St. Cloud Catholics won't be offered communion cup over H1N1 fears

Catholic churches in the St. Cloud diocese won't offer the common cup during Communion and are discouraging parishioners from hand contact during Mass.

In a letter to parishes, Bishop John Kinney says the guidelines were issued to help prevent the spread of the H1N1 flu virus.

Diocese spokeswoman Rebecca Kurowski says parishes will use only bread for Communion for the time being. Priests and assisting deacons will continue to take the cup.

Kinney says a verbal sign of the peace will be sufficient and that worshippers don't need to hold hands during prayer.

The St. Cloud diocese includes 136 parishes with a population of about 138,000 Catholics.

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Information from: St. Cloud Times

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