Help with Aunty

[Anne_G]

My Aunty is in her late 70’s and not in the best of health. She used to go ro church every Saturday, never missed. She hasn’t been for about 2 years because she physically can’t. The problem is that the priest or anyone from the Church never organised for someone to come and give her communion. She has had a bit of a fallout with the priest over that and that the Church owned house that she rents is being sold so she has to move. I asked her whether when she moves to her new place will she ring the local Church and organise Communion but she says no, that it is too late. Is it a requirement that she take Communion? She thinks not. She is going to be very stubborn about this so I am unsure as to what to do. She is not a devout Catholic, won’t read the Bible, thinks homosexuality is okay, living together is okay, etc. I do worry about her soul.

 

[MichaelHowling]

It is not mandatory for her to recieve communion. The church wants her children to recieve AT LEAST once a year (preferably during the easter season).

Now of course…spiritually, having holy communion in the state of grace as much as you can will only help you…so it’s unfortunate, this is happening with her.

You can’t force ANYONE into a love relationship. I suggest you pray and sacrifice for her, look for the catholic channel on TV and have it on when you can (they have mass and some good programing that helps catechise). Do what you can to help her connect with church again. Let her look at the bullitin, subscribe to a catholic newspaper in your area, there’s going to be lots of retreats where awsome speakers will be in town during lent…ask if she wants to go to one.

See if taking her to another church with a new priest will make her more comfortable. Walk on egg shells for now with her…it sounds like she’s really hurt.

The biggest point to make is NO ONE should be getting in between her and Jesus in the eucharist!

God bless!

Michael

 

[EasterJoy]

The biggest point to make is NO ONE should be getting in between her and Jesus in the eucharist!

If she’s living in housing owned by the Church, the priest may know something about how well-disposed she is to receive the Eucharist that we don’t. If he were to know she’d be committing a sacrilege if she received communion without confession and she refused to do that, I guess he’d have to refuse to have communion brought to her. I’m not saying that is what is going on here, but when it comes to a relationship between a pastor and one of the faithful, it is not fair to jump to conclusions, since a priest can know things that are not his to disclose for any reason, not even his own self-defense.

Still, I think maybe if she moves to a new parish, she might allow you to invite one of the priests over for dinner, to give the place a blessing. Maybe they’ll work something out, and she’ll decide to soften.

 

[sojo]

As our priest has told us (and I’ve heard it on CAF from other priests), the Church doesn’t ask of us what is not possible. If your Aunty can’t get to Mass, she isn’t required. Having someone bring communion to your home is lovely but not a requirement.

Senior citizen or not, the decision is up to her and not you. Pestering her about it will only make her heels dig in deeper on this subject.

 

[MichaelHowling]

That’s why I mentioned “in the state of grace”.

I see many people leave the church due to this reason and that reason and the other…they loose sight as to why it’s sooo wonderful to be catholic (Jesus in the Eucharist). I don’t want to see that happen again here.

 

[EasterJoy]

That’s why I mentioned “in the state of grace”.

I see many people leave the church due to this reason and that reason and the other…they loose sight as to why it’s sooo wonderful to be catholic (Jesus in the Eucharist). I don’t want to see that happen again here.

The OP can’t hear her confession, but OTOH wrong-headed opinions usually aren’t automatically mortal sins. Many are those person who say they think such-and-so is OK, but when the time comes to do that or be complicit in doing it, their actions say otherwise. (Yes, the disconnect between word and deed happens both ways, as Our Lord pointed out.)

If Aunty seems to be in a state of grace–and being over 70, living alone, and being housebound does limit the number of mortal sins one can commit, doesn’t it?–it is probably possible for the OP to bring her communion. Most parishes will train family members how to do that properly. She can inquire with priests in her aunt’s locale about that, if Aunty is amenable to having her niece bring her Communion, instead of a stranger. After all, if Father isn’t sending anyone to bring Communion to Aunty because Aunty was a bit too sharp-tongued to past emissaries, including him, then he might be fine with that arrangement, too. He may just not be willing to send anyone else to her house to get abused. At any rate, maybe it is not every Sunday, since the niece probably doesn’t visit as often as that, but it is far better than nothing and might be a great source of both grace and comfort for this lady.