Well, a minor one. The NCR’s John Allen (cited by Dom Bettinelli) checks out the rumor that Tony Blair, an Anglican, received Holy Communion during his February visit to the Vatican.
Aside from the Blair family, there were a few seminarians at the Mass. A colleague who has spoken with some of the seminarians reports that one saw Blair move up the communion line with his arms crossed, signaling that he wanted a blessing rather than communion, but the priest administering communion (not the pope personally) gave it to Blair anyway. As a non-Anglo-Saxon, the priest may simply not have been familiar with the gesture.
That gesture — crossing his arms on his chest — may be the source of the confusion. It does not universally mean “give me a blessing, not the Host”.
In the Byzantine-rite Catholic and Orthodox churches, that gesture is the normal thing to do when approaching to receive. In the Latin Church, too, it’s common in Eastern Europe: I’ve seen people in Poland do it.
Some overly “creative” priests here in the US — and I suppose in the UK too — being ignorant of the gesture, must have decided to “invent” a gesture non-Catholics attending Mass could use. After all, isn’t it nice to let them participate in the Communion procession and get a personal blessing? Universal niceness and inclusivity are what the trendy church is all about.
Never mind that:
- they’re stealing a gesture that already has a meaning: this is so culturally insensitive;
- they’re confusing priests and leading them to deny Holy Communion to Catholics: this has happened to me;
- getting a “personal blessing” is redundant, since the celebrant blesses everybody at the end of Mass.
Anybody got any contacts at the Bishops’ Committee on the Liturgy? Maybe we can ask them to remind everybody that the Communion procession is for receiving Holy Communion and not for other purposes.
Sorry for the confusion, Tony.