Churching

CHURCHING

BASIC R.C. BELIEF The name officially given to the custom known as “churching” is “Blessing after childbirth.” It was suggested by the rite of legal purification of Jewish law. There has never been a decree from the Holy See stating that women must undergo this ceremony before being admitted to Holy Communion after childbirth, but in many Roman Catholic cultures women know this is expected of them.

POST VATICAN II Modern Roman Catholics do not think of this as obligatory, and in progressive parishes it is practiced as an occasion for public thanksgiving for the birth of the child.

From the PARISHONERS’ HANDBOOK, John Fee, received at St. Christopher’s Roman Catholic Church, San Jose, California in 1975, “When mothers attend Mass for the first time following the child’s birth, they should be `Churched’ in a ceremony that takes place at the altar rail.”