1 November 1982
Your Excellency:
We are writing to express our concern at one of the most serious examples of the schismatic state of many American dioceses, the widespread practice of distributing Communion under both kinds to the faithful at parish Masses on Sunday. You will be aware of the fact that of all the many grave errors of the Protestant heresy is the claim that God commanded all Christians to receive Communion under both kinds. They claim that the Catholic Church has erred in permitting the laity and clerics who are not celebrating Mass to receive under the species of bread alone. These errors were anathematized by the Council of Trent. It appears to us that while the major Protestant sects persist in this error, and accuse the Church of acting contrary to a divine ordinance, it would be imprudent for the Holy See to restore the practice of Communion under both kinds to general use within the Roman Rite. If this were done it would be tantamount to a concession that the Church has been wrong for centuries, and the heretics right. Cardinal Godfrey of England pointed out this danger during the debate on the Liturgy Constitution of the Second Vatican Council.
The Liturgy Constitution (Article 55) permitted the reintroduction of the practice in a few cases specified by the Holy See. Only three examples were cited. In 1970 the General Instruction which appears at the beginning of the New Missal expanded this list to fourteen instances. Some episcopal conferences requested permission to extend this list still further, a request which the Holy See conceded, but within strictly defined limits. These limits were set out in the Instruction Sacramentali Communione of 29 June 1970. The relevant paragraphs read as follows:
(1) Communion under both kinds may be distributed in accordance with the judgment of the ordinary in cases determined by the Holy See—as given in the list adjoining this Instruction.
(2) Moreover, the episcopal conferences may decide to what extent, for what motives and in what conditions, ordinaries may concede Communion under both kinds in other cases which have great importance for the spiritual life of a particular community or group of the faithful.
(3) Within these limits, the ordinaries may indicate particular cases. This is on the condition, however, that the faculty should not be conceded indiscriminately, and that the celebration should be clearly indicated, together with those points to which particular attention must be paid. This faculty should not be granted on occasions where there are large numbers of communicants. The groups to whom the faculty is conceded should be adequately instructed on the significance of the rite. (Our emphasis.)
We would like to repeat some of the conditions laid down here:
(a) The faculty can only be conceded for particular occasions to a particular group on some occasion of importance.
(b) It can never be conceded indiscriminately or on occasions when there are a large number of communicants.
When an English version of the New Missal was published for use in the United States there was an appendix to the General Instruction listing five more cases in which the laity could receive the Chalice. These were:
15. other members of the faithful present on the special occasions enumerated in No. 242 of the General Instruction;
16. at funeral Masses and at Masses for a special family observance;
17. at Masses on days of special religious or civil significance for the people of the United States;
18. at Masses on Holy Thursday and at Mass of the Easter Vigil, the norms of the instruction of June 29, 1970, being observed;
19. at weekday Masses.
It was claimed that these instances were in accord with the Instruction of 29 June 1970. This claim is manifestly false. The fourteen cases listed in the General Instruction only permit clearly specified individuals to receive the Chalice on occasions when a large congregation may be present, e.g., No. 1 mentions newly-baptized adults in the Mass following their baptism; No. 2 mentions the bride and groom at their Nuptial Mass; No. 3 mentions the parents, relatives and special benefactors of a newly-ordained priest at his first Mass. The Instruction of 29 June rules out the reception of the Chalice by all present on occasions where there are large numbers of communicants. This restriction is violated by the American Bishops in Numbers 15, 16, 17 and 18 of their Appendix. The Instruction also forbade the granting of permission on an indiscriminate basis. This restriction is violated by No. 19 of the American Bishops' Appendix and it could quite reasonably be claimed that Numbers 15, 16, 17 and 18 also violate it.
Your Excellency, we are faced here with a clear example of the schismatic mentality of the American hierarchy and what we must describe as the culpable weakness of the Holy See. The Vatican turned a blind eye to this blatant defiance of its legislation by the Bishops of the United States of America, which naturally encouraged them to pursue this defiance to even greater lengths. As you must certainly be aware, despite the clearly expressed wish of Pope Paul VI in the Instruction Memoriale Domini (1969) that the laity should receive Holy Communion on the tongue, some bishops allowed this ruling to be flouted with impunity within their dioceses and then pressured the Pope into legalizing it. This is hardly an edifying example of the filial obedience which bishops should display toward the Pope, and yet these same bishops appear outraged if the parish clergy or laity question the least of their instructions. Archbishop Hunthausen of Seattle, for example, was indignant that the faithful in his diocese should ask for the removal of heretical textbooks from parochial schools, or that the matter used for consecration in the Mass should be bread and not cake, the latter, of course, rendering the Mass invalid.
Some American bishops decided to introduce Communion under both kinds at all Masses by the same process they had used with Communion in the hand, they permitted the liturgical law of the Church to be flouted within their dioceses, not simply with their knowledge but in some cases with their active support. In November 1978, the bishops voted to make the abuse of Communion under both kinds at Sunday Masses official. Bishop Walter Curtis of Bridgeport boasted that the practice was already working well at a large parish in his diocese. According to The Catholic Telegraph of 15 December 1978, the bishops claimed that:
The change requires no action from the Vatican, which in 1970 gave local episcopal conferences permission to choose appropriate circumstances beyond the 14 occasions already listed in the General Instruction of the Roman Missal.
This statement is absolutely false. In defiance of this Instruction, the bishops conceded the faculty indiscriminately on occasions where there are large numbers of communicants. What, in fact, they did was to state that Holy Communion can always be received under both kinds by everyone present at every Mass. There could hardly be a more explicit declaration of the repudiation of the Pope's authority by the bishops of America! They are clearly following the example of King Henry VIII of England and stating that "The Pope of Rome hath no jurisdiction in the United States of America."
Until now the Holy See has been a little firmer in the case of Communion under both kinds than it was in the case of Communion in the hand. It has at least not obliged the American Bishops by giving them an indult to legalize the abuse. We are confident that you would not wish to contradict us when we state that their decision to allow Communion under both kinds at Sunday Masses has not been approved by the Holy See. In 1980 one of our contributors discussed the matter with Cardinal Seper, then Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. Cardinal Seper confirmed that the American Bishops were acting in defiance of the Holy See in this, and other respects, and accepted that at present the Vatican does not exercise effective control over the Church in the United States of America.
The Instruction Inaestimabile Donum was published with the approval of Pope John Paul II on 3 April 1980. It re-iterated in very clear terms the current discipline of the Church on Communion under both kinds. It states (No. 12):
With regard to Communion under both kinds, the norms laid down by the Church must be observed, both by reason of the reverence due to the Sacrament and for the good of those receiving the Eucharist, in accordance with variations in circumstances, times, and places.
Episcopal conferences and Ordinaries are not to be beyond what is laid down in the present discipline: the granting of permission for Communion under both kinds is not to be indiscriminate, and the celebrations in question are to be specified precisely; the groups that use this faculty are to be clearly defined, well disciplined and homogeneous.
This Instruction did no more than confirm what Cardinal Seper had stated to our contributor, or what Msgr. Virgilio Noe stated in a written reply to a query from the United States, in a letter dated 22 February 1980, Prot. n. CD 163/80. He stated:
The decision of the Episcopal Conference of the United States to allow Communion of the chalice to be given on every Sunday, has not been confirmed by this Congregation. It is therefore necessary to remain within the limits established by the General Instruction of the Roman Missal (1975 edition), nos. 240-243.
The response of the American hierarchy to Inaestimabile Donum was one of contemptuous rejection. Archbishop Bernardin of Cincinnati summarized their reaction as follows on 5 June 1980:
In 1978 the bishops of this country, in light of our favorable experience, voted to permit communion under both kinds on Sundays. Since then the question has been raised as to whether this particular action went beyond the intent of the conciliar documents. The Conference has agreed to take up the matter with the Holy See. Accordingly, the authorization for communion under both kinds remains in force unless there is some notification to the contrary in the future.
Your Excellency, we beg you to excuse our bluntness if we observe that what Archbishop Bernardin is saying here is precisely what the Orangemen of Belfast write upon the walls of their city: "To hell with the Pope!" What he is saying is that it is the American Bishops and not the Holy See who are the supreme arbiters of Church Law in the United States. In other words, it is a clear statement of the fact that in this country we are now faced with a schismatic Church, and yet, when distressed Catholics write to you for advice concerning problems caused by their bishops, you almost invariably reply by telling them to obey these bishops who refuse obedience to the Pope. In the case of Archbishop Bernardin you went even further; you appointed him to the important diocese of Chicago, in accordance with the requirements of that celebrated writer of erotic books, Father Andrew Greeley!
We have been given to understand that the American Bishops are now applying great pressure to induce the Vatican to surrender to them once again, and legalize the abuse of Holy Communion under both kinds at Sunday Masses. We ask you to beg the Holy Father, on our behalf, not to succumb to this pressure which could only be seen as explicit recognition that the Holy See accepts that it has no jurisdiction in the United States.
Finally, in the interests of justice we wish to put on record our acceptance of the fact that some American Bishops have refused to allow Communion under both kinds at Sunday Masses in their diocese because they know that this is forbidden by the Holy See. Where we have spoken of the American Bishops or the American hierarchy in this letter, we are referring to the collegial policy of the Episcopal Conference, and it is the official policy of this Conference that Communion under both kinds is permitted at Sunday Masses. We congratulate those individual bishops who have refused to implement this schismatic act within their own dioceses.
We remain your obedient servants in Jesus Christ and ask your blessing for ourselves and our readers.
The Editors
The Most Reverend Pio Laghi
The Apostolic Delegation
3339 Massachusetts Avenue, N.W.
Washington, D. C. 20008
