But hey! Communion is no big deal so treating Jesus like a frisbee couldn't possibly be an offense against God! Here's a Twitter exchange Bishop Stika engaged in last Fall when he publicly declared that Mass is not about worshiping Jesus. (See Complicit Clergy.)
When challenged, the bishop tweeted the following nonsense! And then he locked his twitter account. No surprise since he was getting plenty of flack from his stinky sheep.
That statement is laughable in view of Stika's draconian recent warning that anyone who insists on their canonical rights which, by the way, have been affirmed by the USCCB, will be thrown out and not allowed to return. Wow! Talk about "my way or the highway" literally! "Get out of here you stinky sheep unless you follow my orders! Oh, and don't come back!"
His tweets imply that Communion in the hand is the acceptable way of reception at NO (Novus Ordo) Masses, which is untrue. Canon law gives the determination of how to receive the Eucharist to the Communicant, not the priest or extraordinary minister.
According to the Knoxville diocesan website and the bishop's instructions, reception in the hand is now "mandatory." There is a Latin Mass community with several Masses around the diocese. Will they be told Communion must be received in the hand which is totally opposed to the Latin Mass rubrics? You can see the bishop's letter complete with instructions and diagrams here with the sentence that reads, "Reception of Communion on the tongue is strictly prohibited at this time." There is no exception listed for the TLM.
Someone needs to send this bishop back to seminary. But hey, he will be pushing many of the most orthodox Catholics in his flock to the SSPX and independent chapels in the area. There are several. God help his poor flock! And how many other U.S. bishops will follow suit? One positive thing, though. It will be a useful tool to separate the shepherds from the wolves among the bishops, or using another metaphor the sheep bishops from the goat bishops.
It's chilling to see that leftist authoritarian totalitarianism lies thinly - VERY thinly - veiled beneath the skin, surfacing immediately in a person when opportunity presents itself. This bishop uses the fake virus panic to bring about his own agenda of "my way or the highway". Talk about the "pot calling the kettle black"!
ReplyDeleteSeems desecrations of the Host will skyrocket with Jesus being dive bombed into communicants' hands, missing the target and being dropped on the floor. But the bishop has spoken. I hope Jesus has a parachute.
Please give him a stern rebuke from me. I can't for he blocked me.
ReplyDeleteI called Holy Ghost Catholic Church in Knoxville and asked the receptionist if they will be giving Communion on the tongue at the TLM Mass. She said no, the bishop has forbidden it. Whether the priests will refuse Communion to a Communicant who still attempts to receive on the tongue who knows. Think about what the bishop is doing by this order. He is unilaterally changing the rubrics of the TLM if, in fact, the celebrants go along with his mandate. There are a number of independent chapels in the area. I suspect many will choose them as an alternative. You can check them out here. Stika will be pushing people into the SSPX and independent chapels by his tyrannical decree.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.latinmasstimes.com/Tennessee
I would be 100% in agreement with this post if we were not in the middle of a pandemic with more than 80,000 dead and counting. I personally had to change a lifelong practice of communion on the tongue which was my preference - when normal reception of communion changed one week before all Mass was suspended based on the order of our Ordinary. I am happy to continue to receive our Lord in the hand if the order continues after suspension Mass to both support my Bishop and to gladly have the opportunity to again receive my Lord and God in Holy Eucharist.
ReplyDeletePriest's take a vow of obedience at ordination and this falls under their ordination commitments. Wisdom (as in one of the seven gifts of the holy spirit) is at work here on the part of the Bishop. How we receive our Lord and Saviour during Holy Mass is going forward based on rubrics, and must also include the ever changing rules of the science of Pandemic. We also do not have communion at Mass only distributed by just priest's or through one singular form (rite) of Mass. He is Bishop of the entire diocese. There are Bishop's in the Country who will not allow theTLM to operate period. The TLM had to receive Bishop Sitka's approval to operate within any parishes in his diocese. So that is surely why the lady answering the telephone commented as she did.
May God continue to bless Bishop Sitka in the leadership of Diocese of Knoxville during this pandemic.
Couldn't disagree more! There is no more risk from Communion on the tongue than in the hand. I've been going the Sunday Drive in Fairground TLM since the first weekend Masses were canceled. The priest wears a mask and sanitizes his fingers after every family group receives. None of the several hundred has gotten sick and neither have the priests since we see the same ones every week. The "pandemic" is just an excuse for many draconian measures both in society and in the Church. The lockdown was supposed to be about flattening the curve. That happened. Now it's just about manipulation and control.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.catholicsentinel.org/Content/News/Nation-and-World/Article/Archdiocese-affirms-Communion-on-the-tongue/2/34/39470
It is truly ashame that these Bishops think that they can do what they want to do and make it law even disregarding what is law and tradition. Many celebrate the Mass very poorly and it is something just to get through. I remember when Bransfield issued a letter saying that no priests in his diocese will celebrate the Mass Ad Orientem. "No priest will turn his back on his congregation." Yet the rubrics assume that Mass is being celebrated in this beautiful way. These men continue to destroy the faith of the laity.
ReplyDeleteScore: Body 1, soul 0.
ReplyDeleteHe seems fearful of the flu.
They have not called upon God: there have they trembled for fear where there was no fear.
Ps 52:6