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Tuesday, October 27, 2009
Church Fights Flu
By Olivier Uyttebrouck
Journal Staff Writer
Roman Catholic Mass became a little less touchy-feely in New Mexico recently.
Concerns about swine flu have prompted the Archdiocese of Santa Fe to change some aspects of Mass that could give the swine flu virus a chance to spread among parishioners.
Those changes include no hugging or hand-shaking, no holding hands while praying, and no drinking wine from the chalice during Holy Communion.
The changes also mean no holy water beside the entrances.
Sandra Chavez found no holy water in the font as she entered Immaculate Conception Catholic Church in Albuquerque for noon Mass on Monday. Chavez made the sign of the cross just the same, she said, and didn't feel spiritually short-changed by the absence of holy water.
"It's all about faith," she said. "We're trying to comfort people to avoid panic. It doesn't affect our religious belief."
The H1N1 prevention measures are unusual but necessary, she said, because not everyone has scrupulous habits of personal hygiene.
"When I have a cold, I don't accept the blood of Christ through the chalice," she said. "But there are those who do."
Archbishop Michael Sheehan issued a letter dated last Tuesday to churches throughout the Archdiocese of Santa Fe noting that H1N1 flu continues to spread through the United States and cause deaths in New Mexico. The letter lists measures intended to limit the spread of swine flu. They include:
n During the sign of peace, instead of shaking hands or hugging, "simply nod your head and avoid bodily contact."
n Do not hold hands when praying the Our Father. Instead, raise or fold your hands.
n "Holy Communion will only be distributed under the species of the Consecrated Host and not the Chalice," meaning that parishioners will take bread but not wine.
n Ministers who serve the communion should wash their hands immediately before and after Holy Communion.
n Priests, deacons and greeters should refrain from shaking hands with the congregation.
n All holy water fonts should remain empty until the flu season has passed.
The letter also urges ill parishioners to stay home. It invites them to watch Sunday Mass on television.
"It is not a sin to miss Mass on Sundays if you are ill," it said.
"It's a good thing," Edmundo Tellez said of the measures as he left noon Mass at Immaculate Conception on Monday. Parishioners are losing nothing by taking the bread without wine during Holy Communion because the bread contains the body, blood, soul and divinity of Christ, he said.
"We're receiving the fullness," he said.
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