This has probably been asked before but I'm too lazy to look through all the responses. Why do some Catholics, when receiving Holy Communion, bypass the communion cup and only receive the body of Christ instead of the entire body and blood?

-- Jeff (celtic@egyptian.net), August 08, 2004

Answers

Jesus is just as present in the bread as He is in the wine. Therefore, bread-plus-wine is no more efficacious than bread by itself.

I can't speak for other Catholics, but I won't even share a glass with my own family members, let alone a whole parish!

-- JJ (nospam@nospam.com), August 08, 2004.

You receive Jesus Christ, whole and entire, body and blood, soul and divinity, in either the host OR the consecrated wine. In receiving under both species you don't receive anything that you wouldn't receive under just one species or the other.

People have various reasons for bypassing the chalice. The commonest is sanitary concerns, not wanting to pick up germs from other people. The lip of the chalice is wiped after each person receives, but that doesn't exactly sterilize it. Some people may have to pass because of alcohol problems, or an allergy to some component of the wine. Others have just sworn off drinking even though they don't have a drinking problem, and don't want to break their vow by consuming anything alcoholic. I find that a lot of teens, especially younger ones, are in that category. And most children do not seem confortable receiving the blood. Not because it is blood, but because it is wine, at least in appearance and taste.

-- Paul M. (PaulCyp@cox.net), August 08, 2004.

Receiving from the chalice alone is also equally “efficacious” (as far as receiving the full graces of the sacrament of the Eucharist), and some people do this, e.g. if they have coeliac disease and can’t digest the gluten in bread. But scripture and tradition both emphasize the ritual importance of drinking from the one cup and sharing the actual sign of the Precious Blood of the Lamb of God. Some like JJ choose not to do this in the mistaken belief that it is unhygienic. Others refrain because they prefer the ritual they were brought up with. (From the 16th century to the 1960’s the cup was rarely offered to the congregation.) Others still prefer to receive communion only from a priest (and the priest usually administers the Host) in the mistaken belief that this is superior to receiving it from a lay minister (or possibly because this also is something they prefer to retain from the early 20th century when we didn’t have lay ministers of Communion.)

And yes, JJ before you ask, your concern for hygeine is mistaken. Anglican/Episcopalian ministers have been sharing the cup with the congregation and drinking the last portion themselves, continuously for 450 years. There has never been one reported case of them contracting a disease due to this. If you don't believe that, follow the money. Life insurance companies don't consider Anglican/Episcopalian ministers as a higher risk - in fact they are given life insurance at LOWER premiums than the laymen of the same denomination.

The lips actually carry far fewer germs than the hands (even after washing). And while the rim of the chalice is wiped and rotated after each person's lips touch it, the Host you receive has been touched by at least one person's hands (and possibly several) and there is no wiping off of the point of contact. So you actually have a greater risk of getting a disease from the Host than from the chalice (though both are infinitesimal.)

-- Steve (55555@aol.com), August 08, 2004.

Steve, your assumption that I am concerned with hygiene is mistaken. It is the mere thought of drinking someone else's spit(even the tiniest amount) that I find so appalling. It's psychological.

-- JJ (nospam@nospam.com), August 09, 2004.

Sorry for my mistaken assumption JJ. I forgot about psychological factors. May I ask whether you kiss your family members? Every time people kiss they deposit a bit of saliva.

-- Steve (55555@aol.com), August 09, 2004.

Steve, good point. But in my family, we kiss on the cheek.

-- JJ (nospam@nospam.com), August 10, 2004.