969: “A change in a matter of such moment, based on a most ancient and venerable tradition, does not merely affect discipline. It carries certain dangers with it which may arise from the new manner of administering Holy Communion: the danger of a loss of reverence for the august sacrament of the altar, of profanation, of adulterating the true doctrine.” Consilium, 1965: “The Holy Father [Pope Paul VI] … does not consider it opportune that the sacred Particle be distributed in the hand and later consumed in different manners by the faithful, and therefore, he vehemently exhorts [that] the Conference offer the opportune resolutions so that the traditional manner of communicating be restored throughout the world.” (October 12, 1965 letter of the “Consilium” to Bernard Cardinal Alfrink, Archbishop of Utrecht, Netherlands)Dietrich von Hildebrand, 1889-1977: “Is it believable that instead of applying the most scrupulous care to protect the most sacred consecrated host, which is truly the Body of Christ, the God-man, from all such possible abuses, there are those who wish to expose it to this possibility? Have we forgotten the existence of the devil who wanders about seeking whom he may devour’? Is his work in the world and in the Church not all too visible today? What entitles us to assume that abuses to the consecrated host will not take place?” Mysterium Fidei, 1965: “The only ones to communicate always standing and with their hands outstretched were from the beginning the Asians who obstinately denied the Divinity of our Lord Jesus Christ and who could not see in the Sacred Eucharist any more than a simple symbol of union, which can be taken and handled at will.” Pope Pius X11 (Vicar of Rome, 1939-1958): “The desire to restore everything indiscriminately to its ancient condition is neither wise nor praiseworthy.” St. Thomas Aquinas, 1225-1274 (S.T. 3a. 82, a.3) “…because of the respect that is due to this Sacrament, it is not touched by anything that is not consecrated. That is the reason that the Corporal and the Chalice are consecrated. And likewise the hands of the priest are consecrated in order to touch this Sacrament. Accordingly, no other person has a right to touch it except in the case of necessity, for example, if the Sacrament falls on the ground or in a similar necessity.” Saint Leo 1, Pope (440-461): “One receives in the mouth what one believes by faith.” St. Basil, Letter 93 (330-379): “It is not necessary to show that it does not constitute a grave fault for a person to communicate with his own hand in a time of persecution when there is no priest or deacon.” St. Basil the Great (330-379): “The right to receive Holy Communion in the hand is permitted only in times of persecution.” St. Paul, 1 Corinthians 11:27: “Therefore whoever eats this bread or drinks the cup of the Lord unworthily, will be guilty of the body and the blood of the Lord.” St. Hippolytus, The Apostolic Tradition, 215 AD: “The Body of Christ is meant to be eaten by the faithful, not to be treated with irreverence.”
