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Clisa99
Guest
I am trying to find out if missing Catholic Mass to attend EpiscopalMass is a sin or is it ok as the two are so similar and you still receive Communion?
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Like
Guest
Yes, it would a SIN to do so! And a MORTAL SIN to boot!
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tradconvert
Guest
Of course it is a sin and certainly a mortal sin if you were to receive communion. This would be the case even if you attend a (high church) or Anglo-Catholic “mass” where you may well feel you participating in a “mass” that is often more seemingly Catholic in its liturgy than certainly most NO masses are. Of course if it is an Anglican-use Catholic Church you are attending - there are no problems.
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braumeister
Guest
This would not fulfill your Sunday obligation. The Episcopalians/Anglicans do not have valid orders, therefore they do not have a valid mass. It would be a sin. You must attend a Catholic Liturgy to fulfill your Sunday obligation. I only wish that all Christians were united in faith and sacraments, but unfortunately this isn’t the case. Receiving communion in the Episcopalian/Anglican Church isn’t more than receiving bread and wine. Most Anglicans don’t truly believe in the true “presence” of Christ in the Catholic sense. I pray that we all unite as God truly wants us to be united in faith.
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braumeister
Guest
You are dead on. If you can find an Anglican-use, go to it
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LDNCatholic
Guest
Yes, it is a sin. No you should not attend and at no point should you receive their ‘‘communion’’
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Tantum_ergo
Guest
It is not the attending of the Episcopal service in itself that is sinful --it is the missing of the Catholic Mass in order to do so.
If you attended a Catholic Mass and then afterward the Episcopal service --or attended the Episcopal service and then the Catholic Mass for that Sunday-- you would be fine, provided you only received communion in the Catholic Church. . .NEVER at the Episcopal service.
But the two Masses are not ‘interchangeable.’
IF you went to the Episcopal service instead because you honestly (but erroneously) thought it was ‘just the same’, you may have a lessened culpability (that is for your priest to determine when you go to confession). And if you received at the Episcopal service, again while sinful you may have lessened (but still SOME) culpability. Again, that is for your priest to determine.
Now that you know that the two services are not ‘the same’ nor can you substitute the Episcopal service ‘for’ a Catholic Mass (or Episcopal communion for Catholic communion), please get to confession, and make sure that it doesn’t happen again.
Canon 844 (c.671 in the Code of Canons of the Eastern Churches)
If you attended a Catholic Mass and then afterward the Episcopal service --or attended the Episcopal service and then the Catholic Mass for that Sunday-- you would be fine, provided you only received communion in the Catholic Church. . .NEVER at the Episcopal service.
But the two Masses are not ‘interchangeable.’
IF you went to the Episcopal service instead because you honestly (but erroneously) thought it was ‘just the same’, you may have a lessened culpability (that is for your priest to determine when you go to confession). And if you received at the Episcopal service, again while sinful you may have lessened (but still SOME) culpability. Again, that is for your priest to determine.
Now that you know that the two services are not ‘the same’ nor can you substitute the Episcopal service ‘for’ a Catholic Mass (or Episcopal communion for Catholic communion), please get to confession, and make sure that it doesn’t happen again.
Canon 844 (c.671 in the Code of Canons of the Eastern Churches)
- Catholic ministers may licitly administer the sacraments to Catholic members of the Christian faithful** only** and, likewise, the latter (That is, the Catholic members of the Christian faithful) may licitly receive the sacraments only from Catholic ministers with due regard for parts 2, 3, and 4 of this canon, and can. 861, part 2.
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Seatuck
Guest
We all have a moral obligation to attend Mass on all holy days of obligation and Sundays. We are never permitted to receive protestant communion.
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ConstantineTG
Guest
You can attend as an observer. It does not fulfill your Sunday Obligation, so you would still have to attend Mass. Also you cannot receive Communion, that would mean participation and also that would mean communing with the Anglicans.
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Fledgling
Guest
Being since you’re Catholic it would be sin to go and receive their communion.
If you go only to observe as a visitor, I wouldn’t think that would be a problem.
If you go only to observe as a visitor, I wouldn’t think that would be a problem.
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Hesychios
Guest
This is the basic Orthodox position about taking Roman Catholic communion as well.
This goes to illustrate how very longstanding this practice is … one does not recieve communion from a church with which one does not agree doctrinally. If we took this as seriously as we should today, there would be no such phenomena as ‘Cafeteria Christians’.
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TikiTokiguy
Guest
What if (I’m in RCIA) I join the Catholic church but also like the Methodist church too and take their communion as well. Is that a mortal sin? What if I get baptized in the Catholic church and then get baptized in the Methodist church, is it a mortal sin to be in two churches at the same time?
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Like
Guest
You can only be baptized one (1) time, that is if you are baptized with Triune formula (In the name of the Father, and of the Son & of the Holy Spirit).
And if you were to join the Catholic Church, it would be a mortal sin to receive Communion of any protestant church.
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ajcstr
Guest
What is an “Anglican-use Catholic Church”?
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Tantum_ergo
Guest
See hon, the Methodist communion is not the actual Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity of Christ. Most Methodists look at it as symbolic, and the few who do believe in a real presence do NOT have valid orders so their ministers cannot actually ‘confect’ a valid Eucharist.
And if you were a Catholic and 'also" a Methodist, by your reception of a communion in BOTH Churches you would be saying (by those actions), "I believe the Catholic and the Methodist communion are equally valid and equivalent to each other.
Now that just can’t be! One is real God, the other is a ‘symbol’.
You would be saying as a Catholic, “The Catholic Church which I represent is thus in total union with the Methodist Church and its beliefs --and reciprocally, that the Methodist Church is in total union with the Catholic Church and ITS beliefs!” I guarantee you that if you asked your Methodist friends if they accepted the authority of the Bishop of Rome, they would say, “Heck no!” So it isn’t just 'Catholics" who would find your position of ‘being both’ a problem. Methodists would totally reject the idea that they are subject to Catholic beliefs!
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musicality
Guest
By **regularly **attending services at a church, one is displaying their agreement with that denomination.
Catholics may attend other services, but are highly discouraged from making a habit out of it. In addition, they must attend Catholic Mass on every Sunday/day of obligation. Attending a service at another church should never trump attending Mass.
Catholics may attend other services, but are highly discouraged from making a habit out of it. In addition, they must attend Catholic Mass on every Sunday/day of obligation. Attending a service at another church should never trump attending Mass.
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otjm
Guest
It is a Catholic Church, which consists primarily of Anglicans who have converted to the Catholic Church, and which use thier previous Book of Prayers and liturgical format (with minor modifications). They are not numerous ( I believe there are several in the US). However, they are likely to become more numerous as the Pope recently provided a clear structure for Anglicans/Episcopalians to convert in groups and retain most of their heritage. If one were to go to an Anglican/Episcopalian service, one would find it to be very similar to the Mass.
The actual structure will be a bit different, as they will not be part of the diocese in which they physically reside, but will be in what is called an Ordinariate. There are currently 5 bishops - 3 active and 2 retired, as well as a number of groups of laity (and presumably some priests) in England who will be joining the Church this Easter. Ordinations of the clergy will be at Pentecost.
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Usbek_de_Perse
Guest
Since when does attending a service in the Episcopal Church constitute a mortal sin (or any other kind of sin)? It may not satisfy a Roman catholic’s “Sunday Obligation”, but there is no sin in attending. I’m not even sure that receiving holy communion in any non-Roman church constitutes a sin.
Also, it is not a sin for an Episcopalian to attend a Roman catholic mass. If the Episcopalian in question comes from a parish with a strong liturgical background, he/she may find the average RC service slightly more edifying than a Baptist church, but he/she is free to attend.
It shows lack of proper deference to Roman sensibilities if one should take communion without prior arrangement. I never do, out of respect.
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JaMc
Guest
I believe the consensus is that there’s nothing sinful about attending as an observer, but it doesn’t fulfill the Sunday obligation, and a Catholic shouldn’t take communion in any Protestant church. So, if one goes to an 8:00 Episcopal service, doesn’t take communion, and then makes 10:00 Mass at a Catholic Church, there is no sin. But, if one missed Mass to go to the Episcopal service, or took part in their communion (which would, in a sense, be publicly accepting their beliefs), it would be a sin, and should be confessed.
Likewise, an Episopalian (or anyone, for that matter) is welcome to attend Mass, but cannot receive communion. Whether that is considered “sinful” by the Episcopal church is the Episcopal church’s business, but the Catholic Church has no problem with it.
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Usbek_de_Perse
Guest
You agreed with me on every essential point. I wonder, however about whether it is actually considered a sin to take communion in non-Roman catholic churches. I always thought it was discouraged but not actually sinful. After all, it is not a black mass, worship of the devil, or an expression of non-Christian faith. You may, for whatever reasons, question the validity of the sacrament, but I don’t think that taking such communion is even considered sinful by the Roman catholic church. After all, even Cardinal Ratzinger felt that Christ was as present in a Lutheran Lord’s Supper as in a Catholic Mass.
I would, of course, be glad for an edifying response.
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