August 20, 2010
Letter to the editor
Example given at St. Boniface for handling the bread of life
To the editor:
A recent visit to St. Boniface Church for a Saturday evening Mass and organ rededication concert brought a pleasant surprise. At Communion time, all the ministers entered the sanctuary and immediately approached the two hand-sanitizing stations esthetically mounted on either side of the sanctuary. What a sensible approach to cleanliness and proper hygiene. St. Boniface is to be commended for its foresight and leadership in a practice that seems to be just plain common sense. After all, these ministers are about to handle food. In contrast, what do we normally see in our churches at Communion time? Ministers offering the sign of peace to all around them in the pews, then approaching the altar and proceeding to shake hands with fellow ministers. One does not have to be obsessed with germs to realize that these about-to-be “bread of life” handlers are engaged in a very unsanitary practice. It is a known fact that the hands are a major source of contamination and the spread of viruses and bacteria. How difficult would it be to set up hand-sanitizing stations in the sanctuary or, perhaps more unobtrusively, at the entrance of the sanctuary? Why not initiate this practice in all the parishes in our diocese? With the approach of the cold and flu season, this would seem to be worthy of consideration.
- LeRoy Dilger | Evansville