Seeing that UCF student and Webster Cook got a bunch of attention (albeit negative) as a result of stealing a consecrated Communion host, another publicity hungry guy has decided to get in on the act.  A University of Minnesota at Morris professor has invited readers of his blog to do what it takes to get consecrated hosts to him, and he’ll desecrate them, then post photos and videos on his blog.  He’d want for me to mention his name.

So, what to do. I have an idea. Can anyone out there score me some consecrated communion wafers? There’s no way I can personally get them — my local churches have stakes prepared for me, I’m sure — but if any of you would be willing to do what it takes to get me some, or even one, and mail it to me, I’ll show you sacrilege, gladly, and with much fanfare. I won’t be tempted to hold it hostage…but will instead treat it with profound disrespect and heinous cracker abuse, all photographed and presented here on the web. I shall do so joyfully and with laughter in my heart. If you can smuggle some out from under the armed guards and grim nuns hovering over your local communion ceremony, just write to me and I’ll send you my home address.

Brilliant, he calls it a “communion ceremony.”  Truly he knows what he’s up against.  Also note how courageous and outspoken he is.  Doesn’t have the guts to try and get Communion himself but instead throws out hyperbole about the local Church having stakes already prepared for him.  Great publicity stunt anyway.  Bill Donohue has to get his say in, of course:

Catholic League president Bill Donohue responded as follows:

“The…blog can be accessed from the university’s website. The university has a policy statement on this issue which says that the ‘Contents of all electronic pages must be consistent with University of Minnesota policies, local, state and federal laws.’ One of the school’s policies, ‘Code of Conduct,’ says that ‘When dealing with others,’ faculty et al. must be ‘respectful, fair and civil.’ Accordingly, we are contacting the President and the Board of Regents to see what they are going to do about this matter. Because the university is a state institution, we are also contacting the Minnesota legislature.”

Bill Donohue does a good job here of being measured and reasonable.  Not reacting with anger and hyperbole (as the prof did) but rather simply say it’s time to call the university system to follow through with their stated policies.

Meanwhile, I hope priests all over the country are aware of this and are reminding their EMHCs to make sure everyone consumes the hosts they’re given.  It’s a pipe dream, but it seems this would be a great time for the Bishops to temporarily stop using EMHCs altogether and instead have only ordinary ministers (priests, deacons, and acolytes, for you non-Catholic readers) distributing Communion.