Receiving Communion in individual cups: round two

Jul 28, 2020 by

by Andrew Athersone, Psephizo:

As the Church of England undertakes its “Covid Recovery” planning, the question of individual cups at Holy Communion continues to gather pace. As is widely known, the House of Bishops have taken refuge behind a 2011 paper from the Legal Advisory Commission (LAC) which summarily pronounced individual cups to be “contrary to law”. Important questions about this at General Synod in July 2020 were dismissed, and Andrew Goddard was first into the ring two weeks ago with a protest on this website, building on the arguments of veteran campaigner and liturgy expert Bishop Colin Buchanan. That was Round One.

Readers of the LAC’s advice are in for a shock. It is obtuse, illogical, and evasive. The fact that Bishop Buchanan’s important essay on individual cups (published in the Ecclesiastical Law Journal in May 2010) is not even referenced by the LAC paper (published in September 2011), and none of its arguments considered, is symptomatic of the LAC’s rush to pre-judge the issue. We need a second legal opinion as a matter of priority. Therefore, in recent days, members of the House of Bishops, and the legal department of the Church of England, have been lobbied to re-open the question. The result is a new paper, just published, Holy Communion and the Distribution of the Elements [HCDE]. It is certainly a major advance on the LAC’s efforts – much more serious, sober, respectful, and deserving of careful weighing. Alas, it is still on the wrong track. So begins Round Two.

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