Catholic friend chooses not to receive communion

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You know, the fact that several people have decided to take this thread as an opportunity to critique the friendship of the OP rather than answer the question is leaving a really bad taste in my mouth, as well as reminding me of a lot of judgmental garbage like the encounter I just described above.

Therefore, I’m going to mute this thread. And I really hope I don’t encounter anybody else on this forum who’s going to make a big deal out of having somebody’s phone number. It literally makes me feel ill thinking about that sort of judgment.

OP, good luck with your friend.
 
hergratefulchild said:
Do I leave her in a state of mortal sin?
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Frankly, IMO, yes, unless she asks for your guidance.
hergratefulchild said:
The good Samaritan comes to mind.
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Was this person attacked by robbers and in need of your medical help? The Good Samaritan parable does not equate to you asking this person why she is not receiving. Be her friend if you want, but avoid such questions. I could think of a number of questions about your life that are very personal that I would think would be very inappropriate to ask and embarrass you.
hergratefulchild said:
We are called to be the voice of Christ
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Yes, to spread the Word, not to ask personal questions.
hergratefulchild said:
Even a friend? I must stipulate I was not talking in a bad tone, it was very light hearted and she knew what I was intending.
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Yes, even a friend. A prying question is never looked upon as “light-hearted” IMO. I know my friends would never ask.
 
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hergratefulchild said:
A good friend of mine doesn’t receive communion at mass but her children do. I asked her if she was Catholic and she said yes, then I asked why don’t you receive communion…
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Are you a Catholic? I am not saying you aren’t, it’s a rhetorical question. However, that’s the heart of the matter in this issue - we do not ask a Catholic why she does not receive Communion. When you do, like you did, it became highly unusual that a Catholic would do such a thing. Perhaps this brings us to the heart of Catholicism - you can pick out non-Catholics miles away.

Again, I am not saying you are not Catholic. My thought on this is you can pray for your friend. Prayer is a very loving thing to do, even bigger than words.
 
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It’s funny because we are only required to receive at least once every year… 😉
 
Reuben_J said:
Perhaps this brings us to the heart of Catholicism - you can pick out non-Catholics miles away.
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:confused:

As a candidate, I suppose that means that people will always peg me as a “non- Catholic” even after years and years. That a depressing realization.
 
hergratefulchild said:
A good friend of mine doesn’t receive communion at mass but her children do. I asked her if she was Catholic and she said yes, then I asked why don’t you receive communion… She said that her belief is that to go to confession for forgiveness of sins doesn’t make sense if she is just going to sin again.

Has anyone had experience of this, I took her number and said I would send her a video or something on the subject that she is open to observing. Any guidance?
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But there’s certainly no guarantee that we’ll ever sin again. She must believe that there’s no sincerity in her confession anyway-that she knows she’ll repeat the same sin(s)-and pretty much intends to do so even.
 
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hergratefulchild said:
She could easily say she doesn’t want to talk about it.
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If it were me, I would take the hint she has already dropped and not pursue it further. She could have expanded on it the first time. Say a prayer for her if you like, but I agree with the others who suggest you drop it. Her salvation is not in your hands.
 
hergratefulchild said:
Her children are altar servers and I do know her very well. I would not have asked if we didn’t have open discussions about our faith. I had to ask if she was Catholic to make the point of why one would not want to receive communion.
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She said she hasn’t been to confession. So that’s valid enough of a reason.

We must not receive if we haven’t been to confession and have mortal/grave sins to confess.

You should respect your friend because she knows she needs to get to confession before she receives, and she knows she needs to change her heart before receiving absolution.

If you want to give her advise, suggest she finds a good priest to use as spiritual director. You can also encourage her to go to confession to address her sins and her reasons why she thinks she should not go to confession. The priest will steer her in the right direction. Having her talk with a priest is really the only good advice you can give your friend.

Otherwise, please leave this alone & pray for her, as she is doing the right thing in regards to refraining from communion.

God Bless.
 
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My dad is like this. He hasn’t taken communion as far back as I can remember (and I’m in my late 30s). His reasoning is that he’s not been to confession in 40 years he won’t take communion until he’s properly confessed. But he also refuses confession.
 
Reuben_J said:
Are you a Catholic? I am not saying you aren’t, it’s a rhetorical question. However, that’s the heart of the matter in this issue - we do not ask a Catholic why she does not receive Communion. When you do, like you did, it became highly unusual that a Catholic would do such a thing. Perhaps this brings us to the heart of Catholicism - you can pick out non-Catholics miles away.
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Reuben, I mean no disrespect to your answer, but I personally believe this is not a “Catholic” thing at all. It’s not that Catholics should not ask such a question, it’s plain and simply a question that falls into a category of questions no one should ask another no matter who you are: “you losing weight, are you sick,” “you are gaining weight, not healthy, why?” to mention a couple.
 
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Encouraging her to go to Confession and receive Holy Communion is an admirable thing to do.
 
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The question is are her sins intentionally committed?
The fact that she may commit the same sins over and over is not the thing.
God forgives.
We are asked to try to avoid the occasion of sin.
All we can do is try. And try. And try, again.
We are blessed to have confession.
 
Isn’t that what the sacrament is for? Forgiveness when forgiveness is needed. Utilizing that gift of forgiveness isn’t abusing it no matter how often you need it. God’s forgiveness is infinite.
 
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If your living with a partner and sexually active, not being married would be such an example?
 
The problem I see with going to confession when you “know” you are going to do that particular sin
again, you cannot get absolution under those circumstances, right??? How then does it help to go to confession? I truly am asking, not being difficult.
 
It is through Christ we have salvation, we cannot go to confession thinking we will never sin again; for everyone is a sinner and all fall short of the glory of God, their is no one good apart from he who came down from heaven.

To quote Pope Francis; there was a film with a scene with a soldier and a priest. The priest asked if the soldier would like to confess, to which the soldier replied “but I still want to sin again”. The priest thought for a moment and asked “But you want to not want to sin again, right”, the solider agreed and had confession. The Pope concluded that God only needs you to open the door to his Mercy just a tiny bit and he, like we see in the prodigal son, runs to meet us.

Another useful quote from St Faustina of Divine Mercy; no one has gone to his Son and asked for Mercy and be turned away.
 
I’m extremely happy how this thread ends. Jesus wins again. Love you Jesus! Love your my master!!!
 
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