Dear Friends,
In mid-February this year, we invited and appointed a task force to help us engage two things concerning the Eucharist.
- To enhance our organic wisdom by offering theological reflections on the eucharist.
- To recommend guidelines for engaging the wine/common cup during and after this exhausting season.
In response to our rather unrealistic invitation to deliver a result by March 23rd, this group of lay and clergy leaders worked diligently. They have delivered by collectively offering a gift to the church, the means of grace, and hope of glory, which we pray will have eternal and temporal value.
As bishops of our three dioceses, we endorse their recommendation and commend it to you without any significant changes. We ask you now to consider using these theological reflections and do your congregational deep dive into what it means for you to be a eucharistic community where you are.
We ask you to follow their recommendation to engage the wine thoughtfully using these articulated criteria: that the practice be reasonable, recognizable, and reverent.
Since we cannot predict COVID-19’s ability to morph, we ask that we respectfully stay vigilant, realizing that our practices may change again.