Thursday 23 July 2009

This will please some people!

The Bishop's letter of advice has now come though. In amongst the general hints that communion should be administered "in one kind only", and that a chalice should still be consecrated but "consumed by the celebrant only" (wasn'r this pre-Vatican II practice?), is this little paragraph:

"You will have noted that infection is caused by both droplets and physical contact. In the light of this it is also acceptable for clergy to review the arrangements for the exchange of the peace which can be done verbally and without physical contact."

I can hear the cheers from some in my rural parishes already!

I think I will also suggest that infected people wear little bells around their necks, and paint a large red cross on their doors in sheep's blood!

4 comments:

  1. Liturgical gloves back in fashion?

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  2. Now there's an idea. We could hand out disposable single-use latex ones with the hymn books!

    The Lord be with you.
    And also with you.

    Put on your gloves.
    We put them on with pleasure.

    Lift up your hands.
    We lift them up to show that we're protected.

    etc.

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  3. And a new liturgical vessel - what should one call it in Latin? - to hold the discarded gloves. Since they have handled the Sacred Elements, how should one dispose of them? Give them something new to worry about at Walsingham.

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  4. A "manus vestis arca" would be close ... a "Hand covering box".

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