Dallas — The Bible says that, at the Last Supper, Jesus took the cup, gave thanks and passed it to his disciples. "Take and drink," he said.
Almost 2,000 years later, many Christians fearful of catching diseases at Holy Communion aren't willing to partake.
The issue surfaces whenever infectious diseases garner attention, as in the case of the 49-year-old teacher who died from meningococcemia on New Year's Day. Two days earlier, she drank from a cup shared by others during communion at St. Vincent de Paul Catholic Church in Arlington.
Public health officials said there was little chance that others were exposed to the disease. But 75-year-old parishioner Otila Alcala said she wasn't taking any chances.
"My son requested that I lay off communion for one month, and I agreed," she said. Others who attend that church said they felt no need to refrain, especially after the Rev. Thomas J. Craig counseled them during Mass.
"There have been no reports of illness from the cup, and there's no reason for us to withdraw it," he said. "I would ask, however, that if anyone is ill, they would refrain from taking the cup."
A few blocks away at St. Maria Goretti Catholic Church, the Rev. James Gigliotti didn't offer wine during Mass. The congregation applauded when the priest announced a one-week precautionary break.
"I've had people say to me, 'Wouldn't Christ protect us from germs or disease?'" he said. "That's called magical thinking. If I have a cold or whatever and I drink from the cup, there is a possibility that the germ is going to be passed on."
As a sanitary step, communion ministers wipe the cup and turn it each time a person drinks from it.
"In a church as big as this, that purificator, which is a little cloth, cannot possibly be clean by the time you get through," Gigliotti said.
The body and blood
Catholics and Episcopalians use a common cup, in part, because it parallels the Last Supper accounts in the Bible. During the meal, Jesus distributed bread and passed a cup saying, "This is my body" and "This is my blood."
Each denomination allows members to receive either bread or wine, but preferably both. In so doing, they believe they're receiving the body and blood of Jesus.
"Whether you receive the bread or the wine, you receive the full grace of communion," said the Rev. Frederick Philputt, vicar at the Episcopal Church of the Incarnation in Dallas. "The blood of Christ only conveys blessing not the flu or cancer or AIDS."
Barbara Hammack, 55, of Dallas, a member of the church, said she has never once thought she might get sick from sharing the cup.
"Think about all of the centuries of diseases and all of the people who've taken communion and how no one has ever gotten sick," she said.
Other churches use individual cups, spoons or disposable packets that look like coffee creamers to distribute communion, some for sanitary reasons and convenience. Many of these churches embrace a less literal theological view of the Last Supper.
Trailwood United Methodist Church in Grand Prairie uses intinction the practice of dipping a piece of bread into grape juice. (Other churches use wine.)
"People in my congregation would not want to drink after one another," said the Rev. Wes Magruder. "Putting your lips and mouth on the same cup as everybody else that would be horrific to many Methodists."
Catholics and Episcopalians generally frown upon intinction. Some argue that the practice increases the threat of infection because of the possibility of people's fingers having contact with the liquid.
The Potter's House in Dallas uses disposable cups of grape juice. With 7,600 people at services, that method is faster. But safety is the primary reason that the individually sealed cups are used.
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