ALCOHOLISM QUESTION from Bob on November 13, 2002 Br., If a Catholic alcoholic has the choice to abstain from the Most Precious Blood at Mass, what about a prest with a drinking problem? He is obliged to drink the wine, I know, but what if he is an alcoholic and should not drink any wine?
Thank You. Bob
ANSWER by John-Paul Ignatius, OLSM on November 19, 2002 Dear Bob:
According to the commentary on Canon 924 by the Canon Law Society of American, When concelebrating, priests recovering from alcoholism who are unable to consume wine may receive communion by intinction or they may receive under the species of the bread alone; this is a general faculty for which no specific permission is needed. The local ordinary may permit those who celebrate alone to receive by intinction, leaving it to an assistant to consume the consecrated wine.
original source: Sacred Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, letter, September 12, 1983, CLD 11, 208-209
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