This week the Archdiocese of Boston issued a press release stating that two policies, implemented to prevent the spread of the flu at Mass, will cease by Palm Sunday this year.  Citing the availability of the flu vaccines and the and the decreased flu activity, the statement declared that:

We [the Archdiocese of Boston] would urge the return of the following liturgical practices throughout the Archdiocese by Palm Sunday, March 28, 2010:

1. To return to the practice of distributing Holy Communion under both species;
2. To include once again the option of a handshake as a sign of peace.

In an interview with The Observer this past December, Father Robert VerEecke,  pastor of St. Ignatius Parish, expressed his hope that these liturgical practices would resume, saying that “Without the offering of the blood of Christ, people are feeling that something very important is missing from the celebration of the Eucharist.”

The Catholic Church believes that Christ is sacramentally present in both the bread and wine, but that reception of both species is a more complete sign of communion.

Since Christ is sacramentally present under each of the species, communion under the species of bread alone makes it possible to receive all the fruit of Eucharistic grace. For pastoral reasons this manner of receiving communion has been legitimately established as the most common form in the Latin rite. But “the sign of communion is more complete when given under both kinds, since in that form the sign of the Eucharistic meal appears more clearly.” (Catechism of the Catholic Church 1390)

The flu prevention directives were issued by the Archdiocese on October 31,  2009 in response to a widespread H1N1 flu threat and a suggestion by the United  States Conference of Catholic  Bishops.  More information can be found in the December 8, 2009 article of The Observer.