Holy Communion to non-Catholics?

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My father who is non Catholic, but feels he is knowledgable of the Catholic faith went to a Catholic funeral Mass a while back. Obviously most were Catholic in attendance, but he felt the priest offered / welcomed communion to all who were in attendance weather Catholic or not. Now I’m not sure if this was the intention of the priest, but my father insists that the priest within his parish has authority to offer Holy communion to anyone he feels. I told him if this was really the priest’s intention, than the priest is wrong.

I have read the Catechism & found only in grave circumstances, etc. I was just curious of additional clarification.
 
In the front cover of our parish missalette, there are specific guidelines printed for the reception of communion.
You have not said if your dad is of another Christian faith, or just a non-Christian, so I will cite what both say.
For our fellow Christians:
We wecome our fellow Christians to this celebration of the Eucharist as our brothers and sisters. We pray that our common baptism and the action of the Holy Spirit in this Eucharist will draw us closer to one another and begin to dispel the sad divisions which separate us. We pray that these will lessen and finally disappear in keeping with Christ’s prayer for us" That they may all be one."(John 17:21)
Because Catholics believe that the celebration of the Eucharist is a sign of the reality of the oneness of faith, life and worship, members of those churches with whom we are not yet fully united are not admitted to Holy Communion. Eucharistic sharing in exceptional circumstances requires permission according to the directives of the diocesan bishop and the provisions of Canon law 844:4. Members of the Orthodox Churches, the Assyrian church of the East, and the Polish National Church are urged to respect the discipline of their own churches. According to Roman Catholic Code of Canon law does not object to the reception of communion by Christians of these churches Canon 844:3.

For non-Christians: We also welcome to this celebration those who do not share our faith in Jesus Christ. While we cannot admit them to Holy Communion, we ask them to offer their prayers fo rthe peace and the unity of the human family.

In my opinion and the church’s, he should have refrained from receiving the Body of Christ.
 
Not only does it sound like he should have refrained, but it also sounds like, if the priest did invite any and all to receive communion, his was a serious error. The grave circumstances would be something along the lines of in a battlefield.

I’m sorry your father misunderstood the situation. I wish you luck in clarifying it.

CARose
 
How would christians or non - christians that go to a

catholic mass, know that they are not allowed to take
communion ?
I have not seen a sign in any church that say’s that one
can not take communion unless they were catholic.

Athorityangel
 
I cannot understand refusing Christ to anyone. I would think that Christ would want to be administered to everyone. Everyone needs the presence of Christ some more desperately than others, so why do we refuse the most valuable gift we can give.
 
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athorityangel:
How would christians or non - christians that go to a

catholic mass, know that they are not allowed to take
communion ?
I have not seen a sign in any church that say’s that one
can not take communion unless they were catholic.

Athorityangel
Click to expand...
 
There is a sign, right in the front cover of most church’s liturgy books or prayer books or missalettes. Whatever you want to call it, it is present there.
 
I can understand how it could be confusing to non Catholics especially at a funderal or wedding Mass, however usually the priest will clarify with a statement of receiving the blessed sacrament.

My main concern is that a priest could invite anyone who wants to receive to do so. It could be that my father totally misunderstood, but his belief (he is Methodist) is that the Catholic priest can invite whoever he wants to the communion table to receive. That is what I need to clarify to him.

Thanks for your comments.
 
A priest who invites anyone is abusing the Sacrament. It is not his place to do this at all. This is part and parcel of Canon Law 844…
Catholic ministers administer the sacraments licitly to Catholic members of the Christian faithful alone.

At a wedding or funeral, our parish priests will invite the non-Catholics up for a blessing but they must indicate this by placing their hands crosswise on their chest. They may not receive Holy Communion though.

This Canon law has Para:4 If the danger of death is present, or if in the judgment of the diocesan bishop or conference of bishops some other grave necessity urges it, Catholic ministes administer these same sacraments licitly also to other Christians not having full communion with the Cathoic church who cannot approach a minister of their own community and who seek such on their own accord, provided that they manifest Catholic faith in respect to these sacraments and are properly disposed. For example on a battlefield, a critically wounded soldier requests Communion from a Catholic chaplain.

Your father’s case does not fit at all.
usccb.org/liturgy/current/intercom.shtml
This is the link from the US Catholic Council of Bishops regarding reception as well.
 
Your father should not have received communion, but he committed no offense. The priest had the responsibility of communicating the Church’s true stance on reception of the Eucharist by non-Catholics. He failed to do so, or stated an untruth, the responsibility is his and the sin, if there was one, is his.
 
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feather:
I cannot understand refusing Christ to anyone. I would think that Christ would want to be administered to everyone. Everyone needs the presence of Christ some more desperately than others, so why do we refuse the most valuable gift we can give.
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The reason we are so careful with regards to offering the Eucharist to non-Catholics and even to unworthy, poorly prepared Catholics, is because of the seriousness of what it being received. This is the actual body, blood, soul and divinity of our Lord Jesus Christ. Scripture tells us that to receive without discerning the Body of our Lord is to take upon oneself the guilt of His flesh. This is a serious offense which we wouldn’t wish on anyone.

Please understand it is precisely because we do care that we desire that only those in full communion with the Church established by Christ receive the Fullness of His Body in communion.

CARose
 
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CARose:
The reason we are so careful with regards to offering the Eucharist to non-Catholics and even to unworthy, poorly prepared Catholics, is because of the seriousness of what it being received. This is the actual body, blood, soul and divinity of our Lord Jesus Christ. Scripture tells us that to receive without discerning the Body of our Lord is to take upon oneself the guilt of His flesh. This is a serious offense which we wouldn’t wish on anyone.

Please understand it is precisely because we do care that we desire that only those in full communion with the Church established by Christ receive the Fullness of His Body in communion.

CARose
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I still say that to refuse the most precious gift we have to give is discrimination of the worst kind… Christ Himself would give Himself. It is we humans who make it something to keep to our own special selves. Those poor people need Christ. And we hoard Him perhaps because we made Him…but I don’t think we did.
 
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michaelk:
My father who is non Catholic, but feels he is knowledgable of the Catholic faith went to a Catholic funeral Mass a while back. Obviously most were Catholic in attendance, but he felt the priest offered / welcomed communion to all who were in attendance weather Catholic or not. Now I’m not sure if this was the intention of the priest, but my father insists that the priest within his parish has authority to offer Holy communion to anyone he feels. I told him if this was really the priest’s intention, than the priest is wrong.

I have read the Catechism & found only in grave circumstances, etc. I was just curious of additional clarification.
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This is wrong, if a Catholic has to excamine themselves ie: (confession) before reception of communion, how can a non-Catholic feel they are justified to do that.

They aren’t supposed to do that, it’s a sacralidge, to take the Host like this and those that do need corrected.

This dimishes the respect Catholics have for the Host.
 
I often encounter borderline situations while performing my duties as a lay eucharistic minister to the sick and shut-in at a local nursing home. For instance, last year a gravely ill 91 year old Baptist patient asked me to give him Holy Communion. Questioning revealed that the man did have a catholic understanding of the sacrament, and he was not being visited by Baptist ministers. I gave this man Holy Communion several times before his death. Who could say that what I did was wrong?
 
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feather:
I still say that to refuse the most precious gift we have to give is discrimination of the worst kind… Christ Himself would give Himself. It is we humans who make it something to keep to our own special selves. Those poor people need Christ…
Click to expand...
I completely understand what feather is saying because I once saw it that way too. Years ago I was so offended my (then) non-Catholic husband couldn’t receive Communion that eventually I stopped attending the Catholic Church. But I still agree with feather about one thing: THIS IS THE MOST PRECIOUS GIFT WE HAVE TO GIVE!

To draw an analogy: One of the most precious gifts my husband can give me is himself in our marital union. I would be horrified if husband gave that precious gift to anyone but his wife (me). In Holy Communion, Christ gives Himself to His Bride, the Church.

And like the marriage union, there is a right time for it–after we are united in marriage and not before that ceremony. To recieve Communion one should be in union with the Church and free of mortal sin so one can also be in union with Christ. I would like to invite all to be part that union with the Catholic Church and Christ our Bridegroom. We wish for no one to be excluded from Holy Communion who truly desires Christ, so we offer baptism and confession, and for those converting from other Christian faiths we also offer RCIA and a chance to make a professions of faith in the Catholic Church.

This is our most precious gift, so we should never treat it as anything less by sharing it with those who do not fully understand or accept full union with Christ and His Church.
 
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gardenswithkids:
I completely understand what feather is saying because I once saw it that way too. Years ago I was so offended my (then) non-Catholic husband couldn’t receive Communion that eventually I stopped attending the Catholic Church. But I still agree with feather about one thing: THIS IS THE MOST PRECIOUS GIFT WE HAVE TO GIVE!

To draw an analogy: One of the most precious gifts my husband can give me is himself in our marital union. I would be horrified if husband gave that precious gift to anyone but his wife (me). In Holy Communion, Christ gives Himself to His Bride, the Church.

And like the marriage union, there is a right time for it–after we are united in marriage and not before that ceremony. To recieve Communion one should be in union with the Church and free of mortal sin so one can also be in union with Christ. I would like to invite all to be part that union with the Catholic Church and Christ our Bridegroom. We wish for no one to be excluded from Holy Communion who truly desires Christ, so we offer baptism and confession, and for those converting from other Christian faiths we also offer RCIA and a chance to make a professions of faith in the Catholic Church.

This is our most precious gift, so we should never treat it as anything less by sharing it with those who do not fully understand or accept full union with Christ and His Church.
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:amen: Beautifully worded !
 
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stbruno:
A priest who invites anyone is abusing the Sacrament. It is not his place to do this at all. This is part and parcel of Canon Law 844…
Catholic ministers administer the sacraments licitly to Catholic members of the Christian faithful alone.

At a wedding or funeral, our parish priests will invite the non-Catholics up for a blessing but they must indicate this by placing their hands crosswise on their chest. They may not receive Holy Communion though.

This Canon law has Para:4 If the danger of death is present, or if in the judgment of the diocesan bishop or conference of bishops some other grave necessity urges it, Catholic ministes administer these same sacraments licitly also to other Christians not having full communion with the Cathoic church who cannot approach a minister of their own community and who seek such on their own accord, provided that they manifest Catholic faith in respect to these sacraments and are properly disposed. For example on a battlefield, a critically wounded soldier requests Communion from a Catholic chaplain.

Your father’s case does not fit at all.
usccb.org/liturgy/current/intercom.shtml
This is the link from the US Catholic Council of Bishops regarding reception as well.
Click to expand...
Then why did JP2 give communion to Jews? They certainly can not be considered to be “other Christians”. Did the Pope violate Canon law?
… Two Italian newspapers quoted the secretary, Archbishop Stanislaw Dziwisz, as saying that a wealthy American Jew recovered from incurable cancer after receiving Holy Communion from the Pope …
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… aolsvc.news.aol.com/news/article.adp?id=20050410151409990002
 
I have read once, that John Paul II granted permisson to Swiss Bishops to give Communion to Protestants which was requested by Swiss Bishops. Unfortunately I didn`t save that. Any one knows this?

In Christ,
Selvaraj
 
Sir Knight, you will no doubt be pleased to know that the Holy Father, while he did give communion to a Jewish man with terminal cancer, did not KNOW when he did so that the man was Jewish.

While the New York Post is not impeccable, it did state that the Pope did NOT, repeat NOT, know that the man was Jewish when he gave him communion.
Communion is reserved for Catholics, and the pope did not realize that the man was Jewish until it became obvious that he did not know how to receive the sacrament — and afterward, John Paul gently admonished him.
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So, the communion was given in error (not the Pope’s error), and the Pope made sure that the man was instructed to correct the error in future.

God bless our late Pope John Paul II. Impeccable he was not–nor are any of us. But infallible in matters of faith and morals, and personally holy and stainless in his priesthood I believe he most certainly was.
 
Tantum ergo:
Sir Knight, you will no doubt be pleased to know that the Holy Father, while he did give communion to a Jewish man with terminal cancer, did not KNOW when he did so that the man was Jewish.
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Yes, I was VERY pleased to hear that since I have a very high opnion of JP2 – he is certainly the greatest Pope in my lifetime and I’m sure that we will not see another of his kind for many years to come.
 
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