First Holy Communion in error

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barnslydoc

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Hi,

Apologies if this is in the wrong forum.

I was attending my 7 yr old daughter’s “welcome” mass at her school earlier this week. I noticed that after Communion she was in tears with no apparent reason. Unfortunately, it appears that instead of receiving a blessing, she was offered the Eucharist by the priest (new to the school) and she “took” it.

I haven’t had chance to talk to our parish priest with regards this event, but I wondered if anybody had come across this before and what, if any, the consequences may be?

Any thoughts/advice much appreciated,

barnsleydoc
 
barnslydoc said:
Hi,

Apologies if this is in the wrong forum.

I was attending my 7 yr old daughter’s “welcome” mass at her school earlier this week. I noticed that after Communion she was in tears with no apparent reason. Unfortunately, it appears that instead of receiving a blessing, she was offered the Eucharist by the priest (new to the school) and she “took” it.

I haven’t had chance to talk to our parish priest with regards this event, but I wondered if anybody had come across this before and what, if any, the consequences may be?

Any thoughts/advice much appreciated,

barnsleydoc
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So she has inadvertantly received her First Communion. Now she keeps going to Catechism and continues on as before. You can mention it to the Parish Priest but there shouldn’t be any consequences. If she was that upset she must realize who she received. That’s good.
 
Waiting until a certain age for First Holy Communion is a matter of cultural custom and perhaps Western canon law, not divine precept. Eastern Catholic children receive Holy Communion from infancy.

Your daughter is very near the usual age of First Holy Communion, is she not? While she may be disappointed that her (formal) First Holy Communion will not be her literal First Holy Communion, she has certainly done nothing wrong. She received in innocence what the priest gave her. Though she is technically of the age of reason, it seems exceedingly unlikely that she would have been in mortal sin at the time, which is the only thing that would make receiving Jesus anything other than a great blessing.

Usagi
 
Something similar happened with one of my children. When he was little he had asked when he would be able to receive Communion and we told him that he had to wait until he was seven. We realized a few weeks after his seventh birthday, that he had started receiving the Sunday after his birthday and we hadn’t noticed.

Anyhow, we talked to the priest and it was not any sort of problem. We just had to start instructing my son immediately. Anyhow, he is 12 now, very serious about his faith and an altar server, so it does not seem to have harmed him.
 
Your daughter may need to be reassured that she did nothing wrong by acting spontaneously when the priest offered her the Eucharist. She may be dwelling on it and feeling upset about it. God bless all of you.
 
A perfect opportunity to teach your child that if we are not going up for Communion, we stay in our pew.
 
1ke said:
A perfect opportunity to teach your child that if we are not going up for Communion, we stay in our pew.
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But this is not the way it is in all places. At my son’s school, prior to making their First Communion, they were made to get up and receive a blessing at Mass. No if, ands or buts about it. It is what they do.
 
She’s young. She did as the visiting priest directed. She did nothing wrong. As long as you explain to her to wait until her official first Communion and tell the priest as well as her teacher (if this was a Catholic school Mass) then all is well. An innocent mistake. God is not looking to rain hell fire on you or your daughter.
 
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