They just gotta be different, huh.

[theweaselking]

Those wacky New York Catholics. They're exposing ADULTS to diseases using NON-SEXUAL transmission.

So, does this count as a heresy (changing established official Church practice), or just blasphemy (engaging in Church practice in an irreverent way by not doing the whole ritual)?

Comments

[everbloom.livejournal.com]

I think that would be blasphemy, but I'm not really up on my catholic terminology. I don't know much about Catholic communion, but I'm surprised they got Hep A from it, isn't it fecal-oral?

[theweaselking.livejournal.com]

Usually.

And I suspect "did not wash hands, eww eww eww" plays a factor, here.

[maelorin]

but surely their magical friend can make it all go away, right?

[tempter.livejournal.com]

I don't think so. I'm pretty sure this means that Jesus has hepatitis. After all, the communion wafers turn into his body, right?

[calankh.livejournal.com]

you know, I asked about this as a kid (grew up Catholic). I asked a CCD teacher about the possibility of catching something like a cold from drinking the communion wine. I was told that it was holy and couldn't transmit disease. Oh, and the person holding it wiped the rim and rotated it after each communicant received theirs, so that cleaned it. Problem solved!

[ronebofh.livejournal.com]

Exactly. This disease proves that transubstantiation didn't happen and the priest involved is a FRAUD and must be BURNED AT THE STAKE.

[skiriki.livejournal.com]

When I was still a part of the Finnish Evangelical-Lutheran church (not because of my own will, but through the magic of being dunked into water as a baby), and thus got dragged to do the whole wine and bread thing as a teen when the (Peer/Family/Relative-Pressured) Confirmation was done, we were specifically told that the ritual of blessing the wine is done in the big chalice, from which it gets poured to small goblets which are then handed out to participants to prevent outbreak of communicable diseases. (The used goblets were not reused until they had been washed.)

[rachel2205.livejournal.com]

Neither. Decisions about the way communion is distributed if there is a risk of disease (for instance flu outbreaks in winter) are usually handled on a diocesian level.

[theweaselking.livejournal.com]

I suspect you've missed the precise target of my rude snarking on this one.