Covid-19 and the Church

Caution is a wise way to go about living one’s life. However, unsubstantiated fear is not, so we turn our attention to Covid 19 and the Common Cup.

The experts are saying that the usual practices we all know regarding the spreading of infectious diseases applies to Covid 19 (coronavirus):

1. Frequent handwashing with soap and water for 20 seconds or more.

2. Coughing into your elbow.

3. Staying home if you are sick.

Some people are wondering, no doubt, about the use of the Common Cup at the Holy Eucharist in the Anglican tradition. Believe it or not, this has been thoroughly studied. Please note that:

1. The wine we use is fortified (meaning that it has additional alcohol added, bringing its percentage to 20%).

2. The cup is made of precious metals.

3. The people who administer the wine are trained to wipe the cup and turn it a quarter turn between communicants.

4. All of these are things, the studies show, that make the practice of drinking from the Common Cup a safe thing to do.

When everyone is done receiving communion it is usually left to the clergy to consume what’s remaining in the Cup. If this was somehow harmful then Anglican clergy would claim more sick days than the general public. This has been studied and we do not claim more sick days.

I know that what I’ve written here will not convince everyone. In fact, I am not trying to be convincing, I am simply reporting what the studies have shown over the years.

The most essential thing to take away from this is that the Anglican Church has always taught that the full benefit of God’s grace is received with the bread alone, or the wine alone. You do not have to receive both in order to receive God’s grace. I would go so far as to say that the Church and the Church’s sacraments (moments when we are assured of God’s grace) are not in anyway the only ways God’s grace can be granted. It has always been entirely within God’s power to impart grace as God sees fit.

Diocesan Comments of Covid-19