The John-Henry Westen Show - 5 reasons why Catholics should not receive Holy Communion on the hand

00:00:00.000 Hello and welcome to this episode of the John Henry Weston Show.

00:00:03.620 With orders to refuse the faithful Holy Communion on the tongue coming from governmental health

00:00:09.460 authorities and even from some bishops and priests, I wanted to give you the reasons

00:00:14.260 why I could never receive Holy Communion in hand.

00:00:17.720 And if the matter was forced, I would make the sacrifice of just making a spiritual Holy

00:00:22.900 Communion.

00:00:23.760 I've tried to make this as simple as possible by dividing it into five reasons and the video

00:00:29.200 description and over at my LifeSite blog, we'll be including the links to the documents referenced.

00:00:35.020 So please stay tuned.

00:00:53.000 Before we begin, I want to remind you to like this video and share it.

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00:01:16.540 Let's begin, as we always do, with the sign of the cross.

00:01:20.340 In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, Amen.

00:01:24.860 So the very first point I'd like to make is about reverence due to Almighty God.

00:01:32.920 I want to dismiss the false notion that people receive communion on the tongue out of some

00:01:37.520 kind of false piety or holier-than-thou attitude.

00:01:41.340 While I can't, of course, discount that that is ever something that's going on, from those

00:01:46.600 I've witnessed and read about receiving Holy Communion on the tongue, it comes from a deep

00:01:51.540 reverential love for the King of Kings whom we receive in this great sacrament.

00:01:56.320 And I believe receiving our Lord on the tongue while kneeling reinforces that reverence for

00:02:01.760 our Eucharistic Lord.

00:02:03.680 Some of the most powerful arguments for the need for this type of reverence are in the Bible.

00:02:10.400 Remember when Moses first met the Lord God in the burning bush, as we read about in Exodus 3?

00:02:16.200 Well, Moses was told not to come too near to the burning bush and to remove his sandals

00:02:22.300 because he was on holy ground.

00:02:24.940 If you read Psalm 95, we read,

00:02:28.080 Come, let us adore and fall down and weep before the Lord that made us.

00:02:33.780 We see it, of course, in the New Testament, too.

00:02:36.020 Remember when Peter, James, and John went up Mount Tabor at the Transfiguration.

00:02:40.660 They saw the glorified body of Jesus, which we receive in Holy Communion, and they prostrated

00:02:46.280 themselves with their foreheads to the ground.

00:02:49.560 But the biblical account that speaks to this subject most directly for me is what happened

00:02:55.260 with the Ark of the Covenant.

00:02:57.480 You can read the account both in 2 Samuel 6, 1-7 and 1 Chronicles 13, 9-12.

00:03:03.780 The Ark of the Covenant was designed by God and built to the Lord's specifications.

00:03:08.060 It contained the manna, the staff of Moses, and the tablets of the Ten Commandments.

00:03:12.740 It was also so sacred that it was never allowed to be touched, except by certain Levites, the 1.00

00:03:19.260 sort of priests of their time.

00:03:21.460 The reservation of touching the Ark to priests only was potently or powerfully reinforced when

00:03:28.800 a layman, whose name was Uzzah, who was transporting the Ark at the request of King David, was struck

00:03:35.260 dead by God for touching the Ark.

00:03:38.940 Now get this.

00:03:40.200 Uzzah was trying to do the right thing. 1.00

00:03:42.300 He was doing what he thought was right to save the Ark.

00:03:45.260 You see, while he and his brother were transporting the Ark in a cart pulled by oxen, along the

00:03:52.400 journey, the Ark got tilted or, you know, the oxen stumbled and it was tilting.

00:03:57.740 So Uzzah used his hand to steady the Ark and, for that, was struck dead by the Lord. 0.96

00:04:04.180 The scripture explains that the Lord struck him down because Uzzah was not to touch the 1.00

00:04:08.960 Ark.

00:04:09.900 It's actually very much the same in our time, when many are trying to do what they think

00:04:14.420 is right for the coronavirus by receiving on the hand.

00:04:18.620 Yet with the Ark, it was not the right thing to do, even though it is what seemed expedient.

00:04:24.720 It was done for good intent to save the Ark from harm, just as many are receiving on the

00:04:30.760 hand today with good intent, to save their brothers and sisters in Christ from possible

00:04:35.720 coronavirus infection, or to save the church, her freedom to be able to distribute Holy Communion

00:04:41.520 at all.

00:04:43.100 But nevertheless, touching the Ark was the wrong thing to do.

00:04:47.860 The Lord's decision here actually perplexed David, as you can read in the scriptures.

00:04:52.520 And after this incident, David was afraid to bring the Ark of the Lord to himself.

00:04:59.400 And yet, what was the Ark of the Covenant compared to our Lord himself in the Eucharist?

00:05:04.720 The Ark was revered in the temple.

00:05:06.760 It was carried in ceremony.

00:05:07.920 It was considered holy.

00:05:09.440 And yet it was only the footstool of God.

00:05:12.920 His presence was there, veiled and prefiguring of his real presence in the person of our Lord

00:05:19.520 Jesus Christ, whom we receive in Holy Communion.

00:05:23.740 My wife is a convert to Catholicism.

00:05:26.960 She asked me the other day how communion in the hand can possibly make any sense, given

00:05:32.300 the practices in the church of consecrating the altar and the sacred vessels used in the

00:05:38.340 mass and consecrating the priest's hands.

00:05:41.140 We see priests and bishops, even the Pope, covering his hands with the humoral veil, with

00:05:50.300 a vestment called a humoral veil during benediction of the Blessed Sacrament.

00:05:54.860 This is all about the sacredness of Christ in the Eucharist.

00:05:59.460 But if we allow everyone to touch the sacred host with their unconsecrated hands, the practice

00:06:06.280 of the humoral veil becomes very confusing indeed.

00:06:10.780 It may seem, perhaps, that the church, since it seems not to care about handling the body

00:06:15.480 of Christ itself with unconsecrated hands, but only when it's in a monstrance, perhaps

00:06:21.600 it's the gold in the monstrance that we are protecting with the use of the veil.

00:06:25.460 And of course, that's nonsense.

00:06:27.680 But I'm going to conclude on this point of reverence towards our Eucharistic Lord, quoting

00:06:33.000 from Dietrich von Hildebrandt.

00:06:35.660 He was a German Catholic philosopher and religious writer.

00:06:39.000 He was known and loved by the last number of popes.

00:06:42.360 He was a great fighter of, of course, Nazism and communism. 0.82

00:06:45.960 At Wikipedia, you can read about Hildebrandt.

00:06:48.900 He was called, and I quote, the 20th century doctor of the church by Pope Pius XII.

00:06:54.560 Pope John Paul II greatly admired the philosophical work of Hildebrandt, remarking once to his widow,

00:07:00.020 Alice von Hildebrandt, your husband is one of the great ethicists of the 20th century.

00:07:06.240 Benedict XVI also had a particular admiration and regard for Hildebrandt, who knew Ratzinger

00:07:11.700 as a young priest in Munich.

00:07:13.040 The degree of Pope Benedict's esteem is expressed in one of his statements about Hildebrandt,

00:07:20.760 and I quote,

00:07:21.200 Well, here is what Dietrich von Hildebrandt wrote about the subject of communion in the hand

00:07:40.300 in his book, The Devastated Vineyard, and I quote,

00:07:44.860 Unfortunately, in many places, communion is distributed in the hand.

00:07:50.800 To what extent is this supposed to be a renewal and a deepening of the reception of Holy Communion?

00:07:58.000 Is the trembling reverence with which we receive this incomprehensible gift perhaps increased

00:08:04.260 by receiving it in our unconsecrated hands rather than from the consecrated hand of the priest?

00:08:09.040 It is not difficult, continued von Hildebrandt,

00:08:14.280 It is not difficult to see that the danger of parts of the consecrated host falling to the ground

00:08:20.760 is incomparably increased, and the danger of desecrating it, or indeed of horrible blasphemy,

00:08:27.740 is very great.

00:08:29.720 Von Hildebrandt continued,

00:08:31.320 And what in the world is to be gained by all this?

00:08:34.940 The claim that contact with the hand makes the host more real is certainly pure nonsense.

00:08:41.700 For the theme here is not the reality of the matter of the host, but rather the consciousness,

00:08:47.940 which is only attainable by faith that the host in reality has become the body of Christ.

00:08:53.940 The reverent reception of the body of Christ on our tongues from the consecrated hand of the priest

00:08:59.520 is much more conducive to the strengthening of this consciousness than reception with our own

00:09:06.660 unconsecrated hands.

00:09:09.080 End quote.

00:09:11.040 The second reason I would give is the authority of the church.

00:09:15.560 It's important to say, first of all, that I'm saying this knowing full well that we are in the midst of a coronavirus pandemic.

00:09:24.620 In fact, the very first point I'd like to make about this point is to bring to your consideration

00:09:33.140 that the church has already considered the matter of allowance of Holy Communion on the tongue

00:09:38.500 in the midst of a virus, and that's in the midst of a pandemic even.

00:09:44.080 It was in 2009, in the midst of the H1N1 swine flu influenza pandemic.

00:09:50.180 A lay Catholic in England, in a diocese where Holy Communion on the tongue was restricted due to the pandemic,

00:09:55.860 wrote the Vatican about the matter.

00:09:58.180 And the response from the Congregation for Divine Worship and Discipline of the Sacraments,

00:10:02.400 which is the sort of Vatican department that deals with these things,

00:10:05.880 was dated July 24th, 2009.

00:10:08.660 You're going to see a link to that below this video in the description and also over at my blog on this subject at lifesitenews.com.

00:10:17.940 So that CDW, or Congregation for Divine Worship document, dated July 24th, 2009, was posted online by Rorati Celi,

00:10:27.400 and you can also find a link to it below, as I said.

00:10:31.380 So the Vatican congregation, tasked with authoritatively responding to such questions,

00:10:36.700 wrote, quoting church law on the subject, and I'll quote it for you.

00:10:40.160 The letter says,

00:10:40.900 And by the way, they were referencing number 92 of the Vatican's instruction on the subject, called Redemptionis Sacramentum.

00:10:56.320 They said,

00:10:57.180 Nor is it licit to deny Holy Communion to any of Christ's faithful who are not impeded by law,

00:11:02.920 and that means church law, of course, from receiving the Holy Eucharist, end quote.

00:11:07.260 So the Vatican, in their response, added this, and I quote,

00:11:12.460 The congregation thanks you for bringing this important matter to its attention.

00:11:16.120 Be assured that the appropriate contacts will be made, end quote.

00:11:20.520 Now there's a very fascinating explanation of what this letter means and the implications that it has.

00:11:27.760 Over at Canon Law Made Easy, which is a blog from canonist Kathy Caridi,

00:11:33.020 The canonist points out the significance of that line about appropriate contacts will be made.

00:11:41.300 Caridi says, and I quote,

00:11:43.120 It makes it clear that after sending this letter, the CDW intended to contact the clergy who were illegally barring Catholics from receiving communion on the tongue

00:11:52.540 to inform them in a formal, official way, that by doing that they were violating the law, end quote.

00:12:00.900 The canonist concludes this way, she says,

00:12:03.920 It would be only logical to assume that if the faithful contact the CDW now with the information about the current illegal practices in their own parishes and dioceses,

00:12:14.500 where they are forbidden to receive communion on the tongue,

00:12:17.200 the CDW will respond in precisely the same way.

00:12:20.960 That is, if you're being denied Holy Communion right now, in coronavirus time,

00:12:27.040 contact the Vatican and they will respond in the same way as they did during the 2009 H1N1 swine flu virus,

00:12:35.680 saying that it is not permissible.

00:12:38.000 Or here's the words actually of canonist Caridi,

00:12:41.600 the CDW will have to respond in the same way,

00:12:44.360 not because coronavirus isn't dangerous,

00:12:46.560 but because the right of the faithful around the world to receive the Eucharist in the way that is the Church's established norm on the tongue

00:12:55.040 cannot be curtailed by anyone other than the supreme authority of the Church.

00:13:00.840 She continues,

00:13:01.940 And again, that's from the blog Canon Law Made Easy.

00:13:26.600 The third point that I wanted to make is about the witness of the saints and popes and angels.

00:13:35.660 So first off, we have St. Thomas Aquinas,

00:13:37.920 regarded universally as the greatest doctor of the Church.

00:13:40.620 He wrote in the 1200s in his Summa Theologica,

00:13:44.280 and I quote,

00:13:44.700 And you can find that in the Summa Theologica.

00:14:11.120 That's actually Q82, Article 13.

00:14:15.360 So, also, in 2008, Pope Benedict decided to stop giving Holy Communion on the hand to the faithful,

00:14:23.220 and would only give Holy Communion to the faithful on the tongue and kneeling.

00:14:28.840 A Vatican webpage commemorating this decision was published in 2009.

00:14:33.840 It's been updated since, of course, to include a photo of Pope Francis,

00:14:37.500 but it can still be found on the Vatican website.

00:14:39.860 The Vatican webpage says this, and I quote,

00:14:42.920 From the time of the Fathers of the Church,

00:14:47.180 a tendency was born and consolidated whereby distribution of Holy Communion in hand

00:14:52.680 became more and more restricted in favor of distributing Holy Communion on the tongue.

00:14:58.920 The motivation for this practice is twofold.

00:15:02.000 A. First, to avoid as much as possible the dropping of the Eucharistic particles.

00:15:07.960 B. Second, to increase among the faithful devotion to the real presence of Christ

00:15:12.960 in the sacrament of the Eucharist.

00:15:14.960 End quote.

00:15:16.640 The letter continues.

00:15:17.860 A celebrated saying of St. Augustine cited by Pope Benedict in Benedict XVI in number 66 of his encyclical

00:15:26.480 Sacramentum Caritatis, that is, the Sacrament of Love, teaches,

00:15:30.980 Quote, No one eats that flesh without first adoring it.

00:15:35.620 We should sin were we not to adore it.

00:15:38.760 End quote.

00:15:41.040 Kneeling, continues the Vatican document, indicates and promotes the adoration necessary before receiving

00:15:48.300 the Eucharistic Christ.

00:15:49.880 From this perspective, the then Cardinal Ratzinger assured that, quote,

00:15:55.300 Communion only reaches its true depth when it is supported and surrounded by adoration.

00:16:01.660 He said that in The Spirit of the Liturgy, which was published by Ignatius Press in the year 2000.

00:16:08.380 For this reason, Cardinal Ratzinger maintained that, quote,

00:16:12.480 The practice of kneeling for Holy Communion has in its favor a centuries-old tradition,

00:16:18.500 and it is a particularly expressive sign of adoration,

00:16:22.800 completely appropriate in light of the true, real, and substantial presence of our Lord Jesus Christ

00:16:28.800 under the consecrated species.

00:16:32.180 This is from this congregation of the Congregation for Divine Worship and Discipline of the Sacraments,

00:16:40.360 dated July 1st, 2002.

00:16:45.620 The Vatican webpage goes on to say,

00:16:48.640 John Paul II, in his last encyclical, Ecclesia de Eucharista,

00:16:53.840 The Church Comes from the Eucharist, wrote in number 61, quote,

00:16:58.620 By giving the Eucharist the prominence it deserves,

00:17:01.440 and by being careful not to diminish any of its dimensions or demands,

00:17:05.520 we show that we are truly conscious of the greatness of this gift.

00:17:10.360 We are urged to do so by an uninterrupted tradition from the first centuries on,

00:17:16.460 has found the Christian community ever vigilant in guarding this treasure,

00:17:20.380 inspired by the love,

00:17:22.260 inspired by love,

00:17:23.560 the Church is anxious to hand on to future generations of Christians, 1.00

00:17:28.740 without loss,

00:17:29.800 her faith and teaching with regard to the mystery of the Eucharist.

00:17:32.820 There can be no danger of excess in our care for this mystery,

00:17:36.820 for in this sacrament is recapitulated the whole mystery of our salvation, end quote.

00:17:43.900 The Vatican webpage concludes this way.

00:17:46.360 It says, announcing the, or commemorating the change of Pope Benedict,

00:17:52.200 it says,

00:17:54.240 In continuity with the teaching of his predecessors,

00:17:57.120 starting with the solemnity of Corpus Christi in the year 2008,

00:18:01.580 the Holy Father, Benedict XVI,

00:18:03.760 began to distribute to the faithful the body of the Lord

00:18:07.240 by placing it directly on the tongue of the faithful as they remain kneeling, end quote.

00:18:12.800 The current head of the Vatican department that deals with the issue,

00:18:16.460 known as, again, the Congregation for Divine Worship and Discipline of the Sacraments,

00:18:22.820 is Cardinal Robert Serra.

00:18:25.620 Without a doubt, he is one of the saintliest cardinals alive today.

00:18:30.580 In fact, Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI strongly endorsed Cardinal Serra,

00:18:35.400 saying publicly in an afterword to a reprint of one of Cardinal Serra's book,

00:18:39.680 which you might know, called The Power of Silence.

00:18:42.160 And this is Pope Benedict, the one already retired, by the way.

00:18:45.940 So, Pope Emeritus Benedict, saying, quote, about Cardinal Serra, quote,

00:18:50.280 With Cardinal Serra, a master of silence and of interior prayer,

00:18:54.540 the liturgy is in good hands, end quote.

00:18:58.960 Benedict also added in that same afterword,

00:19:02.440 Cardinal Serra is a spiritual teacher who speaks out of the depths of silence with the Lord,

00:19:08.560 out of his interior union with him,

00:19:11.240 and thus really has something to say to each one of us, end quote.

00:19:15.940 It is this cardinal, this saintly African cardinal, Robert Serra,

00:19:21.260 who is in charge of the church's dicastery, dealing with the sacraments,

00:19:24.980 that has pleaded with priests to only give communion to the faithful, kneeling and on the tongue.

00:19:30.880 In the preface to a 2018 book, critically analyzing communion on the hand,

00:19:37.940 Cardinal Robert Serra, who again is the prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship,

00:19:43.000 he wrote these words,

00:19:43.760 Why do we insist on receiving communion standing and on the hand?

00:19:49.880 Why this attitude of lack of submission to the signs of God?

00:19:55.380 May no priest dare to impose his authority in this matter by refusing or mistreating those

00:20:01.620 who wish to receive communion, kneeling and on the tongue.

00:20:04.300 Let us come as children and humbly receive the body of Christ on our knees and on our tongue.

00:20:11.220 The saints give us the example.

00:20:13.700 They are the models to be imitated that God offers us.

00:20:17.840 End quote.

00:20:19.800 Cardinal Serra also warns strenuously, and I quote again,

00:20:23.180 The most insidious, diabolical attack consists in trying to extinguish faith in the Eucharist

00:20:30.100 by sowing errors and fostering an unsuitable way of receiving it.

00:20:35.400 He continued,

00:20:36.480 Truly the war between Michael and his angels on one side and Lucifer on the other

00:20:41.640 continues in the hearts of the faithful.

00:20:44.780 He said,

00:20:45.920 Satan's target is the sacrifice of the Mass and the real presence of Jesus in the consecrated host.

00:20:51.760 Let us now look at how the faith in the real presence can influence the way we receive communion

00:21:00.860 and vice versa, he said.

00:21:03.220 And again, I'm quoting from Cardinal Robert Serra.

00:21:06.740 He said,

00:21:07.560 Receiving communion on the hand undoubtedly involves a great scattering of the fragments.

00:21:13.440 On the contrary, attention to the smallest crumbs, care in purifying the sacred vessels,

00:21:18.820 not touching the host with sweaty hands,

00:21:21.680 all become professions of faith in the real presence of Jesus,

00:21:26.060 even in the smallest parts of the consecrated species.

00:21:29.860 If Jesus is the substance of the Eucharistic bread,

00:21:33.560 and if the dimensions of the fragments are accidents only of the bread,

00:21:38.080 it is of little importance how big or small the piece of host is.

00:21:42.260 Because the substance is the same.

00:21:43.900 It's him.

00:21:45.620 On the contrary, inattention to the fragments makes us lose sight of the dogma.

00:21:51.920 Little by little, the thought may gradually prevail

00:21:54.960 that if even the parish priest does not pay attention to the fragments,

00:21:59.120 if he administers communion in such a way that the fragments can be scattered,

00:22:03.440 then it means that Jesus is not in them,

00:22:06.120 or that he is up to a certain point.

00:22:08.220 The second track on which the attack against the Eucharist runs 0.88

00:22:16.260 is the attempt to remove the sense of the sacred from the hearts of the faithful.

00:22:22.200 While the term transubstantiation points us to the reality of presence,

00:22:27.680 the sense of the sacred enables us to glimpse its absolute uniqueness and holiness.

00:22:33.040 The cardinal continues,

00:22:36.200 What a misfortune it would be to lose the sense of the sacred

00:22:39.820 precisely in what is the most sacred.

00:22:43.120 And how is it possible by receiving special food in the same way as ordinary food?

00:22:52.540 He says,

00:22:53.460 That is precisely why it is appropriate to promote the beauty, fittingness, and pastoral value

00:23:09.540 of a practice which developed during the long life and tradition of the Church

00:23:15.380 that is the act of receiving Holy Communion on the tongue and kneeling.

00:23:19.440 He continued,

00:23:21.820 The greatness and nobility of man, as well as the highest expression of his love for his Creator,

00:23:27.720 consists in kneeling before God.

00:23:31.080 Jesus himself prayed on his knees in the presence of the Father.

00:23:37.540 Cardinal Sarah concluded his reflections on the Eucharist

00:23:42.060 and receiving Holy Communion on the tongue and kneeling this way.

00:23:46.460 He said,

00:23:47.480 May this book,

00:23:48.540 Now remember he was writing the preface to a book

00:23:51.440 which critically was examining this notion of Communion on the hand.

00:23:55.580 He said,

00:23:56.360 May this book encourage those priests and faithful

00:23:58.880 who moved also by the example of Benedict XVI,

00:24:02.180 who in the last years of his pontificate

00:24:04.020 wanted to distribute the Eucharist in the mouth and kneeling, 0.99

00:24:07.860 wish to administer or receive the Eucharist in this latter manner,

00:24:12.800 which is far more suited to the sacrament itself.

00:24:17.140 The Cardinal said,

00:24:18.040 I hope there can be a rediscovery and promotion of the beauty and pastoral value of this method.

00:24:24.940 In my opinion, he said,

00:24:26.840 and judgment.

00:24:27.940 This is an important question on which the Church today must reflect.

00:24:31.940 This is a further act of adoration and love that each of us can offer to Jesus Christ.

00:24:37.780 I am very pleased, said Cardinal Serra,

00:24:41.420 to see so many young people who choose to receive our Lord so reverently on their knees and on their tongues.

00:24:48.240 One of the other aspects of his preface was actually Cardinal Serra's recollection of the Fatima apparitions

00:24:59.440 and the angel that appeared to the three Fatima children prior to their seeing Our Lady herself.

00:25:05.020 At one of the appearances of the angel, the angel of peace that is, or the angel of Portugal,

00:25:09.820 he appeared to the children and the angel brought with him Holy Communion.

00:25:13.920 The angel prostrated himself before the Eucharistic Lord, teaching the children to do the same.

00:25:22.260 The fourth point I'd like to bring up is the profanation, what they call the profanation or the desecration of the Holy Eucharist.

00:25:30.600 And it's most seen, of course, in what we just heard Cardinal Serra talking about,

00:25:35.880 and that is the loss of the fragments of the Eucharist.

00:25:39.720 One of the things I wanted to show you was this clip of an experiment that was done on video

00:25:46.960 in order to see if particles are indeed left when it's administered.

00:25:52.280 So they took these unconsecrated hosts, they spread them here on a table, as you can see,

00:25:56.660 and you'll notice when they examine it, there it is.

00:25:59.100 There's crumbs or particles left of the host.

00:26:03.220 Now, this was unconsecrated, of course, but they did the same thing in a person's hand.

00:26:07.040 They used this glove to show what happens when they put it in the person's hand.

00:26:10.940 They put it in the hand, remove the host, and sure enough, take a look, particles.

00:26:15.680 So, also, take a look at this clip from the interview that I did with Dan Burke.

00:26:21.820 Now, Dan Burke was a former head of EWTN News, and he had experience, of course, with the coronavirus,

00:26:27.620 but he is very firmly of the belief that part of this sort of coronavirus chastisement

00:26:33.140 is as a result of the profanation of the Blessed Sacrament.

00:26:37.680 He talked about how our Lord has been trampled underfoot for 50 years in our churches

00:26:43.460 because of what we're doing and how we're letting the particles of the Holy Eucharist fall to the floor.

00:26:49.240 Have a look.

00:26:50.300 Because when you receive in the hand, it causes transactional activity that is minimum of twice as much

00:27:07.840 or three times as much as receiving on the tongue because you grab it with your fingers,

00:27:13.260 which is the worst kind, or it's placed in your hand, and then you grab it with your fingers,

00:27:19.680 and that causes particles to break loose.

00:27:23.060 And at one time in my own parish, I watched, and on Sunday, it's a cathedral,

00:27:28.760 so there are a lot of people, let's just say a thousand,

00:27:31.320 a hundred percent of those who received on the hand, John Henry, a hundred percent.

00:27:37.520 And let me just say, this is an Orthodox parish, you know, with an Orthodox, very good and holy priest.

00:27:45.340 He's a great liturgist.

00:27:46.780 He's a canon lawyer.

00:27:48.120 He's the chancellor of the diocese, Father Brian Jerebic.

00:27:51.220 I watched, and I always sit in the front pew anyway or somewhere real close to the front,

00:27:55.500 and just out of curiosity, a hundred percent John Henry that received on the hand did not examine

00:28:03.760 whether or not there were particles to be consumed before they brushed their hands down on their side or whatever.

00:28:12.480 And that causes desecration because, as the Council of Trent clearly says,

00:28:20.660 as tradition is clearly taught, that if you break the host down into small pieces,

00:28:27.820 the body and blood, soul and divinity of Christ is still present in those pieces.

00:28:34.160 And if those drop to the floor and they're trampled underfoot, this is a grave sin.

00:28:39.120 This is desecration.

00:28:41.200 And so maybe there's not as full culpability on an individual because they have no intent of doing this,

00:28:46.680 but certainly it's not going to go well in the judgment if they make it.

00:28:52.700 As we've already seen in the comments of the popes and the cardinals of the church,

00:28:56.360 one of the main concerns with communion in the hand is this loss of the fragments of the Eucharistic Christ.

00:29:03.140 It's been one of the main themes of the heroic bishop Athanasius Schneider,

00:29:08.520 who penned a book on this subject of the reception of Holy Communion in the hand in 2012.

00:29:14.820 It was called Dominus Est.

00:29:17.520 It is the Lord.

00:29:19.860 And he says these words, I'm going to quote them at length because it's just incredible.

00:29:24.100 He says,

00:29:24.380 The fathers of the church demonstrate a lively concern that no one lose the smallest particle of Eucharistic bread,

00:29:32.120 as exhorted St. Cyril of Jerusalem in this very impressive manner.

00:29:37.880 Be careful that you do not lose anything of the body of the Lord.

00:29:42.020 If you let fall anything, you must think of it as though you cut off one of the members of your own body.

00:29:48.720 In other words, one of your limbs.

00:29:51.100 Tell me, this is again Bishop Schneider quoting St. Cyril of Jerusalem.

00:29:55.680 Tell me, I beg you, if someone gave you kernels of gold, would you not guard them with the greatest care and diligence intent on not losing anything?

00:30:05.380 Should you not exercise even greater care and vigilance so that not even a crumb of the Lord's body could fall to the ground?

00:30:12.280 For it is far more precious than gold or jewels.

00:30:15.860 That's from the mystagogical catechesis of St. Cyril of Jerusalem.

00:30:22.340 Bishop Schneider continues in his book,

00:30:26.700 Already Tertullian, and by the way, Tertullian died in 240, so we're talking very early in church history.

00:30:33.920 Already Tertullian gave witness to the church's anxiety and sorrow should even a fragment be lost.

00:30:40.480 And quoting from Tertullian, he said,

00:30:42.240 We suffer anxiety lest anything from the chalice or the bread fall onto the ground.

00:30:47.980 St. Ephraim, in the 4th century, taught this way,

00:30:53.880 Jesus filled up the bread with himself and the spirit and called it his living body.

00:31:00.660 That which I have now given you, says Jesus, do not consider bread.

00:31:04.600 Do not trample underfoot, even the fragments.

00:31:08.000 The smallest fragment of this bread can sanctify millions of men and is enough to give life to all who eat it.

00:31:15.520 End quote.

00:31:17.980 By 1980, the practice of communion on the hand had become widespread,

00:31:24.600 as did the desecrations of the Holy Eucharist that would surely accompany it.

00:31:29.680 In fact, Pope John Paul II published the letter Dominique Sene on February 24th, 1980.

00:31:37.320 And in it, he wrote this, and I quote,

00:31:39.060 In some countries, the practice of receiving communion in the hand has been introduced.

00:31:43.860 This practice has been requested by individual Episcopal conferences, that's bishops' conferences,

00:31:48.940 and has received approval from the Apostolic See, that is, from the Vatican.

00:31:53.740 However, continued John Paul II,

00:31:55.440 However, cases of a deplorable lack of respect toward the Eucharistic species have been reported,

00:32:03.240 cases which are imputable not only to the individuals guilty of such behavior,

00:32:09.000 but also to the pastors of the Church who have not been vigilant enough regarding the attitude of the faithful toward the Eucharist.

00:32:16.360 It also happens, on occasion, that the free choice of those who prefer to continue the practice of receiving the Eucharist on the tongue

00:32:25.580 is not taken into account in those places where the distribution of communion in the hand has been authorized.

00:32:33.040 And so there's John Paul II lamenting the abuses of the Eucharist because of communion in the hand,

00:32:39.400 and lamenting that some would dare to ignore the requests of the faithful to receive communion on the tongue.

00:32:48.120 Well, in a 2014 interview with the magazine of the Latin Mass Society of England and Wales,

00:32:53.940 Bishop Schneider said, and I quote,

00:32:56.260 and these are probably some of the strongest words he's said on the subject,

00:32:59.540 I quote,

00:33:00.560 To my knowledge and experience,

00:33:03.100 the deepest wound in the actual crisis of the Church is the Eucharistic wound, 0.61

00:33:08.140 the abuses of the Blessed Sacrament.

00:33:11.620 Bishop Schneider said,

00:33:12.900 There is the question of the objectively irreverent reception of Holy Communion.

00:33:17.500 The so-called new modern manner of receiving Holy Communion directly into the hand

00:33:22.220 is very serious because it exposes Christ to an enormous banality.

00:33:29.040 Bishop Schneider added,

00:33:30.540 There is the grievous fact of the loss of Eucharistic fragments.

00:33:34.380 No one can deny this,

00:33:35.840 and the fragments of the consecrated host are crushed by feet.

00:33:40.040 This is horrible.

00:33:42.060 Our God in our churches is trampled by feet.

00:33:45.660 No one can deny it.

00:33:46.960 And this is happening on a large scale.

00:33:50.840 This has to be,

00:33:51.840 for a person with faith and for love of God,

00:33:54.240 a very serious phenomenon.

00:33:57.180 Bishop Schneider added,

00:33:58.900 We cannot continue as if Jesus as God does not exist,

00:34:03.120 as though only the bread exists.

00:34:04.660 This modern practice of communion in the hand

00:34:07.500 has nothing to do with the practice in the ancient Church.

00:34:11.820 The modern practice of receiving communion in the hand

00:34:14.900 contributes gradually to the loss of the Catholic faith in the real presence

00:34:21.540 and in the transubstantiation.

00:34:23.840 He concluded,

00:34:26.160 A priest and a bishop cannot say this practice is okay.

00:34:30.180 Here is at stake the most holy,

00:34:32.440 the most divine,

00:34:33.440 and concrete on earth.

00:34:38.200 So, for my fifth point,

00:34:40.460 I'd like to discuss the history of Holy Communion in the Church.

00:34:46.120 Well, of course,

00:34:47.200 the first and earliest accounts of Holy Communion

00:34:49.280 are, of course, in the Scriptures themselves,

00:34:51.080 where our Lord gave himself as communion

00:34:53.300 to the apostles at the Last Supper.

00:34:55.880 Now, some suggest that even there,

00:34:59.000 he might have given them Holy Communion on the tongue,

00:35:01.780 especially since we read in the Last Supper narrative

00:35:04.260 in the Gospel of John

00:35:05.360 that our Lord dipped a morsel of bread

00:35:07.960 before giving it to the Apostle Judas.

00:35:11.200 And, of course,

00:35:11.800 that would be rather messy

00:35:12.800 to dip a morsel of bread into liquid

00:35:16.580 and then hand it to someone.

00:35:18.080 But, nonetheless,

00:35:19.020 he might, of course,

00:35:20.520 have given it in the hand.

00:35:21.600 That's not clear.

00:35:23.440 But, even if Jesus did give

00:35:25.440 the Apostles Holy Communion in the hand,

00:35:27.380 they were all, of course, bishops,

00:35:29.140 not laymen.

00:35:30.440 So, they had consecrated hands.

00:35:32.520 However,

00:35:33.280 it does seem as though

00:35:35.360 in the early Church,

00:35:37.220 there was at least,

00:35:38.320 in some places,

00:35:39.380 this practice of communion in the hand.

00:35:41.860 Saint Cyril of Jerusalem,

00:35:43.440 who lived in the 4th century,

00:35:45.580 wrote this.

00:35:46.040 Or,

00:35:47.620 some people actually contest

00:35:49.840 that he wrote it,

00:35:50.700 but, nonetheless,

00:35:51.420 I think most people accept

00:35:52.700 that he wrote this.

00:35:54.300 And I quote,

00:35:55.020 Saint Cyril, of course,

00:36:22.180 added the admonitions

00:36:23.200 about not allowing

00:36:23.980 the particles to drop

00:36:24.940 as mentioned

00:36:25.460 in the previous point.

00:36:27.660 Quoting again

00:36:28.360 from Bishop Schneider's book,

00:36:29.700 Dominus asked about

00:36:30.640 the history of communion

00:36:31.580 on the tongue,

00:36:32.860 quote,

00:36:33.180 Aware of the greatness

00:36:35.160 of the moment

00:36:36.020 of Holy Communion,

00:36:37.620 the Church,

00:36:38.280 in her two-millennium-long tradition,

00:36:41.100 has searched

00:36:41.880 to find

00:36:42.800 a ritual expression

00:36:44.300 that can bear witness

00:36:45.800 in the most perfect manner

00:36:47.480 to her faith,

00:36:48.740 love, and respect.

00:36:50.140 This is verified

00:36:51.120 when,

00:36:51.740 in the wake

00:36:52.260 of an organic development

00:36:54.100 stemming from

00:36:54.900 at least the 6th century,

00:36:57.380 the Church began

00:36:58.140 to adopt the method

00:36:59.040 of distributing

00:36:59.640 the sacred species

00:37:00.640 of the Eucharist

00:37:01.540 directly into the mouth,

00:37:03.180 This is attested to

00:37:04.780 in several places

00:37:05.800 in the biography

00:37:07.820 of Pope Gregory the Great

00:37:09.140 and an indication

00:37:10.380 by the same Pope

00:37:11.440 relative to Pope Agapitus.

00:37:14.840 And then he gives,

00:37:16.380 and you'll see it

00:37:16.940 in my blog,

00:37:18.120 the reference for that

00:37:20.420 in his book.

00:37:23.280 He said,

00:37:24.200 The Synod of Cordoba 0.84

00:37:26.760 in 839

00:37:28.080 condemned the sect

00:37:29.800 of the so-called

00:37:30.740 Casiani

00:37:31.540 because of their refusal

00:37:32.960 to receive Holy Communion

00:37:34.120 directly into their mouths.

00:37:35.760 Then the Synod of Ruen

00:37:37.360 in 878

00:37:38.260 confirmed the norm

00:37:39.320 in force

00:37:39.800 regarding the administration

00:37:40.860 of the Lord's body

00:37:41.840 on the tongue,

00:37:43.240 threatening sacred ministers

00:37:44.460 with suspension

00:37:45.440 from their office

00:37:46.500 if they distributed

00:37:47.660 Holy Communion

00:37:48.420 to the laity

00:37:49.180 on the hand.

00:37:50.280 In the early church,

00:37:53.380 before receiving

00:37:54.220 the consecrated bread,

00:37:55.340 people had to wash 0.99

00:37:56.500 their palms,

00:37:58.120 had to wash

00:37:58.840 the palms

00:37:59.160 of their hands.

00:38:00.380 Moreover,

00:38:01.200 the faithful

00:38:01.680 bowed profoundly

00:38:02.860 in receiving

00:38:03.740 the Lord

00:38:04.560 with the mouth

00:38:05.340 directly from

00:38:06.120 the right hand

00:38:06.780 and not from

00:38:07.640 the left.

00:38:08.420 The palm of the hand

00:38:09.600 served as a kind

00:38:10.380 of a patent

00:38:10.860 or corporal,

00:38:11.920 especially for women. 0.92

00:38:12.780 One actually can read

00:38:15.420 in a sermon

00:38:16.300 from St. Caesareus

00:38:17.720 of Arles,

00:38:19.480 that's from 470

00:38:21.080 to 542,

00:38:22.440 quote,

00:38:23.280 All the men

00:38:24.020 who desire

00:38:24.640 to communicate

00:38:25.400 must wash

00:38:26.140 their hands

00:38:26.640 and all the women 0.92

00:38:27.640 must carry

00:38:28.240 a linen cloth

00:38:29.140 on which they receive

00:38:30.260 the body of Christ.

00:38:32.440 So again,

00:38:33.400 quoting from

00:38:34.500 Bishop Schneider's

00:38:36.020 book,

00:38:36.320 Dominus Est,

00:38:37.720 customarily,

00:38:38.960 the palm of the hand

00:38:39.880 was purified

00:38:40.700 or washed

00:38:41.660 after the reception

00:38:42.700 of the Eucharistic bread

00:38:43.800 as is up to now

00:38:45.120 the norm

00:38:45.620 of communion

00:38:46.360 of clerics

00:38:47.000 in the Byzantine rite.

00:38:48.520 In the ancient

00:38:49.300 canons of the

00:38:50.140 Chaldean church,

00:38:51.780 even the celebrating

00:38:53.220 priest was forbidden

00:38:54.160 to place the Eucharistic bread

00:38:55.500 into his own mouth

00:38:56.380 with his fingers.

00:38:57.220 Instead,

00:38:57.600 he had to take

00:38:58.120 the body of the Lord

00:38:58.820 in the palm of his hand.

00:39:00.560 The reason for this

00:39:01.760 was to signify

00:39:02.720 that he was

00:39:04.140 dealing here

00:39:05.340 not with ordinary food

00:39:06.720 but with heavenly food.

00:39:08.560 To the priest,

00:39:09.620 we read in the canon

00:39:10.700 of John

00:39:11.900 Bar

00:39:12.380 Abghari,

00:39:14.420 quote,

00:39:14.900 it is directed

00:39:15.980 that he received

00:39:18.260 the particle

00:39:18.840 of the consecrated bread

00:39:19.780 directly from the palm

00:39:21.000 of his hand.

00:39:21.740 He may not place it

00:39:22.940 with the hand

00:39:23.620 into the mouth

00:39:25.000 but must take it

00:39:26.280 with his mouth

00:39:27.140 for this concerns

00:39:28.480 heavenly food.

00:39:30.820 And those are quotes

00:39:31.720 again from

00:39:32.540 Bishop Schneider's book,

00:39:34.460 Dominus Est.

00:39:36.120 In the 1500s,

00:39:38.160 communion in the hand

00:39:39.220 was actually introduced

00:39:40.960 by a Protestant reformer

00:39:43.500 by the name

00:39:43.900 of Martin Busser.

00:39:46.200 He was actually

00:39:47.460 specifically aiming

00:39:48.720 to end belief

00:39:50.120 in transubstantiation.

00:39:52.060 Busser actually convinced

00:39:53.500 Thomas Cramner,

00:39:54.780 the heretic archbishop

00:39:55.860 of Canterbury,

00:39:56.800 not to give communion

00:39:57.960 on the tongue.

00:39:59.360 And Busser taught this

00:40:00.780 and I'll quote it for you.

00:40:01.960 Quote,

00:40:02.180 I have no doubt

00:40:04.000 that this usage

00:40:05.580 of not putting

00:40:07.060 these sacraments

00:40:08.280 in the hands

00:40:09.040 of the faithful

00:40:09.580 has been introduced

00:40:10.840 out of a double superstition.

00:40:13.400 Firstly,

00:40:13.840 the false honor

00:40:14.840 they wished to show

00:40:16.020 to this sacrament

00:40:16.820 and secondly,

00:40:18.220 the wicked arrogance

00:40:19.360 of the priests 0.91

00:40:20.140 claiming greater holiness

00:40:21.620 than the people

00:40:22.640 of Christ

00:40:23.100 by virtue

00:40:23.980 of the oil

00:40:24.960 of consecration.

00:40:26.160 End quote.

00:40:26.560 But the practice

00:40:29.220 had no place

00:40:31.660 at all

00:40:32.540 in the Catholic Church.

00:40:34.260 Oh, by the way,

00:40:34.800 again,

00:40:35.520 this is once again

00:40:37.760 quoting from

00:40:38.520 Bishop Schneider's book.

00:40:40.340 But the practice

00:40:41.680 that is of communion

00:40:42.640 in the hand

00:40:43.260 had no place

00:40:44.140 at all

00:40:44.600 in the Catholic Church

00:40:45.420 since it had been

00:40:46.360 condemned universally

00:40:47.460 prior to the year 1000.

00:40:50.340 In fact,

00:40:51.100 and so all the way

00:40:52.440 up to 1908,

00:40:54.340 you can still read

00:40:55.300 in the Catechism

00:40:56.240 published in 1908,

00:40:57.400 the Catechism

00:40:58.160 of St. Pius X.

00:40:59.440 It gives only one option

00:41:01.160 for the reception

00:41:01.820 of Holy Communion.

00:41:02.600 It reads,

00:41:03.260 and this is question

00:41:04.220 or section 47,

00:41:06.440 it's a Q&A style catechism.

00:41:08.320 So it reads,

00:41:09.060 how should we act

00:41:09.840 while receiving

00:41:10.520 Holy Communion?

00:41:11.340 The answer reads,

00:41:12.520 in the act

00:41:12.960 of receiving

00:41:13.440 Holy Communion,

00:41:14.400 we should be kneeling,

00:41:16.160 hold our head

00:41:16.920 slightly raised,

00:41:18.100 our eyes modest

00:41:19.040 and fixed

00:41:19.700 on the sacred host,

00:41:20.820 our mouth

00:41:21.260 sufficiently open

00:41:22.480 and the tongue

00:41:23.680 slightly over the lips.

00:41:25.340 End quote.

00:41:27.360 Now,

00:41:28.100 from an in-depth study

00:41:29.880 and a heavily

00:41:31.140 referenced study

00:41:32.340 at that

00:41:32.760 of the question

00:41:34.040 of Communion

00:41:34.760 in the Hand

00:41:35.240 by Michael Davies,

00:41:36.640 we learn this,

00:41:37.860 and I quote,

00:41:38.540 Communion in the Hand

00:41:40.040 was reintroduced

00:41:41.400 into the Catholic Church

00:41:42.420 as an act of rebellion

00:41:43.880 soon after Vatican II.

00:41:46.060 It began in Holland

00:41:47.120 as an arbitrary

00:41:48.460 act of defiance

00:41:49.660 of legitimate authority.

00:41:51.220 The practice spread

00:41:52.040 to Germany,

00:41:53.060 Belgium,

00:41:53.280 and France.

00:41:54.760 The consequences

00:41:56.080 of this rebellion

00:41:57.180 became so serious

00:41:58.440 that the Pope,

00:41:59.760 and that of course

00:42:00.460 is Pope Paul VI,

00:42:01.860 consulted the bishops

00:42:02.880 of the world

00:42:03.640 and after obtaining

00:42:05.240 their opinions,

00:42:06.420 promulgated the instruction

00:42:07.760 Memoriale Domini

00:42:09.560 in 1969.

00:42:11.720 The instruction

00:42:12.940 is included

00:42:13.940 and will be referred to.

00:42:16.220 I've included

00:42:18.940 the link

00:42:19.440 to the full instruction

00:42:21.500 under this video

00:42:23.080 and in my blog

00:42:23.940 and the principal points

00:42:26.680 laid out in it

00:42:27.740 are covered

00:42:28.500 by Michael Davies

00:42:30.000 as these,

00:42:30.700 quote,

00:42:30.880 One,

00:42:31.860 the bishops

00:42:32.480 of the world

00:42:33.420 were overwhelmingly

00:42:34.660 against the innovation,

00:42:36.140 that's the innovation

00:42:36.700 of communion on the hand.

00:42:38.100 Number two,

00:42:38.800 the traditional manner

00:42:39.780 of distributing

00:42:40.480 Holy Communion

00:42:41.140 must be retained.

00:42:42.900 Number three,

00:42:44.120 it is a sign

00:42:45.380 of reverence

00:42:46.020 which does not detract

00:42:47.340 from the dignity

00:42:48.040 of the communicant,

00:42:49.340 that is,

00:42:49.720 communion on the tongue

00:42:50.660 is a sign of reverence.

00:42:52.820 And number four,

00:42:54.680 the innovation,

00:42:55.740 that is,

00:42:56.180 the communion on the hand,

00:42:57.600 could lead to irreverence,

00:42:58.900 profanation,

00:42:59.880 and the adulteration

00:43:01.040 of correct doctrine.

00:43:03.040 Therefore,

00:43:03.920 Memoriale Domini,

00:43:05.480 the 1969 document

00:43:08.920 of Pope Paul VI,

00:43:10.880 said,

00:43:11.780 quote,

00:43:12.360 The Apostolic See

00:43:13.600 strongly urges

00:43:15.060 bishops,

00:43:15.860 priests,

00:43:16.480 people

00:43:16.820 to observe this law,

00:43:18.560 valid

00:43:18.960 and again confirmed

00:43:20.880 according to the judgment

00:43:22.260 of the majority

00:43:23.040 of the Catholic Episcopate,

00:43:27.000 in the form

00:43:27.760 which the present

00:43:28.940 right of the sacred liturgy

00:43:31.380 employs

00:43:32.060 and out of concern

00:43:33.380 for the common good

00:43:34.340 of the Church.

00:43:36.140 In Memoriale Domini,

00:43:38.560 Pope Paul admonished

00:43:40.280 Catholics,

00:43:41.620 bishops especially,

00:43:42.720 that,

00:43:43.160 quote,

00:43:43.500 In view of the state

00:43:44.740 of the Church

00:43:45.320 as a whole today,

00:43:46.920 this manner

00:43:47.480 of distributing

00:43:48.120 Holy Communion,

00:43:49.040 that is,

00:43:49.340 on the tongue,

00:43:50.340 must be observed

00:43:51.740 not only because

00:43:53.080 it rests on a tradition

00:43:54.600 of many centuries,

00:43:55.820 but especially because

00:43:56.940 it is a sign

00:43:57.760 of reverence

00:43:58.500 of the faithful

00:43:59.260 toward the Eucharist.

00:44:01.260 The practice

00:44:02.060 in no way detracts

00:44:03.920 from the personal dignity

00:44:05.280 of those who approach

00:44:06.220 this great sacrament

00:44:07.020 and it is part

00:44:08.280 of the preparation

00:44:09.040 needed

00:44:09.940 for the most fruitful

00:44:11.620 reception

00:44:12.080 of the Lord's body,

00:44:13.160 end quote.

00:44:15.420 Michael Davies

00:44:16.340 in his paper,

00:44:16.980 though,

00:44:17.160 says

00:44:17.440 that a calamitous

00:44:19.740 error of judgment

00:44:21.280 then followed

00:44:22.080 because it was agreed

00:44:23.620 to that wherever

00:44:25.000 the practice

00:44:25.620 has already developed

00:44:26.920 in any place,

00:44:28.740 a two-thirds majority

00:44:29.940 of the Episcopal Conference,

00:44:31.700 that's the bishops

00:44:32.240 of the country,

00:44:33.160 could petition

00:44:33.900 the Holy See,

00:44:34.940 that's the Vatican,

00:44:35.840 for permission

00:44:36.680 to legalize

00:44:37.760 this abuse.

00:44:40.000 Quite clearly,

00:44:41.520 the phrase

00:44:42.160 has already developed,

00:44:44.880 Michael Davies explains,

00:44:46.060 meant that

00:44:46.580 by that date,

00:44:48.220 that May 28,

00:44:49.300 1969 date,

00:44:50.980 so countries

00:44:53.060 where the practice

00:44:54.100 had not developed

00:44:55.240 by that date

00:44:56.100 were obviously excluded

00:44:57.720 from the concession

00:44:58.940 of allowance

00:44:59.660 for Holy Communion

00:45:01.080 in hand.

00:45:02.400 And therefore,

00:45:02.980 of course,

00:45:03.540 all English-speaking

00:45:04.960 countries

00:45:05.620 would fall into

00:45:06.940 this category

00:45:07.680 of not being able

00:45:09.940 even to apply

00:45:10.980 for an allowance

00:45:13.500 for this abuse

00:45:14.260 of Communion

00:45:14.760 on the hand.

00:45:15.960 However,

00:45:16.840 when the National

00:45:17.740 Conference of Catholic

00:45:18.540 Bishops

00:45:18.880 got together

00:45:20.760 in 1977,

00:45:22.360 they debated

00:45:22.860 the question

00:45:23.400 and they were,

00:45:25.400 in fact,

00:45:26.300 it was led

00:45:26.900 by Cardinal Bernardin,

00:45:28.060 who was the president

00:45:28.700 at the time,

00:45:29.420 and he was trying

00:45:30.120 to push it,

00:45:31.400 a bishop

00:45:32.040 by the name

00:45:32.680 of Bishop Blanchet.

00:45:34.240 He was from

00:45:34.980 Joliet, Illinois.

00:45:36.280 He pointed out

00:45:37.180 that the procedure

00:45:37.960 approved by the Vatican

00:45:39.120 was permission

00:45:40.060 could be requested

00:45:41.140 from the Vatican

00:45:42.100 if the contrary

00:45:44.780 usage prevailed,

00:45:45.960 in other words,

00:45:46.480 if the abuse

00:45:47.100 was already going on.

00:45:48.040 He pointed out

00:45:49.280 that the bishops

00:45:49.900 could hardly take

00:45:51.180 the second step

00:45:52.860 that is applied

00:45:53.560 to the Vatican

00:45:54.080 without taking the first.

00:45:55.800 So Bishop Blanchet

00:45:57.000 actually recounts

00:45:59.200 what happened

00:45:59.780 in the pages

00:46:00.960 of the National

00:46:01.700 Catholic Register

00:46:02.420 of June 12,

00:46:03.240 1977.

00:46:04.840 And I'll quote it

00:46:05.780 for you.

00:46:06.520 I said,

00:46:07.320 we are now going

00:46:08.000 to discuss

00:46:08.540 and probably vote

00:46:09.540 on whether we want

00:46:10.680 to petition the Holy See

00:46:12.000 and we've not established

00:46:13.640 that a contrary

00:46:14.800 usage prevails,

00:46:15.760 in other words,

00:46:16.180 that the abuse

00:46:16.660 is going on,

00:46:17.160 that there is

00:46:17.580 such a thing

00:46:18.160 as communion

00:46:18.480 on the hand

00:46:18.860 in America.

00:46:20.260 I said a simple way,

00:46:21.820 this is the bishop again

00:46:22.820 writing in the newspaper

00:46:23.920 in 1977,

00:46:25.400 I said a simple way

00:46:26.800 to do that

00:46:27.320 would be to ask

00:46:28.260 the ordinaries,

00:46:28.940 that means the bishops,

00:46:29.800 to indicate

00:46:30.680 whether in their dioceses

00:46:32.360 the contrary uses prevails.

00:46:33.900 In other words,

00:46:34.600 whether there's a majority

00:46:36.200 of people receiving

00:46:37.100 on the hand.

00:46:38.040 The ordinary,

00:46:38.840 that is the bishop,

00:46:39.680 should know

00:46:40.220 he is the shepherd

00:46:41.180 of the diocese.

00:46:42.560 He has been asked

00:46:43.720 to obey

00:46:44.340 and his priests

00:46:45.240 have been asked

00:46:45.980 to obey,

00:46:46.720 so if anybody knows

00:46:48.240 whether the contrary

00:46:49.340 usage prevails,

00:46:50.580 he should.

00:46:51.760 And so I ask

00:46:53.080 that the agenda

00:46:53.720 be amended

00:46:54.240 so that the first step,

00:46:56.180 finding out

00:46:56.780 whether the contrary

00:46:57.420 usage prevails,

00:46:58.560 could be verified.

00:46:59.580 And if it were verified,

00:47:01.040 then we could get on

00:47:02.100 with the rest of the agenda.

00:47:03.400 But if the first step

00:47:04.280 is not verified,

00:47:05.500 how can we logically

00:47:06.700 go on to that second step?

00:47:09.220 And that was my motion.

00:47:10.240 And those are the words

00:47:11.860 of Bishop Blanchet.

00:47:13.240 Of course,

00:47:14.180 Bishop Blanchet's motion

00:47:15.380 was supported in writing

00:47:17.500 by five other bishops

00:47:18.680 and sustained by the president

00:47:20.840 of the conference,

00:47:21.640 but it was actually ruled

00:47:24.560 out of order.

00:47:27.640 According to the rules,

00:47:29.000 there should have been

00:47:29.760 a written vote,

00:47:30.820 but supporters of the innovation

00:47:32.580 objected and voted

00:47:34.780 on a show of hands,

00:47:35.840 apparently,

00:47:36.340 to rule the president

00:47:37.960 out of order.

00:47:39.060 So that is the account

00:47:42.840 of what happened,

00:47:44.040 again,

00:47:44.860 by Michael Davies,

00:47:46.780 a heavily researched

00:47:47.920 and annotated account

00:47:49.260 that I encourage you

00:47:50.280 to look up

00:47:50.680 and you'll find the link to.

00:47:52.820 And Michael Davies

00:47:53.780 continues in his paper,

00:47:55.420 it therefore seems

00:47:57.060 quite reasonable to ask

00:47:58.680 just how legal

00:47:59.980 this vote was.

00:48:01.600 Then, of course,

00:48:02.440 other extraordinary measures

00:48:03.740 were taken

00:48:04.220 to get the innovation adopted.

00:48:06.460 So remember,

00:48:07.700 they could apply,

00:48:08.740 but they had to get

00:48:09.320 to a two-thirds vote

00:48:10.640 of the bishops

00:48:11.140 to also get there.

00:48:13.020 And what actually happened

00:48:14.640 was this,

00:48:15.200 as Michael Davies explains,

00:48:16.820 retired bishops

00:48:17.660 were prevented

00:48:18.480 from voting

00:48:19.240 and when the necessary majority

00:48:21.240 had still not been achieved,

00:48:23.120 bishops who had not been present

00:48:24.500 were polled

00:48:25.120 until the necessary total

00:48:26.740 was arrived at.

00:48:28.400 So, as you can see,

00:48:30.480 communion in the hand

00:48:31.460 in modern times

00:48:32.460 came by way of abuse,

00:48:34.420 deceit,

00:48:35.240 betrayal

00:48:35.680 by wolves

00:48:36.660 in the hierarchy.

00:48:38.620 It is for these reasons

00:48:40.340 that I believe

00:48:41.360 Catholics should

00:48:42.120 not receive 0.70

00:48:42.960 Holy Communion

00:48:43.540 in the hand.

00:48:45.080 Should you be

00:48:45.920 in a situation

00:48:46.600 where you were

00:48:47.560 refused Holy Communion

00:48:48.560 unless you take it

00:48:49.460 in the hand,

00:48:50.720 I would make

00:48:51.460 a spiritual

00:48:51.880 Holy Communion

00:48:52.600 only.

00:48:54.620 And then,

00:48:55.300 contact the proper authority

00:48:56.520 to remedy the situation.

00:48:58.220 Take that letter

00:48:58.900 that was written

00:48:59.640 by the Vatican

00:49:01.200 on the question

00:49:02.060 during the swine flu

00:49:03.100 pandemic in 2009.

00:49:05.280 Take it to your priest

00:49:06.400 or bishop.

00:49:07.740 Ask them to give you

00:49:08.460 Holy Communion

00:49:09.100 at least after Mass

00:49:10.580 if they feel

00:49:11.280 they can't do it

00:49:11.980 during Mass.

00:49:13.160 This is actually

00:49:14.040 a compromise

00:49:14.520 being practiced

00:49:15.300 in many dioceses today.

00:49:17.620 And if they still

00:49:19.120 won't permit you

00:49:20.120 your right

00:49:21.160 to receive Holy Communion

00:49:22.440 on the tongue,

00:49:23.540 apply to the Vatican's

00:49:24.620 Congregation for Divine Worship

00:49:25.900 and Discipline of the Sacraments

00:49:27.140 with the proof

00:49:28.380 of their denial

00:49:29.720 of Holy Communion

00:49:30.780 on the tongue.

00:49:32.420 And pray,

00:49:34.080 asking God

00:49:34.760 that the remedy

00:49:35.320 might come soon.

00:49:37.020 In the meantime,

00:49:38.620 offer up the sacrifice

00:49:39.640 of being deprived

00:49:40.680 of the Holy Eucharist

00:49:41.660 and still attend Mass,

00:49:44.240 offering your own pain

00:49:45.480 along with Christ's

00:49:46.880 own sacrifice.

00:49:49.080 For LifeSite News,

00:49:50.160 this is John Henry Weston

00:49:51.220 and may God bless you.

00:49:54.600 Hello,

00:49:55.200 this is John Henry Weston.

00:49:56.280 I'd like to invite you

00:49:57.500 to subscribe

00:49:58.100 to the John Henry Weston

00:49:59.580 Show YouTube channel

00:50:00.640 if you haven't

00:50:01.400 already done so.

00:50:02.720 There you will find

00:50:03.700 all the past episodes

00:50:04.860 and much more.

00:50:06.260 Thanks again for watching

00:50:07.380 and may God bless you.

The John-Henry Westen Show - June 23, 2020

5 reasons why Catholics should not receive Holy Communion on the hand

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