Both Ave Verum (in various settings) and Adoro Te (in various settings) are regular communion anthems in our church. FWIW.

Unfortunately, it must be the bishops who are singing during communion. The congregation by and large isn't. They tell me they are busy and don't want to sing at that time. What happens is that the choir or cantor sings.

I would note that the quotation from the GIRM that Liam helpfully provides ascribes the "communitarian" function of the communion song to the act of singing together, not to the text sung, so there is no particular reason why a text that highlighted adoration of Christ present in the Eucharist could not be sung.

And what Chonak said, above. Adoration does not seem to be a particularly prominent theme in the text of the communio.

On the congregation singing during communion...they sing at our place (or about as many as sing anything else), particularly if it is something with a simple refrain. Anything that require people to go up for communion with a hymnal in their hand will be a non-starter, I would think. Personally, I find having something to sing during communion helps keep me focused and prayerful. YMMV.

Deacon Fritz, thank you.

Having labored under directors or music programs in the distant past where the merest hint of adoration was to be avoided during the rite of Holy Communion, I was never persuaded of that any more* than I think that's only what we ought to be singing during the rite. Both can be taken to extremes.

The antiphons often assigned for the rite seem to share a center of gravity in expressing thanksgiving, delight, joy, and recollection of God's merciful loving-kindness. For the Nth time, I would argue that the Magnificat offers the paradigm of the disposition of the Servant of God who has received the full presence of the Lord. Psalms 34, 78 and 84 (the list is not exhaustive) could be part of a standing rotation of Communion psalmody in addition to the antiphons appointed in the Gradual and the Missal.

* I so don't miss my years of programming music when the operating rule was that it should solely be about what we were doing, and only that. I am sure there are places where silly things like that still have purchase - and all the more glad I am not there.

The original poster, ghmus7, wrote:

2. In our time, many theologians and liturgists (again, I wish I could quote the documents) stress that "Communitarian' aspect of the Sacrament, our Unity in Christ. Adoration ,and more importantly, texts speaking of Adoration are no longer considered proper. Thus, no settings of t Ave Verum Communion, or Adoro te during Communion, as those texts are now considered appropriate only for Adoration, exposition etc.

Perhaps ghmus7 is thinking of the 1972 document, Music in Catholic Worship, which states at paragraph 62:

"The communion song should foster a sense of unity. It should be simple and not demand great effort. It gives expression to the joy and unity in the body of Christ and the fulfillment of the mystery being celebrated. Because they emphasize adoration rather than communion, most benediction hymns are not suitable."

I find it interesting that Sing to the Lord, the successor document to Music in Catholic Worship, is not as explicit on this matter. I wonder if an interesting discussion about this took place among the authors of Sing to the Lord?

Well, Fr. Cekada has done some respectable scholarly work, but let's also note that he holds a sedevacantist position, and it's possible that it may color his analysis.

Alcuin Reid's review of the book is on NLM.

That summation of the conciliar Mass is not accurate.

For that matter, the summation of the preconciliar Mass ("let us gather so that we may remember the sacrifice our Lord made so that our sins could be forgiven") could easily be a description of a Zwinglian Lord's Supper.

I personally think it worthwhile to avoid “Pange lingua … Tantum”, “Verbum supernum … O salutaris”, etc. at Mass because these are so familiar from Benediction … and, in the case of “Pange”, Maundy Thursday.

That said, one needn’t be strictly rigorous about that, either. I used to be more of a stickler for this than I’ve become of late.

I've always admired the traditional French custom of singing O Salutaris Hostia apres la Consecration. For example, the Schola St. Cecile at Paris will sing O Salutaris Hostia apres la Consecration and Tantum Ergo pendant la Communion.

Their program for the Rome Populus Summorum Pontificum pilgrimage at St. Peter's Basilica:

Samedi 24 octobre, à 12h, en la basilique Saint-Pierre du Vatican : messe pontificale célébrée à l’autel de la Chaire célébrée par Mgr Laise, en présence de Mgr Luigi Negri, archevêque de Ferrare-Comacchio.

Entrée du clergé : Laudes regiæ – « Acclamations carolingiennes » (VIIIème siècle)
Propre en plain-chant grégorien
Ordinaire : Missa VIII – De Angelis
Pendant les encensements de l’offertoire : Angeli, Archangeli – grand motet de Jean Veillot († 1662), chanoine et maître de chapelle de Notre-Dame de Paris, du roi Louis XIV et des Bénédictines de Montmartre
Benedictus polyphonique : alternance du chanoine Nicolas-Mammès Couturier (1840 † 1911), maître de chapelle de la cathédrale de Langres
Après la consécration : O Salutaris Hostia – François Giroust (1739 † 1799), maître de chapelle du roi de France Louis XVI
Pendant la communion des fidèles : Tantum ergo sacramentum – Michel-Richard de Lalande (1657 † 1726), maître de la chapelle des rois Louis XIV & Louis
Pendant le dernier évangile : Salve Regina (plain-chant – ton simple)
Sortie du clergé : Christus vincit – Plain-chant d’Aloys Kunc (1832 † 1895), maître de chapelle de la cathédrale de Toulouse, harmonisation du chanoine Gaston Roussel (1913 † 1985), curé de Port-Marly, maître de chapelle de la cathédrale de Versailles
Organiste : Olivier Willemin.

we often do the Ave Verum and Soul of my Savior (anima christi)