Closed Communion

[KyrieJoy]

Hi. Before i start, let me be clear…I am TOTALLY 100% in favor of closed communion in the Catholic Church. So please don’t spend a lot of energy trying to convince me or whatever. I’m okay.

I do, however, have a friend at Yale Div. School who says that she thinks the Catholic communion is commonly what they call an “open table” at one of the chapels around her. I don’t know which one, so don’t ask me!

But I talked to her about closed communion and I remember the Holy Father Benedict XVI has said something recently (the last couple months) about communion is not a “right” just because the person showed up to mass, that it must be recieved worthily. But I cannot remember where / when the Holy Father said this and my friend would like to see the document.

Do any of you know what reference I’m talking about?

Any other references concerning the practice of closed communion would be helpful too though I’m not sure how much I’ll give her.

Thanks so much!

 

[Pious_Mat]

I usually don’t like to offer theological advice, since I am no theologian, but here goes:

Closed communion is an Ancient practice of the Church that the Church Fathers certainly believed in. Witness to this is a rather unambiguous passage in St. Paul’s First Letter to the Corinthians.

“For anyone who eats and drinks without recognizing the body of the Lord eats and drinks judgment on himself. That is why many among you are weak and sick and a number of you have fallen asleep” (I Corinthians 11:29-30)

Compare this to a pharmacist who keeps important medicine under lock and key, and demand a prescription before they give any of it to customers, because if taken wrongly, they can do you great harm. The same goes with Holy Communion–Catholics believe in the Real Presence of Jesus in the Eucharist, making it powerful medicine. Now, we don’t just give out this most precious spirtual medicine to anyone–it wouldn’t be right. It would also lessen the importance of the doctrine of the Real Presence.

Again, St. Paul does a better job than I do:

I Corinithians 11:28 A man ought to examine himself before he eats of the bread and drinks of the cup

Or how about:

II John 9-11, “Anyone who goes too far and doesn’t stay with what Christ has taught doesn’t have God. If you stay with what He taught, you have the Father and the Son. If anyone comes to you and doesn’t teach this , don’t take him into your home or greet him. If you greet him, you share the wicked things he does.”

Or,

Romans 16:17, “I urge you fellow Christians to watch those who cause disagreements and make people fall by going against the teaching you learned. Turn away from them.”

All these are tell-tale signs that people can’t just walk in an recieve communion.

And how about the didache:

“And in the Lord’s own day gather yourselves together and break bread…and let no man, having a dispute with his fellow, join your assembly until they have been reconciled, that your sacrifice may not be defiled”

Consider that since non-Catholics have not fully accepted the teachings of Jesus, it is non-Biblical to allow to recieve communion, as Our Lord himself says:

“If you are offering your gift at the altar, and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar and go; first be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift” Matthew 5:23-24.

Until they have been “reconciled to their brothers” they cannot recieve communion.

Not to mention the terrible thing we’d be doing to those who receive and don’t believe, for as we read earlier:

“For anyone who eats and drinks without recognizing the body of the Lord eats and drinks judgment on himself.” I Corithians 29.

Furthermore, we have an example of this exclusion in I Corinthians 5, where St. Paul says that a man living in an incestuous relationship ought to be expelled from their midst, which obviously means he wouldn’t be taking part in the Lord’s Supper.

In conclusion, Closed communion is required, merciful, and reaffirms our Catholic belief in the Real Presence.

ADDENDUM – you could probably find a better explanation on the subject in the Catholic answers library.

 

[SuscipeMeDomine]

This may be of interest. It’s from Pope Benedict’s post-synodal apostolic exhortation, Sacramentum Caritatis.

Participation by Christians who are not Catholic

1. The subject of participation in the Eucharist inevitably raises the question of Christians belonging to Churches or Ecclesial Communities not in full communion with the Catholic Church. In this regard, it must be said that the intrinsic link between the Eucharist and the Church’s unity inspires us to long for the day when we will be able to celebrate the Holy Eucharist together with all believers in Christ, and in this way to express visibly the fullness of unity that Christ willed for his disciples (cf. Jn 17:21). On the other hand, the respect we owe to the sacrament of Christ’s Body and Blood prevents us from making it a mere “means” to be used indiscriminately in order to attain that unity. (172) The Eucharist in fact not only manifests our personal communion with Jesus Christ, but also implies full communio with the Church. This is the reason why, sadly albeit not without hope, we ask Christians who are not Catholic to understand and respect our conviction, which is grounded in the Bible and Tradition. We hold that eucharistic communion and ecclesial communion are so linked as to make it generally impossible for non-Catholic Christians to receive the former without enjoying the latter. There would be even less sense in actually concelebrating with ministers of Churches or ecclesial communities not in full communion with the Catholic Church. Yet it remains true that, for the sake of their eternal salvation, individual non-Catholic Christians can be admitted to the Eucharist, the sacrament of Reconciliation and the Anointing of the Sick. But this is possible only in specific, exceptional situations and requires that certain precisely defined conditions be met (173). These are clearly indicated in the Catechism of the Catholic Church (174) and in its Compendium (175). Everyone is obliged to observe these norms faithfully.

 

[LilyM]

Hi. Before i start, let me be clear…I am TOTALLY 100% in favor of closed communion in the Catholic Church. So please don’t spend a lot of energy trying to convince me or whatever. I’m okay.

I do, however, have a friend at Yale Div. School who says that she thinks the Catholic communion is commonly what they call an “open table” at one of the chapels around her. I don’t know which one, so don’t ask me!

But I talked to her about closed communion and I remember the Holy Father Benedict XVI has said something recently (the last couple months) about communion is not a “right” just because the person showed up to mass, that it must be recieved worthily. But I cannot remember where / when the Holy Father said this and my friend would like to see the document.

Do any of you know what reference I’m talking about?

Any other references concerning the practice of closed communion would be helpful too though I’m not sure how much I’ll give her.

Thanks so much!

Could this quote possibly have been in his Encyclical ‘Sacramentum Caritatis’, since that is directly about the Blessed Sacrament? Seems most likely to me.