Most people skipped the wine at my church anyway, it was taught to us as optional, and they asked you to always avoid it if you were sick. (Catholic masses use a communal chalice that is a great germ spreader.)
If I remember correctly it wasn’t even offered at most school masses, even though it was always blessed and drunk by the priest himself.
In every single Catholic service I went to my entire life, in every state and country I’ve been to, and every rite (Eastern and Roman), the wine was for everybody. I’m not sure where people are getting the idea that it’s only for priests. Hell, in Eastern Rite services, they dump the chopped-up bread in the wine, and scoop out the little alcoholic croutons on a spoon for the congregants, so there’s no way to skip the wine if you wanna take communion.
I have never heard of the wine being withheld from the congregation in my (admittedly post-Vatican II) life. That’s really weird! I’ve gone to Catholic services at more liberal and more conservative congregations, in a bunch of different countries and states, and in Eastern and Roman Rite services, and never ever was the wine omitted.
It was often treated as optional from the congregants’ perspective (i.e. if you’re alcoholic or otherwise don’t drink alcohol, or you’re sick, just skip the wine), but never as an option for the priest to leave out of withhold.
hmm, I cannot remember where I heard this piece of seemingly incorrect information. But it is something I “knew” all my life.
eta: according to katholisch.de (central web site of the catholic church in Germany) wine is rarely given to the parish, only the wafer is obligatory. the protestant church gives bread&wine to everyone.
Wine was offered at my small parish in New Orleans East when I was growing up in th 80’s and 90’s.
I am pretty sure it’s the accident and not the substance of gluten that counts for intolerance purposes.
I’d have thought so, otherwise everyone that still tastes wafer and wine on their tongues rather than blood and human flesh must be insufficiently pious, like me.
Boy, would it be sad/funny if a sizable congregation managed to pass around a lovely norovirus transmitted through His body and blood. I imagine it happens from time to time.
Even when I was a churchgoing, grape-juice-drinking Methodist, this struck me as a profoundly odd and non-comforting ritual.
The most common exception I’ve seen is school mass. They never bothered to offer wine at most of our school masses but other than that, yeah, most if not all of the time. I have a hard time really remembering specific churches because it was so long ago for me. I really wish I could remember if they always offer it or not at St Louis Cathedral. That was my second most often attended church.
I was once in a (protestant) service with SWEET wine. I nearly sprayed the horrible fluid all over the place. Since then I’m very careful when a priest offers me alcohol.
Not in my memory, though it might be a Vatican 2 change. Drinking wine as part of taking communion is an option for laypeople. The way it is set up you line up to take the host from a priest or a layperson called a Eucharistic minister and then another Eucharistic minister has a chalice that you can take a sip from. The minister wipes the rim of the cup and turns it a little and the next person sips. I never take the wine and that is an option too. I think it is a good way to spread colds. When I was a child they also changed the method by which you can receive the host. You can stick out your tongue and the priest puts it in your mouth or you can hold out your hands and the priest puts it on you palm and you place it in your mouth yourself.
When I was a kid, the Lutherans used spiffy little shot glasses… I once passed out while carrying the tray that collected the used ones – last thing that I remembered was some little ol’ lady saying “he’s going down”. I took it as a sign and dropped out of catechism/confirmation class a while later (had been an unbeliever since ~7 years old anyway).
Transubstantiation takes place when the priest raises the host during mass and, quoting Jesus at the last supper, says “This is my body”. In Latin this is “Hoc est corpus meum”. People who did not believe in transubstantiation called this “Hocus Pocus”, or unbelievable silly magic, and that is where that phrase comes from.
When I was in school I asked the priests if transubstantiation meant that if you took the host and looked at it under a microscope would it have changed structure into human cells. The answer was the physical form remains the same but the “substance”, the true reality that is higher than mere physical form changes.
Well, of course.
My church (not RC) used these during the SARS hoop-de-doo. Don’t use them anymore, but the servers still put on plastic gloves.
That sounds right out of Star Trek.
Jesus Pods. Holy Landfill!
The church we went to (whatever it was) used grapejuice only. I was a bit shocked later on to find out that some churches used actual wine.
Christ in a cup, ain’t that something! The Catholic church did a lot to twist my little queer brain but nothing they did prepared me for convenience store style salvation. I’m thinking the Vatican could work out something where, when you pull the tab you get some transubstantiation action. Maybe I should work on vaping some incense to go with this…perhaps Twitter a High Mass for some instant action. As an ex altar boy this really is altered.
Actually the best thing In got from Catholicism was the Seven Corporal and Seven Spiritual Acts of Mercy. That and all the great Pagan action rituals and bringing flowers for a plaster statue of Mary when I was in grade school.
Wasn’t raised Christian at all, but I get the strong impression that this means that you were taught guilt was undesirable since it would make you less bland. Is this a good approximation of what Episcopalianism is about?
