Eastern toddlers receiving communion in Latin Church

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Let’s say that your Eastern Catholic daughter was baptized, chrismated (i.e., confirmed), and received Holy Communion as an infant. You and your Eastern Catholic spouse are traveling to a different town for a vacation. You arrive at Mass half an hour early, and inform the priest that your 3-year-old daughter receives the Eucharist every Sunday during the Divine Liturgy. “Father,” you ask, “would you please also permit her to receive the Host when we approach as a family?”

What would Father’s reply be, and why? Does it merely depend on the priest, or is it a canon law issue? I would also appreciate it if sources could be cited where possible.

Thanks.
 
TheAdvocate said:
Let’s say that your Eastern Catholic daughter was baptized, chrismated (i.e., confirmed), and received Holy Communion as an infant. You and your Eastern Catholic spouse are traveling to a different town for a vacation. You arrive at Mass half an hour early, and inform the priest that your 3-year-old daughter receives the Eucharist every Sunday during the Divine Liturgy. “Father,” you ask, “would you please also permit her to receive the Host when we approach as a family?”

What would Father’s reply be, and why? Does it merely depend on the priest, or is it a canon law issue? I would also appreciate it if sources could be cited where possible.

Thanks.
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If it were me, I would call or email the parish before the vacation.

"We are practicing Ukrainian Catholics in full communion with Rome and our young children who are 2 and 5 are regular communicants. They’ve already received their Confirmation and First Communion. There isn’t an Eastern Catholic church in your area, so we’re planning to worship at the 9AM Mass at St. Philip with you on March 18 when we’re visiting for a family reunion. My aunt says you have a beautiful church and an amazing pastor, so we’re looking forward to the visit!

We know it isn’t a problem, but it is out of the everyday norm enough that we thought Father would like a heads up at some time other than the hectic rush between Masses that our toddler will be presenting himself for communion and is properly prepared and disposed.

If Father has any questions or would like to give us instructions on where to sit in order to get into a specific communion line, we can be reached at or [phone]. We’ll come introduce ourselves briefly before Mass to let him put a face to the name. We are looking forward to our visit with you!"

Then I’d instruct the children how to receive the host either in the hand or on the tongue, would expect them to skip the chalice, and would lead by example in following the postural norms through the Mass to not draw attention to ourselves. I can’t imagine a Roman Catholic priest denying them the Eucharist when you’ve gone to so much trouble to make it easy and discreet for him to do what’s right.
 
TheAdvocate said:
Let’s say that your Eastern Catholic daughter was baptized, chrismated (i.e., confirmed), and received Holy Communion as an infant. You and your Eastern Catholic spouse are traveling to a different town for a vacation. You arrive at Mass half an hour early, and inform the priest that your 3-year-old daughter receives the Eucharist every Sunday during the Divine Liturgy. “Father,” you ask, “would you please also permit her to receive the Host when we approach as a family?”

What would Father’s reply be, and why? Does it merely depend on the priest, or is it a canon law issue? I would also appreciate it if sources could be cited where possible.

Thanks.
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Canonically they are allowed. My children receive every Sunday in a Latin Church and their ages are 2 and 4. That being said, some Latin priests are uncomfortable with it, and may try to say no. I’ve had this happen, but again, canonically the children do have the right to receive, because they are subject to the Eastern Canon law, and not the Latin Canon law.

Usually if the priest is concerned, I’ve put the concerns to rest, by letting them know that we’ll stick around for the social, and if anyone has questions, we’d be happy to explain, or I let them know that some priests, have used it as a chance to familiarize their parishioners with this practice, and they often make an announcement about it, before mass, or before communion, they way they sometimes do at a wedding when they let non-catholics know that they should receive communion.
 
It was a very thoughtful and well-worded question. 👍

We’ve come a long way since I was once told in my youth that I could not receive Communion (even past the age of reason) at a Roman Catholic Church because I was not Roman Catholic!

I have to admit. I never had to deal with this with my three kids, but I have seen it done on one occasion, where the priest (from Poland and quite familiar with Eastern Catholicism) used the occasion as an opportunity for catechesis and actually mentioned it in his sermon. This avoided the potential shock factor later during the distribution of the Holy Eucharist.

Thanks again for the post!
 
countertenor said:
Canonically they are allowed. My children receive every Sunday in a Latin Church and their ages are 2 and 4. That being said, some Latin priests are uncomfortable with it, and may try to say no. I’ve had this happen, but again, canonically the children do have the right to receive, because they are subject to the Eastern Canon law, and not the Latin Canon law.
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Yes. This was my experience when I was Byzantine Catholic. One Latin priest was dumbfounded, checked with a canon lawyer, and then allowed my infant to receive.

A different Latin priest told us absolutely no way because it would scandalize the members of his parish. 🤷
 
Mickey said:
A different Latin priest told us absolutely no way because it would scandalize the members of his parish. 🤷
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And yet, presumably, those parishioners are *not *scandalized by kids receiving communion before confirmation. Sigh.
 
In the Latin parish school that I attended, we had a Rutherian parish that also set children to the parish. Each grade level had several Eastern Catholics.

They all were able to receive, even the ones in the early grades.

What I would suggest is that you inform the parish priest, either by email or by phone prior to Mass, and perhaps have a letter from your pastor stating that the child(ren) are permitted to receive Holy Communion.

Outside of areas that have a large Eastern Catholic presence, most Latin priests would be unfamiliar with the protocol.

Or, even better, get a letter from the Chancellory Office of the local Roman Diocese, or at least a contact name. Very few pastors would argue with “I spoke with Msgr so-and-so down at the Cathedral, and he confirmed that our child is to be admitted to Holy Communion.”
 
Do the tiny ones handle the dry host fairly well?

just wondering …
 
Mickey said:
A different Latin priest told us absolutely no way because it would scandalize the members of his parish. 🤷
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The real scandal is that he considers his own parish so ignorant of the church and hasn’t done anything about it.
 
Hesychios said:
The real scandal is that he considers his own parish so ignorant of the church and hasn’t done anything about it.
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You know, I would agree.
It would seem to be a great time to teach the parish about the practices of (or even the existence of) the Eastern Catholic Churches 🙂
 
Hesychios said:
The real scandal is that he considers his own parish so ignorant of the church and hasn’t done anything about it.
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Your statement reminds me of C.S. Lewis – I mean when he wrote about a vicar “watering down the faith to make it easier for supposedly incredulous and hard-headed congregation”. (I’ve been on a bit of a Lewis kick since the Inklings forum started up again.)
 
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