Published: May 15, 2009 11:37 pm      

Swine flu and the church

St. Patrick Catholic Church adapts to the illness

By Ben Lockridge

blockridge@themeridianstar.com



In biblical scripture Jesus Christ casts a whole legion of demons out of a man and into a herd of pigs.

More than 2000 years later the pigs strike back at humanity with the swine flu, and with the virus comes a lot of modifications within the Catholic church, even here in Meridian.

"We've had to make three changes to our traditions, and it's all to protect people," said Father Frank Cosgrove of St. Patrick Church. "We no longer shake hands at the sign of peace, another is people who receive Holy communion on their tongue, are now asked to receive it in their hand."

The third major change the church has had to make also concerns communion.

"We are no longer receiving Holy communion from the chalice," Cosgrove explained.

Normally the Catholic tradition used a community chalice that everyone would drink from; something that could potentially spread the swine flu from person to person.

Father Cosgrove explained that the changes made to the Catholic traditions were ordered due to the illness.

"Bishop Joseph Latino has asked all the parishes to do this to safeguard our health until the Swine flu is gone and then we will go back to normal," Cosgrove said.

In Mississippi there have only been three cases of the virus, but the Church thinks that these are necessary precautions regardless.

"We're just trying to do our part to keep it from spreading," Cosgrove explained.

1 Corinthians 12:12-13 says: "For as the body is one and has many members, but all the members of that one body, being many, are one body, so also is Christ. For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body — whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free — and have all been made to drink into one Spirit." Father Cosgrove says this is why they drink from one chalice, to symbolize the one body of Christ.

Father Cosgrove does not believe the change in tradition will last.

"I don't believe it will be permanent, and I hope it isn't. We were told by the Bishop that we are to do this until further notice, but I hope the flu will peter out soon, and maybe things will return in the winter," Cosgrove said. "But we'll cross that bridge when we come to it."