Dear friends, Two Australian priests in the Victorian diocese of Sale have started a worldwide petition to the Holy

Father, for going back to the older practice of receiving Holy Communion on the tongue. Both of these priests, Fr Speekman & Fr Wise are priests in good standing, and accept the current discipline of the Church. Thus they would never refuse to give communion on the hands, to anyone who comes to them. It is because of their pastoral ministries, that they are well aware of the terrible abuses and sacrileges that have crept in to the Church because of this practice, and are requesting the older discipline. Communion on the hand has been allowed by many countries in the world, with the permission of the Holy See. (In Australia it started on Pentecost Sunday 1976, for instance). The Church says that if one chooses to receive Holy Communion in this manner to receive Our Lord in an reverent manner following the exhortation of St Cyril of Jerusalem, "When you approach, do not extend your hands with palms upwards and fingers apart, but make your left hand a throne for your right hand to receive the King of Kings". The problem has been that these days, this is the exception rather than the rule, and fragments of hosts (occasionally even the whole ones) turn up in other places, instead of being consumed. In addition to this, surveys have been done throughout the world which indicate that most Catholics have more of a Protestant conception of the Eucharist (in that they see this just as a symbol) instead of its reality as the Body, Blood, Soul & Divinity of Jesus Christ. Poor catecheses in both classes and homilies is very much responsible for this, but it has been reinforced by cavalier attitudes towards the Holy Eucharist. Restoring the older discipline will go a long way towards solving these issues, if this is what the Church decides. Should anyone think the petition is imprudent or lacking in respect towards the current directives of the Holy See, it is worth reminding us of this precept from the Code of Canon Law, "In accord with the knowledge, competence and pre-eminence which they possess, the Christian faithful have the right and even at times a duty to manifest to the sacred pastors their opinion on matters which pertain to the good of the Church, and they have a right to make their opinion known to the other Christian faithful, with due regard to the integrity of faith and morals and reverence towards their pastors, and for consideration for the common good and dignity of persons." (Canon 212:3)

Communion in the hand remains an option throughout the Latin Church presently, and one must respect the right of persons who choose to partake of this privilege, with the proper dispositions. With the petition you will find that you can leave a comment. My favourite one is by my friend Michael Hichborn of the American Life League (who I met in 2009 at the John Paul II Cultural Center in Washington DC to be interviewed by Raymond Arroyo on EWTN), a big issue in this American presidential election year.

"Amen! Restoration of the Culture of Life MUST begin with TOTAL respect and reverence for Christ in the Eucharist [the Bread of Life] !"
http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/petition-to-the-holy-father/