Communion and germs....am I crazy?

[bananiem]

Everyone gets their own "kisser" because of AIDS.

Thanks for making my point! Alcohol does not kill all viruses, AIDS included. No way am I drinking out of a community communion cup.
And, according to the volunteer coordinator I worked under, there were so many complaints about people catching colds and such after having been at class. The last town I lived in (18 months ago) still uses the old fashioned Annie's, so it's not mandatory that the Red Cross offices change, apparently.

 

[Deb in IA]

Our Episcopal church uses real wine and a common Communion cup.

Several years ago, I read a study, published in the Journal of the Americal Medical Association (JAMA), where investigators measured the bacterial concentration in the chalice at the end of Communion at an Episcopal church. (Not sure how they got permission to do this, as the consecrated wine is considered to be the "real presence" of Christ, and that's why the priest usually downs the remainder . . .) Anyway, they found a significant concentration of pathogens in the Cup . . .

That's why we always practice "intinction" - dipping the Host into the Cup - AND we sit at the FRONT of the church, so we are one of the FIRST to receive Communion!

 

[goofygirl]

I have a lab background so I know waaay too much about germs and it freaks me out!

In the Church of Goofygirl, priests would be required to wear gloves while handing out communion wafers, and everyone would bring their own cup for wine.

 

[CathrynRose]

I have a lab background so I know waaay too much about germs and it freaks me out!

In the Church of Goofygirl, priests would be required to wear gloves while handing out communion wafers, and everyone would bring their own cup for wine.

I'd attend the Church of GoofyGirl with those rules. I'd also request cans of lysol at the end of each pew. (sp??)

I dont often type - pew... I have no idea how to spell it!

 

[barkley]

o.k.-my dh was raised in a church where "foot washing" is done periodicly within the service (you bathe your fellow congregants feet). how's that appeal to you?

 

[SueM in MN]

Communion wine has an 18%+ alcohol content, higher then a standard bottle of wine. If alcohol doesn't kill on contact, why do they use alcohol wipes, etc. to clean your skin before getting a shot, surgery, etc?

Alcohol in the handrubs (Purell is one example of a product) and the alchol swabs used before shots is much higher - at least 61% alcohol.
Alcohol at 18% is not strong enough to kill on contact.

 

[goofygirl]

I'd attend the Church of GoofyGirl with those rules. I'd also request cans of lysol at the end of each pew. (sp??)

I dont often type - pew... I have no idea how to spell it!

LOL! yes "pew" is correct, not pu, although you may want to say P.U.

Foot washing, yikes!

I once said I couldn't be Pope because of all the strangers kissing my ring, eew! I think he also washes feet in special masses. You have to be a real people person for that job!

 

[RoyalCanadian]

The common cup of Holy Communion has been studied to death as a potential source of contagion and disease. Scientific studies have ruled the common cup out completely as a method of passing along colds, the flu and, above all, AIDS. To suggest otherwise is simply junk science.

I am a Lutheran minister in Canada. Members of the congregation where I serve receive Holy Communion either through the common cup or by intinction (dipping the bread into the wine.) The same studies that show the common cup is not a carrier of disease also suggest that intinction is more likely to pass along viruses and bacteria than through the common cup. Just think about where all those fingers have been before they dip the bread into the intinction chalice.

Individual glasses are not a lifesaver either. If they are glass one needs to ask how are they cleaned? Is it in a sterilizing dishwasher or a kitchen sink with someone wiping them out with a dishrag? How are they put out? If they are plastic and they come in stack (they do) is someone sticking their finger into the glass to get it out of the stack? So many questions.

It is common practice for many Lutheran ministers and Episcopalian/Anglican/Church of England ministers to finish off the wine in the common cup. If the common cup were laden with contagion as some might have us believe it would then logically follow that Lutheran and Anglican clergy would be constantly sick.

Proper practice for the distribution of the wine through a common cup involves using a cloth to wipe the rim, both inside and out, after each communicant. I wipe my hands with a very liberal amount of alcohol based disinfectant prior to the Great Thanksgiving.

There are many other sources of sickness that one should be concerned about than the common cup of Holy Communion.

 

[we3disneygo]

we got a new pastor about a year ago.....one Sunday the ushers took the bread and passed it to a pew, each person took a piece of bread and passed it on and then back down the next pew and so on....... I just about lost it............I was not the only one who was grossed out by this! we have all dipped our bread in 1 cup of juice before..but the passing of the bread was just over the top.........if I have a cold I will tell people that's why I dont' want to shake your hand.....I carry hand sanitizer.

 

[MommyPoppins]

Church is a great place to get sick. In fact I'm home right now with a snot nosed baby. Everytime he gets better and we make it back to church, one week in the nursery and he's sick again. I don't understand why people don't stay home when they are sick and I really dont understand why people bring their sick green snotty nosed babies to church and put them in the nursery. As for communion, at our church the paster and communion passer outers break the loaf of bread themselves. I'll never understand why the church doesn't just foot the bill for some silly communion wafers. But they dutifully squirt their hands with antibacterial stuff and then wipe their wet "anti-bacterial" hands on some paper towels and then break the bread up into little pieces. Last time the man breaking up our bread just happens to be a smoker, both DH and I looked at eachother afterward and said,"All I could think about the whole time was him touching our bread with his dirty smoke hands." Give me communion wafers!

 

[Lisa loves Pooh]

o.k.-my dh was raised in a church where "foot washing" is done periodicly within the service (you bathe your fellow congregants feet). how's that appeal to you?

I had a footwashing done and it was done with fresh water--no double dipping of the feet.

 

[Lisa loves Pooh]

If you eat lunch on your desk--you are more susceptible to illness than with church.

Touch your hands on a grocery cart--YEP..you go it!

Germs in sooo many places that it is impossible to pinpoint precisely one spot where you picked it up unless it was something obvious.

A year ago--some freaky flu was going around....and just by being around the people with it you would get sick. The problem...you would be "sick" for 24 hours and not realize it and have a full day to spread your cooties around. Communion cup and a eucharistic minister touching your wafer had nothing to do with it.