FAQs

- the letter from the Archbishops of Canterbury and York to diocesan bishops

- the DCLG publication Faith Communities and Pandemic Flu: Guidance for faith communities and local influenza pandemic committees

- the letter from the Bishop of Ripon and Leeds

- the paper summarising government advice to faith communities

- and the paper addressing the administration of Holy Communion during a flu pandemic.

Q.  What is so special about this flu virus?

A.  The swine flu virus is new and we do not have the natural immunity that we have to normal ‘winter flu’. This virus is present in saliva and in droplets coughed or sneezed by an infected person. These droplets may be inhaled by others close by, transferred by person to person contact or by contact with contaminated surfaces. The virus is able to survive for up to 48 hours on hard surfaces, up to 12 hours on soft surfaces and up to 10 minutes on hands.

Q.  What can churches do to help prevent the spread of the flu virus?

A. Prevention includes good personal hygiene, especially the single-use and disposal of tissues when coughing or sneezing and frequent hand-washing. Hands may be washed using soap and water or an alcohol rub with a minimum alcohol content of 60%. To protect others, anyone with symptoms should stay at home and minimise contact with others until symptoms have resolved.

To help to prevent the spread of the virus, churches need to ensure that lidded bins for the disposal of tissues are available at all public gatherings, that surfaces are frequently cleaned and that hand-washing facilities, including disposable towels, are well maintained. Churches should also consider supplying tissues at services and other meetings as well as providing hand-washing gel. Information regarding pandemic flu should be effectively disseminated to congregations.

While good hand hygiene will minimise the risks of the virus being transmitted by hand-shaking, this is not always practicable. In such circumstances, hand-shaking is inadvisable. ‘Laying on of hands’ and visitation of the sick ought to be carefully managed with hand washing after every contact, minimal carrying of objects such as mobile phones, pens, etc from visit to visit and cleaning of any such objects and changing of clothes as frequently as is practicable.

Q. Why are we not using the chalice? I thought it was safe.

A.  To help slow the spread of swine flu. Generally, the alcohol in the wine, the metal of the chalice and regular wiping with the purificator makes the chance of transmitting an infection extremely small. Because swine flu is new and survives on hard surfaces, it is better not to share the chalice.

Q.  What about the distribution of the bread during Communion?

A.  While the distribution of the consecrated bread at Holy Communion will continue, communion should not be given on the tongue since the swine flu virus can be present in saliva. Care should also be taken to ensure that the fingers of the person distributing the sacrament do not come into contact with the communicants’ hands. High standards of hand hygiene should be adopted as outlined above.

Q. What about blessings for the unconfirmed.

A.  Blessings can be given by extending a hand towards the head, rather than touching the head.

Q. How long before we get back to Communion in both kinds?

A.  Pandemic Influenza often comes in a series of waves each lasting for a few months with a number of months separating each wave. Government advice is that administration of the common cup ought to be suspended until the pandemic wave has passed. The advice will be kept under review in the light of regular contact with the Department of Health.

Q. What about baptisms?

A.  The medical/scientific advice is that baptism carries no specific risks during a flu pandemic although, where there is more than one candidate, ministers may wish to wash their hands, preferably with an alcohol based rub (minimum alcohol content 60%), after making the sign of the cross on a candidate's forehead and prior to moving to the next candidate. The same advice applies to the laying-on of hands, for example in Services of Wholeness and Healing.

Q. What about the Peace?

A.  Government scientific advice is that the virus may be transmitted by hand contact. Where everyone observes good hand hygiene, such as washing their hands using an alcohol rub, this risk is minimised but this is not always practicable. The sharing of the Peace by a handshake or embrace is an optional part of the Communion service so it is up to individuals how they share the Peace and treat others for the duration of the pandemic wave.

Q. What about laying-on of hands?

A.  Government scientific advice is that the virus may be transmitted by hand contact. The advice on baptism applies to the laying-on of hands, for example in Services of Wholeness and Healing: the medical/scientific advice is that baptism carries no specific risks during a flu pandemic although, where there is more than one candidate, ministers may wish to wash their hands, preferably with an alcohol based rub, after making the sign of the cross on a candidate's forehead and prior to moving to the next candidate.

Q. Can individual cups (‘thimbles’) be used instead?

A.  The General Synod’s Legal Advisory Commission has previously advised that the use of individual cups is not lawful in the Church of England. Medical advice is that, in practice, their use may, in any event, involve unacceptable hygiene risks in the context of pandemic flu.

Q. What about intinction?

A.  Government advice is that studies have suggested that, in the context of pandemic flu, the practice of intinction where individual communicants dip the wafer in the wine may involve a greater risk than the common cup. The priest, after using an alcohol rub, intincting the wafer by dipping it in the wine and then placing it in the communicant’s hands without making contact has been suggested as an alternative with less risk. Making contact while distributing the bread should also be avoided.

Q. Isn’t Communion in one kind unAnglican?

A.  No. Communion in both kinds – the bread and the wine – has since the Reformation been the norm in the Church of England and will be again when the medical advice permits. The administration of Holy Communion in the Church of England is principally governed by section 8 of the Sacrament Act 1547, which provides that:

‘... the... most blessed Sacrament be hereafter commonly delivered and ministered unto the people... under both the kinds, that is to say of bread and wine, except necessity otherwise require...’

It is thought that the permission for administration of the sacrament in one kind only in cases of necessity was included in the Tudor legislation because communicants were unwilling to drink from a common cup in times of plague. Section 8 of the 1547 Act recognises that while communion in both kinds is the norm in the Church of England, in faithfulness to Christ’s institution, when it is received only in one kind the fullness of the Sacrament is received none the less.

Q.  What about water stoups?

A. The flu virus can survive on hard surfaces for up to 48 hours and where these surfaces may be touched by a number of people they need to be cleaned frequently and individuals advised to wash their hands after contact. Where this is not practicable, discontinuing the use of water stoups ought to be considered.