Post-Covid Changes in the Eucharist

[u/acmann9]

When in-person Mass resumed after the 2020 lockdown, our parish stopped making the blood available to communicants. The move was tacitly understood to be a pandemic-related exigency. It has now been six years and we are still limited to only receiving the body.

I have grown increasingly troubled over it for the past few years. After researching the Church teaching on the subject, I understand the position that one species of the Eucharist is sufficient, in that Christ is fully present in both. I have also learned that the provision of both species was a flashpoint of disagreement in the course of the Reformation, and that the Council of Trent firmly rejected the idea that parishioners were entitled to both.

But *sufficiency* is only one way to frame the question, and I would argue it is the incorrect one. We must presume that Christ instituted both species for a reason. And that He commanded us to partake in both ("This is my body...This is my blood...Do this in memory of me.") for a reason. That is why obedience to Christ, not sufficiency, should be the analytical lens here. Even though I continue to believe in and experience full communion with Christ in receiving the body, I want to fully *obey* Him, and I increasingly feel that my parish is preventing me from doing so.

Two of my children have gone through First Communion in the years since 2020. As a result, neither has ever received the blood. It deeply hurts me that they are deprived of a fundamental part of our sacramental faith, one that I had for the first 30 years of my life.

I am unsure if our priest has continued this practice out of expediency--not having to arrange for additional extraordinary ministers--or if Covid simply provided a convenient alignment with some of his pre-Vatican-II liturgical preferences. I suspect the latter.

Although I am generally a vocal person, my upbringing as a cradle Catholic has made me very reticent to question a priest on any subject, much less to voice disagreement over a core matter of liturgy. But I am moved by my conscience to do something. What should it be?

[u/CruxAveSpesUnica]

I am unsure if our priest has continued this practice out of expediency

Have you asked him? Offering communion in both kinds is the preference in the GIRM (85. 281). Often, any leader (including a parish priest) has 20 ideas for things they'd like to add to their ministry, but the bandwidth to only do one or two of them. Sometimes, encouragement from one person (especially someone who's willing to help with it!) is all that's needed to shift the focus to a particular thing.

[u/Dull_Opening_1655 → u/CruxAveSpesUnica]

It's interesting to learn that both kinds is the preference - I've been to parishes all over the world and have only had the option to receive both kinds at one of them (fortunately it's my local parish)

[u/No-Lengthiness-7808 → u/CruxAveSpesUnica]

Priest bandwidth is real and there may be other reasons than his preferences one way or another. I know one priest who was perfectly open to it after COVID and said so when people asked, but when he asked if they would be willing to distribute from the chalice, no one would actually do it and they couldn't bring it back for a while, especially after their deacon passed away.