Communion clarification please

  • Thread starter Thread starter JoyToTheWhirled
  • Start date Start date
Status
Not open for further replies.
J

JoyToTheWhirled

Guest
I’m a little confused. One of our priests in RCIA last week said that if we find ourselves in a place where only Anglican communion is offered, we can receive it because Anglicans have valid communion because they were begun by bishops. This seems all kind of dodgy to me, and this priest has been wrong in the past. But I don’t want to disrespect him, obviously. What is the actual correct Catholic belief on this point? I had thought before last week that we are only permitted to receive Catholic communion.
 
JoyToTheWhirled said:
I’m a little confused. One of our priests in RCIA last week said that if we find ourselves in a place where only Anglican communion is offered, we can receive it because Anglicans have valid communion because they were begun by bishops. This seems all kind of dodgy to me, and this priest has been wrong in the past. But I don’t want to disrespect him, obviously. What is the actual correct Catholic belief on this point? I had thought before last week that we are only permitted to receive Catholic communion.
Click to expand...
Perhaps he meant the Personal Ordinariate of the Chair of St. Peter, otherwise known as the Anglican Ordinariate.

If he meant the Church of England or any other Anglican communion, then he is mistaken. They do not have valid orders and therefore cannot confect the Eucharist.
 
JoyToTheWhirled said:
I’m a little confused. One of our priests in RCIA last week said that if we find ourselves in a place where only Anglican communion is offered, we can receive it because Anglicans have valid communion because they were begun by bishops. This seems all kind of dodgy to me, and this priest has been wrong in the past. But I don’t want to disrespect him, obviously. What is the actual correct Catholic belief on this point? I had thought before last week that we are only permitted to receive Catholic communion.
Click to expand...
If he said it, he is absolutely wrong on both points.
  1. Anglicans are not validly ordained
  2. Catholics can never legitimately participate
 
Dcn_Terry said:
Perhaps he meant the Personal Ordinariate of the Chair of St. Peter, otherwise known as the Anglican Ordinariate.

If he meant the Church of England or any other Anglican communion, then he is mistaken. They do not have valid orders and therefore cannot confect the Eucharist.
Click to expand...
It would seem not, because a Catholic (of any rite) can attend and participate and receive Communion at an Anglican Ordinariate Mass with no restrictions whatsoever.
 
Thank you very much. I had thought I was going a bit mad with conflicting views. He also said doctrine was something agreed on by all the laity or it wouldn’t be taught by the magisterium, and that it had all been voted on by every member of the laity and clergy combined, and that if we didn’t all accept something, it wasn’t to be believed, which also seemed slightly odd to me. This RCIA business is a confusing thing!
 
JoyToTheWhirled said:
Thank you very much. I had thought I was going a bit mad with conflicting views. He also said doctrine was something agreed on by all the laity or it wouldn’t be taught by the magisterium, and that it had all been voted on by every member of the laity and clergy combined, and that if we didn’t all accept something, it wasn’t to be believed, which also seemed slightly odd to me. This RCIA business is a confusing thing!
Click to expand...
LOL!

The old “sensus fidelium” red herring, eh? This article might help you understand the truth of what the “sense of the faithful” really means – and what it doesn’t imply…!

Let me guess – he’s in his 60’s or 70’s, and was ordained somewhere around the 1970’s?

… regrettably, lots of bad theology abounded at that time, and many were duped by it. 😦

I’m sorry you have to put up with such “teachers”.
 
In Apostolicae Curae, issued September 15, 1896, Pope Leo XIII declared regarding Anglican orders:

“Wherefore, strictly adhering, in this matter, to the decrees of the pontiffs, our predecessors, and confirming them most fully, and, as it were, renewing them by our authority, of our own initiative and certain knowledge, we pronounce and declare that ordinations carried out according to the Anglican rite have been, and are, absolutely null and utterly void.”

Anglicans do not have a valid priesthood, and therefore Anglican “priests” are incapable of making present the Most Blessed Sacrament. They do not have a valid communion.
 
Last edited:
R_H_Benson said:
In Apostolicae Curae, issued September 15, 1896, Pope Leo XIII declared regarding Anglican orders:

“Wherefore, strictly adhering, in this matter, to the decrees of the pontiffs, our predecessors, and confirming them most fully, and, as it were, renewing them by our authority, of our own initiative and certain knowledge, we pronounce and declare that ordinations carried out according to the Anglican rite have been, and are, absolutely null and utterly void.”

Anglicans do not have a valid priesthood, and therefore Anglican “priests” are incapable of making present the Most Blessed Sacrament. They do not have a valid communion.
Click to expand...
Yes. And contrary to what one might read on the internet, the Catholic Church has repeatedly re-affirmed and re-enforced this teaching. It has never been withdrawn. It was indeed re-enforced quite clearly by HH Benedict XVI who required that Anglican clergy be ordained (yes ordained, not re-ordained and not conditionally ordained) when they become Catholic clergy.
 
JoyToTheWhirled said:
Thank you very much. I had thought I was going a bit mad with conflicting views. He also said doctrine was something agreed on by all the laity or it wouldn’t be taught by the magisterium, and that it had all been voted on by every member of the laity and clergy combined, and that if we didn’t all accept something, it wasn’t to be believed, which also seemed slightly odd to me. This RCIA business is a confusing thing!
Click to expand...
Are you sure you are attending a “Catholic Church” which is in communion with your local Catholic Bishop? Are you sure you are not attending RCIA at a schismatic Old Catholic Church or “American Catholic Church”?

The Old Catholic Church apparently has some communion with the Anglican Church, so I’m wondering if you are perhaps attending a Catholic Church which is not in communion with the Pope.

One way to know for sure is to visit the website of the Diocese you live in and see if our parish is located on their list of parishes. If you have having trouble finding the diocese’s website, let us know which diocese you live it and we can give you the website (no need to provide the parish name).

God Bless
 
Last edited:
phil19034 said:
FYI - this refers to who can receive communion inside a Catholic Church, not where Catholics can receive communion.
Click to expand...
Right.

That’s in canon 844

844 §2. Whenever necessity requires it or true spiritual advantage suggests it, and provided that danger of error or of indifferentism is avoided, the Christian faithful for whom it is physically or morally impossible to approach a Catholic minister are permitted to receive the sacraments of penance, Eucharist, and anointing of the sick from non-Catholic ministers in whose Churches these sacraments are valid.
 
Thanks again all. It’s definitely a legitimate Catholic parish. The other priest is amazing, knowledgeable and a great teacher,and I’ve never heard anything from him that would give me pause. This particular priest is leaving in December, and has a few quirks, I guess. I do sometimes wonder if it’s a language barrier thing, English is his third language. I reckon every parish is a mix of helpful and unhelpful elements. I just keeping checking out what doesn’t sound quite right, asking questions, and focusing on my own holiness.
 
JoyToTheWhirled said:
Thanks again all. It’s definitely a legitimate Catholic parish. The other priest is amazing, knowledgeable and a great teacher,and I’ve never heard anything from him that would give me pause. This particular priest is leaving in December, and has a few quirks, I guess. I do sometimes wonder if it’s a language barrier thing, English is his third language. I reckon every parish is a mix of helpful and unhelpful elements. I just keeping checking out what doesn’t sound quite right, asking questions, and focusing on my own holiness.
Click to expand...
He might not be aware that their attempts at ordination are null.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top