The Purell® Rite
All the rage seems to be the Purell® Rite slowly being introduced to parish after parish. Typically it is performed before communion and then after communion. No, you won’t find it in the liturgical books.
I think it started with Swine Flu, although I could be mistaken on that. The irony is that swine flu was spread in the air and not by hand to hand contact. Even given the severity of Swine Flu, there were only 3400 deaths in the US from it when it broke out in 2009, and many of those deaths were from people suffering other maladies. Comparatively, traffic deaths average about 40,000 per year. While infection rates are high for the flu, the worst consequences tend to be things like diarrhea, fatigue, and a fever. A healthy person should not be grossly concerned with getting an infection by shaking hands or drinking from a common cup or even kissing.
Before chicken pox was immunized. one popular wife’s tale was that you could induce chicken pox in the unaffected child by having them share 7-Up or some other drink with infected child. To many parents displeasure, the other child stubbornly refused to become infected, delaying that rite of passage until later in life. Of course before the advent of indoor plumbing, it was common to drink from the same cup or even a ladle. For whatever reason, people seem to have in their minds that they are one hand washing away from debilitating illness or death. Germs and bacteria are normal and for the most part perfectly fine. Indulging people’s irrational fears is not good. The person who worries she is going to get lung cancer by being exposed to cigarette smoke while she exits a building needs to be told her fears aren’t rational.
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There are some good reasons to consider the need for such precaution, and I think there should be some way for people to have a place in the church where they don’t have to shake hands (they can wish peace upon others), such as when they are sick, or if they are someone who has immune issues, or they don’t want to get sick because they visit someone with immune issues. When I was visiting my father at the hospital during the summer, I would go immediately after liturgy (and, for various reasons, going to a Roman parish, among which, so I can go early so I could visit my dad at a good time). With his leukemia, he had to be extra protected from disease. So I would always wash up in the bathroom, and then use all the cleaner at the hospital; but I would also try to avoid being near people coughing of the like.
Obviously, I think your point in general is true; but I think there are good exceptions to consider.
Definitely there are legitimate issues. If I recall correctly our pastor said there were 3 to 5 people in the parish no average being treated for cancer.
Now, do you know if spoon feeding is the norm in the East or just in some jurisdictions? I have heard of some places using individual plastic spoons and some folks being scandalized. I’m not sure if that plastic flatware is somewhat common or clown-mass common. Obviously there are similar germ concerns with that.
Well, it depends upon which of the rites being used. For the Byzantine tradition, it is a golden spoon, and it is not plastic, though who knows why they might do so? I’ve not heard of it. One of the things the East allows is dispensations for liturgical practices with priests determining more of the needs of the parish than sometimes universal norms (of course, not all things are permitted).
Practically speaking I understand the need, but for me it is the obsession that I have a problem with. That’s the murky territory that goes beyond faith and practicality, as I see it.
one popular wife’s tail
I thought this was a family blog. Or did you mean a popular old wives’ tale?
[Noted and corrected. Thanks.]
From WebMD
Sterilization has been a CDC bugaboo for awhile. Unfortunately the CDC can get tunnel vision on some things. Admittedly I am not qualified to offer medical opinions, but it seems from my reading that the body’s reaction to pathogens is as important if not more-so than exposure to them. Exposure is the only real way to train the immune system.
We eschew the Purell rite. We’re Germ-X Catholics!
A lot of the sensitivity here comes out of the experience of tending to the legitimate needs and fear of people whose immune systems are impaired (acutely or chronically). A generation ago, these concerns were not as widespread or well-known. Treatments of cancer, HIV and other conditions has advanced the general social awareness of this in the past generation.
Do you all suppose the EMs’ application of Purell is done for the physical health of the parishioners, or for their peace of mind? It’s so visible, that I have asked my wife this same question. I wonder how difficult it would be to sanitize prior to gathering in the sanctuary. It’s an odd addition to the liturgy, no?
It started in Canada years and years ago.
Guilty as charged.
On the other hand, if you die from germs you caught at Mass, that’s a pretty good way to show up before the Lord, no?