Ebola Threat, Flu Season, Prompts Catholic Churches in Texas to Modify Communion Practices

Teresa Neumann : Oct 23, 2014
Brian Fraga - Aleteia News

"It's something we've done in the past. It applies to all communicable diseases." -Pat Svacina

(Fort Worth, TX)—A report in Aleteia News, a Catholic publication, has detailed how two dioceses in Texas have made "minor" modifications to their communion practices to protect parishioners during the Ebola crisis and current flu season. (Photo via Wikipedia)

Beginning immediately, notes the report, parishioners in the Fort Worth and Dallas dioceses are asked not to hold hands during the Lord's Prayer and to receive the communion wafer in their hands from priests and ministers instructed to use hand sanitizer before and after distributing communion.

"It's something we've done in the past," said Pat Svacina, communications director for the Diocese of Fort Worth. "It applies to all communicable diseases."