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John McCartney requested (CW 28/1) an explanation of why some Catholics continue to receive Communion on the tongue and also jump queues to receive from the priest.
The
answer has nothing to do with health. It is simply that people continue to believe that the Body of Christ is too precious to touch. They gok to the priest because he is the only one consecrated and so is fit to
touch Christ’s body.
Sipping from the chalice is unnecessary because the body and blood of Christ is fully present in the host. Modern knowledge of microbiology and hygiene indicate that the common use of any
drinking vessels is most unwise.
The Public Health Act forbids any catering establishment from reusing contaminated utensils. Most people would object strongly to a waiter providing them with unused unwashed
wine glasses taken from an adjacent table immediately after customers had left.
Michael Baradinsky
West Pennant Hills, NSW
POPE’S PEACE MESSAGE TIMELY
Congratulations on publishing in full John Paul II’s Message for the World Day of Peace (CW 28/1).
In doing so you gave a lead to the Australian media in fulfilling what should be its aim – elevating
rather than tearing down the cultural and social fabric of this nation.
Your coverage contrasted with a recent Compass television program (which was a travesty of human dignity) on alternative forms of
marriage. There was also the recent 7.30 Report coverage of the latest assault on the dignity of life by euthanasia’s supporters.
Perhaps you might also consider publishing – again as a centre liftout – a
condensation of John Paul II’s magnificent Apostolic Letter Novo Millennio Ineunte. This address, to the bishops, clergy and lay faithful at the close of the Great Jubilee Year 2000, was delivered on January 6.
While it is beyond reason to expect that you could publish the speech in full (it covers 42 A4 pages when downloaded from the Internet) The Catholic Weekly could condense it to fill a four-page liftout,
following the lead of the English journal The Tablet, which on January 13, covered it in its main editorial and produced a heavily condensed version of the address.
For those who want to read the speech in
full, it can be accessed on the Vatican website.
Joe Morley
Lane Cove, NSW
IN PRAISE OF GOOD, FRIENDLY PARISHES
There can be no doubt that good
parishes are important to the Church’s mission.
Having spent only three years at Sacred Heart Cathedral Parish, Broken Hill, my family was touched by the blessing we received during Mass from Fr Don Gunn and
the gentle morning tea send-off provided by our fellow parishioners.
It was also no mistake that we chose to return to Our Lady Help of Christians parish, Rosemeadow. To be welcomed back by Fr Chris Sarkis,
OLHC School and the parish community was so comforting.
“They will know we are Christians by our love” is the common thread in these holy parish communities.
Bryan Michael Doyle
Rosemeadow, NSW
FALSE PRAYERS PREY ON VULNERABLE
For at least 45 years, the secular press has printed the ‘never fail’ prayer to St Jude:
•Pray this prayer: Holy St Jude etc
•Say three ‘Our Fathers’, three ‘Hail Mary’s’ and three ‘Gloria’s and
•Abracadabra your prayer will be answered
• There is only condition: the prayer must be published
•All you have to do now is pay for the advertisement
And what do we find now in The Catholic Weekly? Not only a ‘Prayer to St Jude’ on page 9 (CW 21/1) but also a ‘Prayer to the Virgin Mary’ (never known
to fail) on page 7.
On the same page, in smaller print and in only one column (less revenue for The Catholic Weekly), there is an advertisement: ‘The Answer to Cancer is Prayer’. This time to St Peregrini.
Does The Catholic Weekly really need the revenue from these silly advertisements, which give false hope to the most vulnerable and gullible members of our community?
It reminds me of the sale of ‘indulgences’ in 1517.
Alex Ziegelaar
Balgownie, NSW
NOT ALL LIVED IN FEAR OF HOLY JUDGMENT
One could not help but
be touched by the letter from Fr Fabian (CW 4/ 2). Indeed one would have to agree that he has little to celebrate as he grieves over his life lived in holy fear of judgment.
However, looking back over 50
years, during which as a pastor I have had the privilege to carry out the final commendation to God of many parishioners, I have to assure him that, generally, in their lives there has been very much to celebrate –
their fidelity and love of the Lord. They did not live out their lives in “holy fear of judgment”, but in loving commitment to Christ.
Robert Louis Stevenson in his book Travels with a Donkey tells of being
given shelter in a Carthusian monastery in France. During the night there was a sounding of the bells of the monastery and on asking the abbott the reason for the nocturnal celebration he was told that the community
always celebrated when one of their number was called back to God, which had happened during the night.
It would appear that in Fr Fabian’s case the exhortation of St Paul, “Rejoice in the Lord, again I say
rejoice” has fallen on deaf ears.
Fr L F Donnelly
Port Macquarie, NSW
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