Episcopalians Urged to Use Common Cup
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WASHINGTON — The Standing Liturgical Commission of the Episcopal Church today said fear of AIDS should not cause the denomination’s churches to stop using the common cup during Holy Communion.
“The common cup is not only a principal symbol of our Christian life; it is also a formative element in our identity as Episcopalians,” the committee said.
The statement was prompted by reports that a number of churches have stopped using the common cup or have begun using intinction--the dipping of the communion wafer in wine--as an alternate form of celebrating Holy Communion.
The statement said the AIDS virus is blood-borne and cannot be transmitted through saliva, and that it is only transmitted “through intimate sexual contact or intravenous use of improperly sterilized needles.”
But the commission also recommended that people with AIDS “be counseled to receive by intinction or only by the one element of bread.”
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