I am challenging anyone reading this to give me an official document from the Vatican granting the Philippines an indult to give Communion in the Hand!
If there is none, then you know what that means.
Am I being smarter than the Magisterium? Or is it being truly faithful in the strictest sense of the word?
If the indult was granted, then proceed. But an indult is an indult is an indult!
It is not the norm. Communion on the tongue is! Hand is an exception.
Another case of the exception becoming the rule!
Read the interesting exchange in the Comments Box in the "Stop Communion in the Hand" post. A shoutout to Novus Catholicus Romanus. Great stuff you put in there, taking things in the right perspective.
The blog of a group of Filipino Catholics and their frank commentary on anything that affects their lives as a citizen of the Philippines and as a Roman Catholics.
The late Cardinal Sin allowed communion on the hand as a public health safeguard in the Archdiocese of Manila. This was within his powers as a bishop and when the health threat was over, then it should have been withdrawn. Curiously, a semi-authoritative Catholic website says that the Philippine bishops have withdrawn the permission. If this is true ,why do we see many parishes distribute communion in this way?
ReplyDeletePax in Tecum!
ReplyDeleteWith regards to this question, let me point you and your readers to some background information with regards to the indult in question. The first ever consideration given by the Holy See was given originally on May 29, 1969, through the act of the Apostolic See, to which the indult itself was added to the official journal of the Congregation of Worship (and now joined with the then Congregation for the Discipline of Sacraments) as a Notitiae (*Not.) and recorded on the Acta Apostolicae Sedis (**AAS).
On the letter forwarded to the Conferences of Bishops petitioning for the indult "En Response a la Demande" (**AAS 61 (1969) 546-547; *Not 5 (1969) 351-353), Pope Paul VI calls attention to the purpose of the Instruction Memoriale Domini of 29 May 1969, on retaining the traditional practice in use. At the same time he has taken into account the reasons given to support your request and the outcome of the vote taken on this matter. The Pope grants that throughout the territory of your conference, each bishop may, according to his prudent judgment and conscience, authorize in his diocese the introduction of the new rite for giving communion. The condition is the complete avoidance of any cause for the faithful to be shocked and any danger of irreverence toward the Eucharist. The following norms must therefore be respected.
Now, this document is quite long and if need be, I would kindly discuss point of it but as to how this pertains to your personal question: "Did the Philippines receive the Indult of Giving Communion in the Hand?" here is a direct answer. The "Summary of Decrees" on confirmation of the decisions of conferences of bishops in the Notitiae lists the granting of this faculty to the following English-speaking conferences (as found in AAS and Notitiae):
South Africa - February 3, 1970
Canada - February 12, 1970
Rhodesia (Zimbabwe) - October 2, 1971
Zambia - March 11, 1974
New Zealand - April 24, 1974
Australia - September 26, 1975
England and Wales - March 6, 1976
Papua and New Guinea - April 28, 1976
Ireland - September 4, 1976
Pakistan - October 29, 1976
United States - 17 June 17, 1977
Scotland - July 7, 1977
Malaysia and Singapore, 3 October 1977
Now, my best suggestion is to send a query to your Conference of Bishops and ask on the specifics of the process of acquiring the grant and point you to the specific AAS and Not.
God Bless and your Blog is quite edifying. My dear filipino student pointed it out to me.
Msgr. A.
Msgr. A., it took me quite a while to respond to your response. And yes, I had been requesting for answers to this question as well even from the RCAM Chancery. They too, in spite of being laden with Liturgy degrees, could not provide me the document I was asking.
DeleteObviously, we all went the fast way with this one.
If the Philippines has not in fact been given an "Indult" with regard to receiving communion in the hand, why continue the practice? What do the bishops say about this? What does Cardinal Tagle say about it?
ReplyDelete