Has anyone you know ever questioned why someone hasn't received Holy Communion?

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ByzCath said:
I do not know how privacy concerns play into this.

No one has a right to the sacraments if they do not meet the requirements for them.

If they care so much about their privacy then maybe they should not be attending a public church service.
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Do they have any other choice but to attend a public service?
 
ProVobis said:
I think part of the problem, too, is poor pew architecture. One should be able to get around someone who is sitting in a pew easily. Forcing everyone to get out if someone has to leave in an emergency, for example, will cause some problems down the line.
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I agree with the “poor pew architecture” problem, especially in old churches: I’m very long-legged, and even if I’m wearing flats, my feet hit the kneeler in the pew behind me if it’s in the “down” position. I know, nothing to do with going to receive communion, but just a minor annoyance.

The Sister who made kids explain why they didn’t go to communion was really way out of line, even in those days. A lot of times we hear “bad catechesis” as the cause of a lot of my generations’ latter day issues, and it gets chalked up to “not strict enough.” Phooey! Being publicly humiliated like that guarantees that a child will hear whatever is being taught with a very distorted point of view!

Actually, I do remember as a kid playing “guess the sin” with my little peers when we went to confession as a class each week in Catholic grade school. Sister caught on and made us knock it off, God bless her. And to ensure that the lesson was not lost, for some of our homework that night we had to write: “I must take the beam out of my own eye before I try to remove the speck in my neighbor’s eye” one hundred times. I didn’t do the assignment, claimed the dog ate my homework, and the assignment was doubled the next night. Maybe that’s why I don’t speculate about any of that sort of thing now!
 
Recently the Crescat blog posted a quote by Miss Manners about how to politely ask a woman if she were pregnant. The response is something like, “Oh, my darling, are you about to make me the proudest papa in the world?” And if you can’t phrase it like that, ie you aren’t the father of the possible child, then *there is no proper way *for you to ask.

I think that sort of reasoning applies here. I expect that my spiritual directors notice when I do not receive, but I doubt anyone would say anything to me unless I refrained several times in a row, and then my pastor or directors would be the only people whose business it would be. And if there were a serious situation, I would probably have already told them anyway.

I have only ever been asked by children, or gently-clueless adults, why someone might not receive, and I use it as an opportunity for catechesis. I’ve only been asked about myself once, by a nosy old lady at a special seniors’ Mass, and I just told her the truth: I was cooking the luncheon to follow, and I forgot and tasted something.
 
EvelynEVF said:
I’ve only been asked about myself once, by a nosy old lady at a special seniors’ Mass, and I just told her the truth: I was cooking the luncheon to follow, and I forgot and tasted something.
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Perhaps a return to a required 3-hr fast? It would be nice to be able to answer “Haven’t you heard?” 🙂
 
AF_Fugue said:
I once had a very nice old lady come up to me after a daily Mass and, very kindly, point to the Act of Contrition printed on the back of the Missalette and say, “All you have to do is say this, and then you can receive Communion.”

I just smiled and said “Thank you,” then spent the rest of the day contemplating all the ways that was sooo wrong. 😊
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AF_Fugue said:
Indeed! I’m guessing she had heard about the “Perfect Act of Contrition,” but didn’t really understand what it was or the attending requirements. Like I said, though, she was very sweet. 🙂
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It looks like we have a different definition of what being “sweet” is. In my definition of it someone who is making assumptions (especially bad ones) on the state of my soul is not being “sweet” but is being intrusive and stepping where they have no business being. Something I most likely would have told her as well.
 
KostyaJMJ said:
Do they have any other choice but to attend a public service?
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Of course they do, we all have choices.

But as I said, what are the privacy issues involved with attending a public worship service?
 
ByzCathCantor said:
Maybe that’s why the Orthodox have no pews …
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Of all the Orthodox Churches I have been in I have only seen one without pews. I have seen two Byzantine Catholic Churches (ok one is a chapel) without pews.
 
ByzCath said:
Of all the Orthodox Churches I have been in I have only seen one without pews. I have seen two Byzantine Catholic Churches (ok one is a chapel) without pews.
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Next time I worship with our Orthodox brethren, I’ll be sure to do so in your neighborhood!

Yes, an acknowledgedly inaccurate generalization, but it was intended for humor’s sake (I’ll keep my day job and not try my hand at stand-up comedy) …
🙂
 
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