Not catholic, but very church involved here (we do serve communion every week...Hubby is the pastor and we do intinction) and when I heard this, I thought it was interesting and have mixed feelings about it too. On one hand, it raises awareness about how viruses are spread. And I appreciate their desire to make sure people know there is a risk.
OTOH, I think personal responsibility is top priority. The fact the church has to mandate these things just seems to be a distraction from what their responsibility is to the faith community. Considering that church life together ~ the gathering anyway ~ is much less than kids going to school... that is where the real risk is to me.
And I had a little giggle about it too, thinking "why aren't they giving up taking the offering?"
That money has got to have lots of germs on it! Okay, so maybe I'm the only one who finds that a little funny...