Some churches take sanitary precautions against swine flu

Despite some complaints, Sacred Heart Catholic Church parishioners will have to go without drinking from the wine cup during the Eucharist again today.

The Rev. Shay Auerbach, pastor of the South Richmond Jesuit parish, said he suspended the use of the cup and giving the Host on the tongue last Sunday after four parishioners came down with the H1N1 flu virus, commonly known as swine flu. The parishioners who got sick got the flu somewhere else, Auerbach said.

The Catholic Diocese of Richmond has put out guidelines for liturgical services but has left it up to individual pastors to decide what to do in their parishes. Several churches have suspended the use of the cup and giving the Host on the tongue.

As the H1N1 flu virus continues to sicken people and deaths attributed to the virus rise, some religious groups are taking extra sanitary precautions and remain watchful.

Churches are providing extra hand sanitizers and putting a more vigorous effort into disinfecting bathrooms and pre-school and Sunday school facilities, said Steve Bradshaw, Southern Baptist Conservatives of Virginia's director of maturing churches for the Central East Region.

"Some [churches] have halted a greeting time during worship with handshakes and hugs," he said.

Nedra Voorhies, director of education at Emmanuel Episcopal Church in Henrico County, said she has observed fewer members shaking hands and drinking from the cup. And although she got the regular and the swine-flu shots, she is not drinking from the cup, she said.

Auerbach advised parishioners last Sunday before the Mass that they shouldn't shake hands at the sign of peace or hold hands during the Lord's Prayer.

The English-speaking parishioners took it well, but a few Spanish-speaking members from El Salvador and Guatemala complained, he said.

"In El Salvador, it is very common for people to receive from the cup," he said. "In Guatemala it is common in some parts to receive from the cup. In Mexico, it is not common to receive from the cup."

The Rev. Robert A. Brownell, pastor at St. Peter Catholic Church in Richmond, is leaving it up to parishioners.

"We believe the presence of Lord is equally in the consecrated Host as well as in the consecrated wine."

Contact Juan Antonio Lizama at (804) 649-6513 or .