Author Archives: David Huss

Return to Common Cup at Holy Communion

The Bishops of the Church of Ireland have indicated that their permission to serve communion wine in individual cups, first granted during the Covid-19 pandemic, will lapse at the end of May (Pentecost Sunday). Hence from the beginning of June we will return to the use of the shared chalice for the consecrated wine at communion. 

Please follow the link below to read the Bishops’ letter in full:
Bishops letter on Holy Communion March 2023

Careful wiping of the communion cup greatly reduces the risk of infection.
Anyone with questions about this change is welcome to speak with the rector.
Anyone with serious concerns about the health implications of participating in communion should consult their doctor.

Please see the link below for a helpful summary of the scientific issues:

Garner, The Common Cup and SARS-CoV-2 Infection Risk
(Public Health Advisor to the Bishop of the Anglican Diocese of Ottawa, March 2022)
https://www.toronto.anglican.ca/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/2022-03-The-Common-Cup-M-Garner.pdf

A selection of further articles:

Budaev, Safety and Reverence: How Roman Catholic Liturgy Can Respond to the COVID-19 Pandemic; Journal of Religion and Health May 2021
https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10943-021-01282-x

Spantideas, Covid-19 and Holy Communion; Public Health journal June 2020
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7439816/

Anyfantakis et al, Holy Communion and Infection Transmission: A Literature Review; Cureus June 2020
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7377019/#REF11

Pellerin et al, Infections Associated with Religious Rituals; International Journal of Infectious Diseases April 2013
https://www.ijidonline.com/article/S1201-9712(13)00187-2/fulltext

Manangan et al, Risk of Infectious Disease Transmission from a Common Communion Cup; American Journal of Infection Control 1998
https://www.ntnl.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/Common-Cup-CDC.pdf

Gill, The hazard of infection from the shared communion cup; Journal of Infection 1988
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/3284951/

Hobbs et al, Experiments on the communion cup, J. Hyg., Camb. (1967)
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2130181/pdf/jhyg00103-0044.pdf

Burrows et al , Survival of Bacteria on the Silver Communion Cup; Journal of Infectious Diseases 1943
https://www.jstor.org/stable/30085137