A letter from the Bishop

All the clergy have had a letter from the Bishop about Swine Flu. The Archbishops of Canterbury and York have suggested that worshippers should only receive bread, not wine, for the duration of the pandemic, in case sharing the chalice transmits infection.

The last I heard, about a fortnight ago, the Bishop of Chelmsford had issued guidelines for his clergy, telling them to wash the chalice after use! What does he think usually happens? Anyway, clearly fear is escalating if the Archbishops are now saying ‘no chalice at all’.

Our Bishop doesn’t seem to agree with that. Well, he’s hedging his bets. He says we should tell people that it’s OK to take Communion in one kind (i.e. just the bread), but they can still receive the chalice if they choose. He also says that’s it’s very unlikely people will pick up any infection from sharing the chalice, as the alcohol reacts with the silver to make a disinfectant.

Who is he kidding?

He also says quite strongly that the practice of people holding onto their wafer and then dipping it in the wine should be discouraged as it’s not good practice. Oops! First I heard of this. Apparently what should happen is that the priest drinks all the wine (hiccup) on behalf of the people.

Me? I think it’s a waste of time. Nothing much now is going to stop the spread of the flu, so I expect we’ll all get it, be ill for a couple of days, then recover. As we usually do.

What I’m sick of, is hearing about Swine Flu to such an extent that everyone is terrified, then being told there’s nothing to worry about.

It’s part of the good and ill pattern of life. Why can’t we just get on with it?

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