Catholics and Communion

[nicolep]

MarkThompson;7861426:

There are no differences,]

There are differences. Protestants do not believe in the true presense of Christ in the Eucharist.

He was referring to being no difference in Catholic theology only people who don’t follow the rules. The OP asked why there were so some difference ways of doing things in the CC. His statement didn’t have anything to do with the Presence of Christ in the Eucharist.

 

[TheMc]

Show me where in scripture that God would refuse his children communion please.

Here’s one, I’m sure there’s others.

[BIBLEDRB]1 Corinthians 11:28-29[/BIBLEDRB]

 

[MarkThompson]

He was referring to being no difference in Catholic theology only people who don’t follow the rules. The OP asked why there were so some difference ways of doing things in the CC. His statement didn’t have anything to do with the Presence of Christ in the Eucharist.

 

[Alix1912]

OP,

Why did you feel the need to try and take communion in a Catholic Church when you are not Catholic anymore and you knew the rules about this in advance??

Just wondering what the motivation was?

 

[Love_Divine]

OP,

Why did you feel the need to try and take communion in a Catholic Church when you are not Catholic anymore and you knew the rules about this in advance??

Just wondering what the motivation was?

Technically, if the OP was baptized Catholic, he/she is still Catholic, but not permitted to receive communion until he/she returns to full communion with the Catholic Church.

 

[Alix1912]

Technically, if the OP was baptized Catholic, he/she is still Catholic, but not permitted to receive communion until he/she returns to full communion with the Catholic Church.

Ok…well he has still renounced his faith essentially, and doesn’t desire to remain in the Catholic Church…So my question for him is still…Why did he feel the need to attmept to take communion at a Catholic Church, when he knew he was not allowed to? I’m just trying to accertain his motivations.

 

[ANNE_2]

" Catholics can participate in Holy Communion if they are properly disposed, which means they:

• are unaware of any mortal sins that aren’t yet confessed and absolved;
• Don’t publically dissent from Church teaching, such as the Church’s views on abortion;
• Fasted (not eating or drinking anything but water) for one full hour before recieving Holy Communion; the fast is one hour before Communion, not before the beginning of Mass."

“You must be in full communion to receive Communion. Being in communion means being united with all that the Church teaches, prays and does.
Non-Catholics for example, obviously are not in full or complete union; otherwise they’d be Catholic.”

“Catholicism for Dummies” by Frs. Trigilio and Brighenti

 

[The_Old_Medic]

The REAL: question is WHY do you even play the game of attending Mass and trying to receive Communion if you reject the teachings of the Catholic Church?

There is some hidden agenda going on here. If you do not accept the teachings of the church, then you have no business trying to participate in its liturgy. To do so would be hypocritical, at best.

I was raised a Methodist (my grandfather was a Minister for 55 years), and they do NOT have “Open Communion”. If you believe that they do, I would strongly recommend that you study your “chosen faith” a bit more.

It sounds very much like you are trying to be a “Cafeteria Christina”, taking a little bit from her, and a little bit from there, and melding it all together into your own version of what Christianity is (or what you think it should be).

I am a Eucharistic Minister, and I would refuse to give you the Eucharist if I knew that you had rejected the Catholic Church and its teachings. That would be right and proper to do. However, since I do not know you, if you came before me I would give you Communion.

It would be YOU that would be committing a Mortal Sin, not me. You know that according to the teachings of the Catholic Church you are not to receive the Eucharist. So, either you regard it as something that is effectively meaningless, or you are deliberately attempting to provoke a confrontation.

I suspect the latter.

 

[AndrewJMason]

You’re committing heresy by attending the other church. I’m not here to bash you, or the Methodist or any protestant church at all, but their teachings are false. Their communion is nothing but a way to bring fellowship with their brother’s in the church. The Eucharist is the precious and sacred blood and flesh of the savior. There’s reasons why only members of Christ’s true church can take it, and why heretics can’t.

 

[sunshine1974]

Your statement to me - I don’t believe you spoke with a Eucharistic Minister(s) as they are priests and/or bishops. It must have been Extraordinary ministers of Holy Community, which are lay people

Well for your info I did talk to both and these are the responses I received. I don’t say anything unless it is true and that just goes to show that what you think isn’t always right. Obviously there is a gap with what is being taught because being an Extraordinary minister in the CC for many years I was never taught or told to refuse anyone of communion. Only if you thought they were going to do something with the host would you say something and I am not one judge who can and can not receive communion. That is between God and that person.

 

[AndrewJMason]

Well, Sunshine. Here’s the thing: ‘Whosoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord unworthily is guilty of the Body and Blood of the Lord’ (1 Corinthians 11:27).

"Because Catholics believe that the celebration of the Eucharist is a sign of the reality of the oneness of faith, life, and worship, members of those churches with whom we are not yet fully united are ordinarily not admitted to Communion. Eucharistic sharing in exceptional circumstances by other Christians requires permission according to the directives of the diocesan bishop and the provisions of canon law.
Very simply, to participate in the communion service of any denomination implies a unity of thought and belief (especially over what is believed concerning the Eucharist) which simply does not exist. The Catholic who participated in communion in a Protestant service is tacitly saying that particular Protestant denomination is correct in its teaching. As all Protestants differ from the Catholic Church in one or more essential doctrines, this is effectively saying that the Catholic Church is wrong.

So those who OPENLY disregard a teaching of the catholic church, especially one as great as communion. Doesn’t at the time deserve it. You must repent your ways, or go the other way. You can’t remain on the fence. It just won’t ever work out.

 

[EasterJoy]

Your statement to me - I don’t believe you spoke with a Eucharistic Minister(s) as they are priests and/or bishops. It must have been Extraordinary ministers of Holy Community, which are lay people

Well for your info I did talk to both and these are the responses I received. I don’t say anything unless it is true and that just goes to show that what you think isn’t always right. Obviously there is a gap with what is being taught because being an Extraordinary minister in the CC for many years I was never taught or told to refuse anyone of communion. Only if you thought they were going to do something with the host would you say something and I am not one judge who can and can not receive communion. That is between God and that person.

I think you are confusing the moral question with the pastoral question.

The moral question is this: Should a baptized Catholic who attends and actively participates in the communion services of a different denomination, that is one who is notoriously guilty of making invalid communion services that lack any Real Presence or valid orders into the equal of the Holy Mass, feel free to receive Holy Communion at a Catholic Church? Why is it not obvious that the answer is no, absolutely not? Should the fact that other people apparently fail in meeting their Sunday obligation, yet apparently feel no need to exclude themselves from Holy Communion until they have confessed this grave failure make a difference when deciding the morality of the first question? Well, of course not. Heaven forbid that the mere prevalence of serious sin make us come to believe that a sin is not a sin!

**Can. 916 **A person who is conscious of grave sin is not to celebrate Mass or receive the body of the Lord without previous sacramental confession unless there is a grave reason and there is no opportunity to confess; in this case the person is to remember the obligation to make an act of perfect contrition which includes the resolution of confessing as soon as possible.

The Church does have the authority to excommunicate:
“If your brother sins (against you), go and tell him his fault between you and him alone. If he listens to you, you have won over your brother. If he does not listen, take one or two others along with you, so that ‘every fact may be established on the testimony of two or three witnesses.’ If he refuses to listen to them, tell the church. If he refuses to listen even to the church, then treat him as you would a Gentile or a tax collector. Amen, I say to you, whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.” Matt. 18:15-18

The Lord is talking about excluding a person who stubbornly refuses correction by the Church, he is plainly saying that the Church has the office and authority to correct and to exclude, and it is as plain as the nose on your face!

The pastoral question is how to handle persons known to have taken on a heretical lifestyle, who ought to be excluding themselves from Holy Communion, but aren’t. By a pastoral question, I mean something along the lines of a parenting question. It falls on the local bishop to make that call. Some require all ministers of Holy Communion to deny communion to those who are notoriously and publicly in opposition to the faith, as you yourself are, in order to prevent sacrilege. Others leave this burden to the person who is in serious and notorious sin, for various reasons.

That’s their call, not yours. You should be excluding yourself. You have no room to complain when anyone with a share in the pastoral office is forced to do what you have refused to do yourself.

 

[EasterJoy]

Only if you thought they were going to do something with the host would you say something and I am not one judge who can and can not receive communion. That is between God and that person.

It is “doing something to the host” to admit someone who is not in communion with the Church to Holy Communion. The idea that Eucharist is not only for baptised persons in a state of grace is a Methodist idea, not a Catholic one.

 

[Corki]

That is between God and that person.

It’s between God and the individual if he/she should present him/herself for Communion. It is between the priest and the individual if he/she will be allowed to receive. Part of the responsibility of the priest is to ensure that the Eucharist is protected.

If a priest declined to give you Communion at Mass and you truly believed you were actually in a state of Grace (ie had repented of leaving the Church and been to Confession), you could approach the priest after Mass to explain your changed circumstance. He would likely then give you Communion.

 

[PJM]

=sunshine1974;7861390]I was raised Catholic but do not agree with all their teachings or beliefs. I was recently denied communion because I attend another church which is not Catholic. I was very humiliated and hurt because God would never deny anyone to come to his table. I attend a Methodist church and we have open communion which is what God would want. I am a communion minister at my church and very involved. I know Catholics who do not attend church on a regular basis and are allowed communion. I have talked with several Eucharistic Ministers in the Catholic church and they would never deny anyone communion and then I talked to several who said they would give communion to the person and later tell then they could not receive it again. How can there be so many differences in the way communion is administered among the Catholic faith.

Welcome to the FORUM!

Christ most certainly would deny you and anyone else who DOES NOT BELIEVE what he as God teaches; the opportunity to receive Him in Person.

In John Chapter six: “The Bread of Life” Diccourse; God Himself is tying to introduce a NEW TRUTH; Many failed to understand what He was saying and LEFT HIM. JESUS NEVER CALLED THEM BACK.

1Cor.11: 23 to 29 "For I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it, and said, “This is my body which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” In the same way also the cup, after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.” For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes. ***Whoever, therefore, eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of profaning the body and blood of the Lord. Let a man examine himself, and so eat of the bread and drink of the cup. For any one who eats and drinks without discerning the body eats and drinks judgment upon himself. ***

What Paul is saying is that receiving Catholic Communion either in Mortal sin or unbelief of God’s REAL Presence is Profaning God;and denying God; the One unforgiveable sin!

Serious stuff!

The very KEYS to heaven [Mt. 16:19] have been given persoanlly by Jesus to Peter and His One Faith; One Church/ Catholic Church. Leaving the church is easy; discovering thee truth is not. [BUT IT IS POSSIBLE]. One CAN get you to heaven and other can and WILL likely get you some other place. Be careful friend, you owe it to yourself to get the facts.

**John 17:20-23 "**I do not pray for these only, but also for those who believe in me through their word, that they may all be one; even as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that thou hast sent me And I have given them the glory you gave me, so that they may be one, as we are one, I in them and you in me, that they may be brought to perfection as one, that the world may know that you sent me, and that you loved them even as you loved me. “

Heb.6 Verses 4 to 10: For it is impossible to restore again to repentance those who have once been enlightened, [Baptized] who have tasted the heavenly gift, [CATHOLIC HOLY COMMUNION] and have become partakers of the Holy Spirit, [CONFIRMED AS A CATHOLIC -your decision!] and have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the age to come, [HAD THE BIBLE PROPERLY, FULLY AND TRUTHFULLY EXPLAINED AT MASS] if they then commit apostasy, since they crucify the Son of God on their own account and hold him up to contempt. For land which has drunk the rain that often falls upon it, and brings forth vegetation useful to those for whose
sake it is cultivated, receives a blessing from God. But if it bears thorns and thistles, it is worthless and near to being cursed; its end is to be burned.

Send me a PM if you’d like more information,

God Bless you;

When you ask for help be open to accepting it:thumbsup:

Pat

 

[LDNCatholic]

So here’s the story.

You chose to break your communion with the Catholic Church.

Despite not believing in the Catholic Church you want and feel entitled to receive the Eucharist, a sign of being in communion with the Catholic Church (a communion you have chosen to damage through your own actions).

I think I’ll parrot another poster who told you to stop being a spoiled brat.

If you leave a job would you then insist on a wage from said job, telling everyone that it’s what the CEO really wants and the company policy is just nonsense?

 

[scrappydeb]

I know a few different couples who are a Catholic and non-Catholic. I have heard from more than one of them that the Catholic member (seems to always be the husband) has told the non-Catholic that they should go up for communion if they want to. They just don’t see “why it’s fair” that these decent and good (and they ARE!) Protestants can’t take part in the Holy Eucharist.

Now, aside from all of the theological reasons for the limitations on receiving the Eucharist to practicing Catholics (which have been well-covered in this thread by persons for more eloquent than I!), I would add: even if you disagree with the Catholic theology on the matter, can you not see the inappropriateness of presenting yourself for communion, if only out of respect for the Church in which you are a mere visitor?

I see it as analogous to the following scenario. You invite me into your home. You tell me, though, that you are very particular about your carpet, and so ask everyone to take off their shoes and leave them at the door. “Please, NO SHOES on my carpet!” I accept your invitation to visit, but because I think you’re just waaaaaaayyyyy too OCD and uptight about your silly carpets (what’s the big deal, anyway??), I come into your home but I don’t take my shoes off, and I just walk all over that carpet without regard to your clearly-stated condition of my visit.

Would you not see me as unspeakably rude, to visit in your house but flagrantly refuse to follow your rules??

 

[Alix1912]

I know a few different couples who are a Catholic and non-Catholic. I have heard from more than one of them that the Catholic member (seems to always be the husband) has told the non-Catholic that they should go up for communion if they want to. They just don’t see “why it’s fair” that these decent and good (and they ARE!) Protestants can’t take part in the Holy Eucharist.

Now, aside from all of the theological reasons for the limitations on receiving the Eucharist to practicing Catholics (which have been well-covered in this thread by persons for more eloquent than I!), I would add: even if you disagree with the Catholic theology on the matter, can you not see the inappropriateness of presenting yourself for communion, if only out of respect for the Church in which you are a mere visitor?

I see it as analogous to the following scenario. You invite me into your home. You tell me, though, that you are very particular about your carpet, and so ask everyone to take off their shoes and leave them at the door. “Please, NO SHOES on my carpet!” I accept your invitation to visit, but because I think you’re just waaaaaaayyyyy too OCD and uptight about your silly carpets (what’s the big deal, anyway??), I come into your home but I don’t take my shoes off, and I just walk all over that carpet without regard to your clearly-stated condition of my visit.

Would you not see me as unspeakably rude, to visit in your house but flagrantly refuse to follow your rules??

As the Protestant in a Catholic/Protestant Marriage I would never DREAM of going up and asking to recieve communion in a Catholic Church. Regardless of my church’s belief’s the Catholic Church doesn’t wish it so OUT of respect for their beliefs. The same goes for my husband, I am LCMS and we also practice closed communion, and regardless of the Catholic Church’s belief’s he would not take communion at my Church either out of RESPECT.

What you did was at the least extremely presumptious and rude. Just because you believe the Catholic Church is wrong is no reason to blatantly disregard their rules.

WHY did you do this when you understood that is was not OK? I love that you only picked one post to respond to and have not answered the questions as to why when you have chosen to leave the Catholic Church, it is so important to return to a Catholic Church and attempt to flaunt their rules in their faces? What did you feel you have to gain from this? What was the motivation? Please explain this to everyone as we are all baffled by this.

Also LOVE the carpet analogy. It’s dead on. I’m like that with my carpet and I hate people wearing shoes in my house. One family member insists on doing it and it DRIVES me crazy. Less because of the shoes, and more because they know it bothers me and continue to do it anyway.

 

[KimberlyAnn0218]

I attend a Methodist church and we have open communion which is what God would want. I am a communion minister at my church and very involved. .

Former Methodist here… I am suprised you do not “see” or “feel” a difference in communion. As a Methodist we never believed in transubstantiation ( I am not sure that is spelled right). As a matter of fact, communion was passed around in A BOWL. Then there is the difference in confessing and forgiveness of sins. Methodists believe in confessing to God directly. Catholics point to scripture and the ability to forgive sins as handed down by Jesus to the apostles and therefore practice the sacrament of reconciliation. You must be without grave sin to take communion.

Having been a confirmed United Methodist and then a confirmed Catholic I firmly belive the Catholilc faith has it right. I experience communion in a much different way than before. Going to “confession” although still nerve wracking for me is incredible

I wonder if perhaps you "believe"more than you are admitting because this bothered you enough to post in a public forum like this. I am no great Catholic, but I am working at it. I suggest you open your heart and pray about it. Maybe go to confession again??? What could it hurt? No doubt, you are a good Christian. I am learning that God works at me all the time, maybe he is doing the same with you? Just some thoughts…Good luck. Most of my family are good Methodists so I hold them with high regard

 

[PJM]

=Like;7861810]I don’t believe you spoke with a Eucharistic Minister(s) as they are priests and/or bishops. It must have been Extraordinary ministers of Holy Community, which are lay people.

Also, Methodists do not believe in the True Presence of Jesus Christ in the holy communion where True Catholics do & believe in all the Catholic Church teaches.

Dear friend in Christ;

The REASON [and only reason] EM’s would not refuse to communion to anyone in line is:

THEY ARE TOLD TO DO SO

It is a matter of nonjudgmental charity; NOT THEOLOGY or Belief.

The Sin then is the person requesting the action not in this case the one concenting to it out of obedience.

And Yes it nearly every case it is a MORTAL SIN.

God Bless,
Pat