Church Rituals and the Swine Flu

An announcement was made before mass started on Sunday. Due to the possible spread of swine flu, Bishop Wenski with advice from the Center for Disease Control has recommended: “Please do not hold hands during the reciting of the Our Father. Share the Sign of Peace WITHOUT touching hands or kissing. This can be done with meaningful eye contact, smiles, and a bow of the head in reverence to one another.” This resulted in some laughs and giggles from the congregation. I didn’t think it was funny. Was it because people were uncomfortable with this topic? When it came time to offer the sign of peace, I saw some people shake hands anyway. I exchanged some nods and peace signs. I figured “better safe than sorry.” The irony is that we were still offered to share the holy sacrament of blood by drinking from the same chalice.