Cardinal Arinze Highlights Abuses Of Communion In The Hand The Catholic News Agency, October 4, 2005

The interventions of the Prelates present at the synod during the first general congregations of the Synod on the Eucharist, indicated their concern of the trivialization of the sacrament within ecclesial communities.

On Monday, during his talk, Cardinal Francis Arinze, Prefect of the Congregation for Divine Cult and the Discipline of Sacraments, approached this Tuesday the theme of receiving communion in the mouth or in the hand, reminding how receiving the communion in the hand has led to abuses, “that could happen, and that already happened, like the use for satanic rituals, the auction on the Internet and other wrongs.”

The prelate didn’t propose an answer to this dilemma, but invited for “greater vigilance for celebrants, in order to ensure that it is consumed.

Msgr. Peter Kang, of Cheju (Korea), warned that the participation of children in the Eucharist is decreasing dramatically along with the age. The children that don’t come to Mass say that Mass is boring and not interesting. As well, adults say the same, and don’t feel motivated to participate.

Our priority is to justify and make grow the heart of the Catholics, their desire and aspiration to participate in the Eucharist. In order to transmit to the modern people the Eucharistic mystery, it is not sufficient to reinforce vigorously the rules and regulations of Eucharistic celebration.