[quote:3kxdpghk]leegal
I posted those examples from “fisheaters” only as examples of what they say should be avoided. I do not know what was in the Pope’s heart when he entered a Mosque so I really am in no position to judge whether or not he violated Church teaching on participation in other religious ceremonies.[/quote:3kxdpghk]
Hello Legal,

You have to reach a common ground to evangelize and til you show respect for their beliefs, they will not listen.

‘ Muslims believe in the ONE God,’

Paul never went into a community extorting fire and brimstone.. he looked, he studied and then try to find common ground.

He used what they had to Capitvate their thoughts toward Christ, i.e. The Unknown God.

Act 17:16 Now while Paul was waiting for them at Athens, his spirit was provoked within him as he saw that the city was full of idols.

Act 17:18 Some also of the Epicurean and Stoic philosophers met him. And some said, “What would this babbler say?” Others said, “He seems to be a preacher of foreign divinities”–because he preached Jesus and the resurrection.

Act 17:23 For as I passed along, and observed the objects of your worship, I found also an altar with this inscription, ‘To an unknown god.’ What therefore you worship as unknown, this I proclaim to you.

If they refuse to listen you can’t preach Jesus. By visiting the mosque, the Pope showed respect for their beliefs, and a hope in gaining an ear to understanding Christ.

[quote:3kxdpghk][u:3kxdpghk]Leegal,[/u:3kxdpghk] “I will admit however, that I do not understand altar girls and Eucharist Ministers — remember I grew up in a time when even I could not touch the Host. And, IMHO, no religion is a democracy. Though we have equal rights for women here in this country, I see no concurrentobligation on the part of the Church to allow women to serve on the altar or to become priests — and I find no contradiction. Personally, I have always had a problem with the United Nations — but again,[/quote:3kxdpghk]
I served as an altar boy @ the Latin Mass during Vatican II.

How about Mary and Martha? Back in biblical times there were no official places of Worship, and many met in peoples homes, of course mothers and their daughter helped out. Why not let young girls participate and help @ the Mass. It’s all good! Why keep the children from serving the Lord?

As far as Women priests, that’s going too far. The whole Bible is Patriarchal.

Presenting the Eucharist and placing in hand is nothing new, Whenever Christ broke bread he handed it to others.

Later the Church went with the Eucharist was not to handled except by the ordained 13th century.

Communion in hand crops up in the 9th century

Kneeling and receiving on the tongue is a deep sign of adoration and reverence.

The Apostles knelt before the Lord, are we any better?

It is the attitude in which we receive the Eucharist that matters!

Personally I feel we lost something removing the altar rails, in which whole families would kneel and receive together.

Also the use of E.M’s is abused, often i see several ministers @ a small gathering in which the priest could have easily handled dispensing the Eucharist. (And I’m also an E.M.)

[quote:3kxdpghk]The document authorizing the introduction of extraordinary ministers of the Eucharist is an Instruction of the Sacred Congregation for Divine Worship, issued on 29 January 1973, and entitled Immensae caritatis.
It authorizes the use of extraordinary ministers in “cases of genuine necessity.” These are listed as whenever:

(a) there is no pries, deacon, oracolyte;

(b) these are prevented from administering Holy Communion because of another pastoral ministry or because of ill health or advanced age;

(c) [u:3kxdpghk]the number[/u:3kxdpghk] of the faithful requesting Holy Communion is such that [b:3kxdpghk]the celebration of Mass [/b:3kxdpghk]or the distribution of the Eucharist outside Mass [b:3kxdpghk]would be unduly prolonged.[/b:3kxdpghk][/quote:3kxdpghk]
[b:3kxdpghk]St. Cyril of Jerusalem[/b:3kxdpghk] in the fourth century offered a powerful catechesis on the mode of[b:3kxdpghk] receiving communion in the hand [/b:3kxdpghk]that is still applicable today: “When you approach, do not go stretching out your open hands or having your fingers spread out, but make the left hand into a throne for the right which shall receive the King, and then cup your open hand and the Body of Christ, reciting the ‘Amen.’ Then sanctify with all care your eyes by touching the Sacred Body, and receive it. But be careful that no particles fall, for what you lose would be to you as if you had lost some of your members. Tell me, if anybody had given you gold dust, would you not hold fast to it with all care, and watch lest some of it fall and be lost to you? Must you not then be even more careful with that which is more precious than gold and diamonds, so that no particles are lost?”

[quote:3kxdpghk]By Msgr. M. Francis Mannion – OSV Newsweekly, 2/12/2012

Communion in the hand was the norm in Catholicism until the ninth century. It was discontinued due to excessive reverence of the Eucharist (that is a reverence that eventually caused people to avoid Communion altogether).

[url:3kxdpghk]http://www.osv.com/tabid/7621/itemid/9017/Msgr-M-Francis-Mannion-Hand-vs-tongue-for-Comm.aspx[/url:3kxdpghk][/quote:3kxdpghk]
again personally I myself finding standing while receiving less reverant than kneeling. When Pope Benedict first took office, a filipino priest @ EWTN was explaining The Pope’s feelings on receiving… He had said it is more reverent to kneel, “and if you know a thing to be true and not act on it, than it is wrong”

So from that day, something inside me stirred, I a can not help but to kneel. When I kneel I reach up left hand in right palm and receive the Eucharist… and its a world of difference for me.

For awhile I was wrestling with the idea that I would only kneel before a priest or deacon, and not a Eucharist minister. But then I had to kick myself in the head and remind myself, ‘It is in and the receiving’ The Presence of Christ that I am showing adoration for, and not any minister.

and then there is this: [URL below]
part (9) “To touch the sacred species, and to distribute them with their own hands, is a privilege of the ordained … “ Pope John Paul II

Saint Thomas Aquinas, 1225-1274:

“The dispensing of Christ’s Body belongs to the priest for three reasons. First, because he consecrates in the person of Christ. But as Christ consecrated His Body at the Supper, so also He gave It to others to be partaken of by them. Accordingly, as the consecration of Christ’s Body belongs to the priest, so likewise does the dispensing belong to him. Secondly, because the priest is the appointed intermediary between God and the people, hence as it belongs to him to offer the people’s gifts to God, so it belongs to him to deliver the consecrated gifts to the people. Thirdly, because out of reverence towards this Sacrament, nothing touches It but what is consecrated, and likewise the priest’s hands for touching this Sacrament. Hence, it is not lawful for anyone else to touch It, except from necessity, for instance, if It were to fall upon the ground or else in some other case of urgency.”
Note: (Before I get bombarded with straw-man arguments, I’ll point out that this isn’t Dogmatized, its just food for thought.)

[url:3kxdpghk]http://sspx.org/miscellaneous/communion_in_the_hand/a_privilege_of_the_ordained-michael_davies.pdf[/url:3kxdpghk]

God bless,
John