As you consider and prepare for a Celebration and the Administration of Holy Communion, when regionally you are able, below are some of the protocols and footnotes the House of Bishops want you to consider and follow. Throughout we ask you to engage your intercessors in prayer at every stage, before, during and after all services. Please identify your Health Officer and Team to give leadership to your services. We are eager for our people to feel and be safe and all our services to know the blessing of the Lord in every way.
- Don’t rush to offering the celebration of Holy Communion. This is a surprisingly complex step which requires much prayer and thought. Only proceed when you are confident before God that He is calling you to this and that as a fellowship you are ready. One Bishop in ACNA cautioned his Diocese: “To hurriedly return to our regular buildings with some version of the past, impoverished by mandated restrictions, would be deeply discouraging, counterproductive, and a wasted Kingdom opportunity. Instead, I am asking you to wait on the Lord and allow this process of critical discernment and strategic planning to take its course.”
- Be sure to have all necessary supplies on hand before starting- There are a whole range of supplies and equipment you will require which are unique to the present situation. Before you start offering Holy Communion. Make sure you have enough supplies of everything you will need to cover a couple of months at least before you start.
- Consult Parish Council- The decision to proceed needs to include a full discussion and consultation with your Parish Council. This is not a decision that rector’s should be taking on their own.
- Consider less frequent communion during the pandemic, e.g. monthly- Before this pandemic, we encouraged every parish to offer the Eucharist every week. Now and for the foreseeable future you may need to consider celebrating Holy Communion less often such as once a month. Given the numbers restrictions, some may be able to receive one week and others the next.
- Meet or exceed Provincial Health requirements- our approach throughout has been this. This for the safety of ourselves, for the well-being of the whole community and because we want to be a good witness.
- No Common Cup for this time. We are very sorry about this but are confident this is necessary at this time.
- Bread used should be individual wafers at this time. Some of our congregations bake their own breads or use loaves which they break up. Again, unfortunately, we must instruct you that for now, for safety, you must purchase individual wafers for the bread.
- Because we cannot use the common cup, the remaining options are: offering to the communicants the bread only (receive in one kind- only the celebrant receives the wine) also, or administer the wine in individual disposable cups, or finally the priest places a tiny drop of consecrated wine placed on each wafer at the altar just before it is administered
- for set up, preparation and administration, the fewer people in contact with the elements the better
- recipients use hand sanitizer when they arrive at the service and again just before receiving Holy Communion
- The celebrant priest and administrants must use hot water and soap just prior to handling the elements
- During the administration, the wafers should be dropped into the cupped hand of the recipients
- maintain social distancing between recipients
- suspend touching during the peace for a wave
- masks are recommended
- Take attendance and keep a record of all who attend and all who participate at every service.
Footnotes:
- If there is inadvertent touching during administration, the priest or administrant should immediately wash in the soap and hot water
- Place a pall or purificator over the exposed elements for most of the Consecration prayer
- For those placing a small drop of consecrated wine on each wafer, this should be done by the priest at the altar using an eyedropper or small stick
- For those using individual cups please rinse and dispose of reverently e.g. used cups could be placed by recipients in a large bowl of bleached water, to be emptied in a piscina or on clean ground
- Ushers and servers are charged with the task of maintaining social distancing
- When using wine in individual cups, standard fillers deliver too much fluid, especially when children are receiving. The cups are most easily filled using an eye dropper.