Restoring the cup

Diocese of Honolulu to bring back Communion under the form of the Precious Blood

By Anna Weaver
Hawaii Catholic Herald

Holy Communion under the form of the cup is coming back to Hawaii. But the cup won’t runneth over or even perhaps be half full based on reactions so far to its restoration.

The Diocese of Honolulu’s Bishop Larry Silva has announced that on Holy Thursday Communion via the cup can be given for the first time since 2020, the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic.

In a March 6 memo to all Hawaii clergy, religious communities and parishes, Father Alfred Omar Guerrero, director of the diocese’s Office of Worship, explained that pastors have the final say on bringing back the Communion cup in their parish.

Holy Thursday was chosen as a fitting day for the return of the cup because Catholics celebrate the Mass of the Lord’s Supper, commonly called The Last Supper, on that day.

“Many pastors have concerns about it and so they most likely will not restore the cup, but they have that option,” Father Guerrero said in a phone interview.

Most of the dioceses in the western U.S. region that the Diocese of Honolulu belongs to have not brought the cup back yet, Father Guerrero noted.

The “Restoring the Cup” memo asked parishes to train extraordinary ministers of holy Communion and establish protocols such as a reduced amount of wine to be consecrated if fewer people are likely to take the cup.

The memo also reminded pastors that they can re-educate their parishioners on “concomitance,” the Catholic belief that “under each species alone, the whole Christ is sacramentally present and we receive all the fruit of Eucharistic grace.”

Receiving just the consecrated host or just the Precious Blood are equally acceptable.

Father Anthony Rapozo, pastor of St. John the Apostle and Evangelist in Mililani, said that at parish meetings he’s had since he first heard the Communion cup would be returning, about half of those who were asked said they would take the cup. At a recent Central Oahu/Molokai vicariate meeting, all the priests in the vicariate said they would bring back the cup, according to Father Rapozo.

One worry he had was about estimating the right amount of wine for consecration so there is little leftover Precious Blood in the cup.

It cannot be poured down the sacrarium, the special sink in a church’s sacristy that drains directly into the ground and not the sewer and is used for the disposal of sacred elements such as baptismal water, or the water used to rinse sacred altar linens, but never the Blood of Christ. Rather a priest, deacon or properly commissioned acolyte would need to consume any remainder after everyone else has drunk from the cup. Post-COVID, the idea isn’t as palatable.

As for the return of the cup to his parish, Father Rapozo said, “If no one actually comes up to partake of the cup, then that would be my signal that my parish isn’t ready.”

What about individual cups?

Unlike other Christian denominations, the Catholic Church does not allow for the distribution of communion in individual serving cups. This is in part because of requirements that the vessels holding the Precious Blood be of a similar precious nature.

“Reprobated, therefore, is any practice of using for the celebration of Mass common vessels, or others lacking in quality, or devoid of all artistic merit or which are mere containers, as also other vessels made from glass, earthenware, clay, or other materials that break easily,” reads the Vatican’s Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments in “Redemptionis Sacramentum,” No. 117.

There is also great symbolism in Jesus having shared one cup with his disciples at the Last Supper.

Intinction, the dipping of the host in the Precious Blood before consumption, is not allowed in the Diocese of Honolulu, except by concelebrating priests. Intinction by laity dipping the host is considered “self-communication,” which the church does not allow.

On an interesting side note, when the pandemic first hit, Father Rapozo had a parishioner with a severe gluten allergy come to him to ask about still receiving Communion via the cup. Even low-gluten hosts (there are no true gluten-free hosts due to liturgical requirements) caused a reaction for the man.

To maintain safety protocols but still follow “Redemptionis Sacramentum,” Father Rapozo ended up making the man an acolyte who could purify, wipe and clean his own chalice after receiving the Blood of Christ in it.

He said that upon the return of the cup to his parish, he will make sure to remind people that “we are restoring the cup, but you’re not required to partake of it if you’re not comfortable.”

“You still receive the fullness of the sacrament, whether you can only consume the sacred host or if you cannot take the host and you can only consume the precious blood because some people are allergic,” he said. “You still get the fullness of the sacrament.”

Both forms

Dioceses and archdioceses in the U.S. who post-pandemic have brought back or are about to bring back communion in both forms include:

• Archdiocese of Atlanta
• Diocese of Austin
• Diocese of Baton Rouge
• Diocese of Colorado Springs
• Archdiocese of Denver
• Diocese of Des Moines
• Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston
• Diocese of Honolulu
• Archdiocese of Indianapolis
• Diocese of Little Rock
• Diocese of Memphis
• Archdiocese of Newark
• Archdiocese of New Orleans
• Archdiocese of New York
• Diocese of Owensboro
• Diocese of Pittsburgh
• Archdiocese of San Antonio
• Archdiocese of San Francisco
• Archdiocese of St. Louis
• Diocese of Steubenville
• Diocese of Youngstown