Here’s a question that’s occurred to me time and again over the past year or so, and I’ll toss it out to you.
Are the practices of Communion under both species for the laity and the Sign of Peace done?
I did a very quick survey of some online liturgies – in Massachusetts and Florida, for comparison.
Just from that, it seems the laity’s reception of the Precious Blood is definitely over for the moment. I looked at maybe 20 liturgies and didn’t see it once. Not surprisingly.
I was expecting the same with the Sign of Peace, but, perhaps also not surprisingly, there’s a regional dimension to that, reflecting the different Covid-protocol landscapes.
In a few Massachusetts parishes, it was just skipped – on to the Agnus Dei! – and in others, it happened, but with, it seems bowing.
Florida? No New Normal here! Sign of Peace, with handshakes and hugs all around.
I have no opinion, but I’m simply interested from – as is my wont – an historical perspective. I’m interested in how these two practices, two of the most contentiously debated liturgical practices of the post-Vatican II era, with adherents and detractors spilling gallons of ink and hours of typing time arguing their case…just…disappeared, for the most part, In a matter of months.
Whatever the case, it’s an excellent reminder of the complexities of history, and how historical events and trends can be part of a web that is made up of much more than deliberate human choice, intention or abstract principles….
What’s your experience?
From 1970. Source – the Catholic News Archive, a goldmine which just might take over my life.
Charlotte was Both 
In the Detroit area, all I have seen around here is where the parishioners say “peace be with you,” and a little wave or nod to others around them.
Diocese of Peoria, IL here. Common cup has not returned, but we are doing the Sign of Peace again.
I received under both species by intinction at my First Communion. The Byzantines mingle the species in the chalice and use a communion spoon, which when used properly doesn’t touch the mouth or tongue. The common cup has always seemed like a solution in search of a problem to me, the sort of thing one does when one declares that, in our new Spirit-led future, everything that we used to know/do is irrelevant.
And while I have no objection to physical contact with people, I’d be OK never having to gladhand my neighbors right before Communion again.
Interesting. We do not have Communion under both species (Philadelphia area) and I hope it never comes back.
However the Sign of Peace is back, unfortunately. No handshaking for the most part, but a little uproar of bobbing and nodding and murmuring. What bothers me most of all is people flashing the “peace sign” around. (In fact, people were doing this even when the priest did not instruct them to offer the sign of peace.)
Another missing element is the procession of random people with the gifts, which I am also grateful for and hope does not make a comeback!
Our pastor wryly observed early on after the parish re-opened, “We’re continuing to omit the Sign of Peace, but that hasn’t stopped you from doing it anyway.” Remains the case. There’s a tacit pause before the Agnus Dei starts up when pewsitters quietly greet each other using a combo of nods, bows, smiles, waves, bunny ears, etc., even though technically we’re skipping it, ha. We all just happen to be doing this thing that we’re not doing, Mass is moving on, lalala. Lots more long-distance sign-of-peacing than back in the days when you had to shake hands with all your neighbors, helped by people still being fairly spread out (even though membership is up since 2019).
Haven’t seen the chalice for the laity yet, but communion on the tongue has been back for a long while, and had never fully gone away in many parishes in our diocese (Charleston SC). Would really like, for that reason, for ours and other dioceses to get on the stick about making sure people who can’t receive the host have a standard process for requesting the Precious Blood.
I would think that a personal request might do it? I observed this a couple of weeks ago in a parish around here – at the beginning of Communion, the deacon descended from the altar with a cup, and two young women approached, received, and went and sat back down. Then Communion proceeded. I just presumed that they were gluten intolerant and had made arrangements to receive the Precious Blood only.
We’re not doing communion under both species here anytime soon. Some are handshaking or hugging during the sign of peace, but mostly just waving or bowing or something that doesn’t involve contact. It was common here for folks to hold hands during the Lord’s prayer, but I only see a little of that these days. When I greet people after mass, I only shake hands or hug or fist bump if they initiate it. I think the sign of peace will eventually come back to what it was. But, as for communion under both species (which was our practice here), I think it will be a while, if it comes back at all (I wouldn’t be surprised if it didn’t).
Here in the Diocese of Pittsburgh, where our parish has enlarged and consolidated to include 8 worship sites, the cup has not returned. For the most part, with occasional exceptions, the sign of peace is usually mentioned and most give a little wave to those around them (no more handshaking or hugging). This is all perfectly fine with me, but then even before COVID I was more germ-conscious than most due to regular contact with elderly family. Priests and deacons wear masks when distributing the Eucharist (this is by order of the bishop, I believe). In the last few months I’ve attended Mass in West Virginia, Massachusetts and Georgia, and it was a similar situation in the churches I visited : no cup and a stripped down sign of peace (perhaps I should rephrase that!)
At my Ordinariate Parish we resumed the cup at Corpus Christi. As far as I know we are the only parish in Omaha with that option. I’m just happy when I attend elsewhere I am allowed to receive on the tongue again.
The sign of peace has never been exchanged in my parish, but it’s back with a head nod or gesture elsewhere in the city. It feels like the right approach, if you were never the type to want to shake hands with everyone and their brother now you just give a nod and no one thinks you are being rude.
Here in my parts, the sign of peace mercifully disappears every flu season–or rather, it is blunted to a simple refrain (The Lord Be with You. And With Your Spirit) followed by a subtle bow. Not the usual hootenanny. Now in Covidtimes, its similarly gone. As for Communion under both species, this is not much of a “thing” here in many parishes anyway. The parish I used to attend would be described as, I suppose, a “conservative Novus Ordo” parish, and there was never communion wine in any circumstance. So nothing has changed in Covidtimes. That said, I have for some time now decamped to the FSSP parish which, till now, has not been suppressed by the local ordinary. So, TLM for me, no handshake, no communion cup. All good!
In the D.C. area, there is an express invitation to offer each other the sign of peace, which people do (for strangers) by a head nod, bow or wave.
In Michigan this weekend, the priest did not invite people to offer the sign of peace, but people did so anyway on their own, again either by head nod, bow or wave.
Remember that joke about how do you get a one armed Midwesterner out of a tree? You wave. And that’s what we are now doing at the sign of peace.
South Texas here. Sign of peace disappeared for awhile, then came back earlier this year. No reception of the precious blood though.
Diocese of Charlotte: At my church, the sign of peace has been omitted for some time but people still do it on their own. One thing I never understood was why they stopped having the sign of peace,. You don’t have to make physical contact. It would have been easy to tell people to clasp their own hands together in a prayerful attitude and simply bow to others. Done.
In Los Angeles, we do not have the chalice back, and I don’t expect that to return any time soon, if ever. People do exchange bows and waves at the sign of peace, and did so even when the attendance was strictly limited. I like the sign of peace myself (if done quickly and without a lot of drama–hugging, crossing the aisles, all of that) because it asks us to SEE each other for a moment.
Here in San Diego, non-contact sign of peace is the norm. I attend multiple parishes and have never seen it omitted. No chalice though. Question for the group on the Lord’s Prayer. Are upright hands the recommended posture during the recitation, with a further raise during the “For the kingdom..”? (Apologies for not knowing the correct term.). When I returned to the church a decade ago, it had become standard for all to hold hands during the Lord’s Prayer. I was uncomfortable doing so, but not sure what to do instead. Thank you to Amy for this blog. You have impacted my life and heart more than you could ever imagine.