Holy Eucharist in the state of sin... "Ummm... well, yes... maybe..."?

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Code of Canon Law: ARTICLE 2: PARTICIPATION IN THE BLESSED EUCHARIST
Can. 916: Anyone who is conscious of grave sin may not celebrate Mass or receive the Body of the Lord without previously having been to sacramental confession, unless there is a grave reason and there is no opportunity to confess; in this case the person is to remember the obligation to make an act of perfect contrition, which includes the resolve to go to confession as soon as possible.
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This must be the exception which proves the rule…
I posted this quotation in another thread, but it got buried, so I’m resurrecting it.

Inside the cover of the Heritage Missal which our Church provides for Mass attendees, there is a set of rules regarding the reception of Holy Eucharist. The various rules concerning the hour-long fast before receiving, Protestants attending the Mass, and so forth are all mentioned. One of the rules was “Receiving communion while in the state of Mortal Sin,” which was covered by the above quotation and Canonical reference.

Frankly, it surprised me… I had not heard of this before…

While I was in the military, we did not always have a Chaplain available for Sunday Mass; but when we were able to have a Chaplain celebrate Mass, the priest would always hear confessions before Mass began… because he knew the American Navy’s sailors pretty well, I suppose. http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v313/ponyguy/Uhh.gif http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v313/ponyguy/Shrug.gif

Regards,
Ponyguy
 
Ponyguy said:
This must be the exception which proves the rule…
I posted this quotation in another thread, but it got buried, so I’m resurrecting it.

Inside the cover of the Heritage Missal which our Church provides for Mass attendees, there is a set of rules regarding the reception of Holy Eucharist. The various rules concerning the hour-long fast before receiving, Protestants attending the Mass, and so forth are all mentioned. One of the rules was “Receiving communion while in the state of Mortal Sin,” which was covered by the above quotation and Canonical reference.

Frankly, it surprised me… I had not heard of this before…

While I was in the military, we did not always have a Chaplain available for Sunday Mass; but when we were able to have a Chaplain celebrate Mass, the priest would always hear confessions before Mass began… because he knew the American Navy’s sailors pretty well, I suppose. http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v313/ponyguy/Uhh.gif http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v313/ponyguy/Shrug.gif

Regards,
Ponyguy
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Hi Ponyguy: The way I understand this is that lay people receive communion, and priests also receive communion, right?

Priests celebrate Mass. . .but lay people don’t. The priests (the ‘presider’) are the ones who celebrate. Heck, when two or more priests are there it is called ‘concelebration’. But they laity do not ‘celebrate’. They "participate’. There is a difference.

Now, those who are lay people conscious of grave sin have (separately and independently) also an obligation to attend Mass, yes? They do not HAVE to receive the Eucharist at Mass but they must attend, even in mortal sin.

PRIESTS have an obligation to CELEBRATE Mass, yes? But what if a priest is due to celebrate Mass in 20 minutes yet sins gravely, with no other priest around? He MUST ‘celebrate’ Mass, yet he is in mortal sin and should not celebrate Mass. . .UNLESS he makes the act of perfect contrition and goes to confession ASAP.

So the canon covers both the laity and the priest, I believe.
 
This really only applies to the celebrant when he has an obligation to say Mass (e.g., a parish priest on a Sunday or holy day). In other circumstances there is no grave cause to merit such permission (because, of course, it is impossible to know whether one has truly made a perfect act of contrition).
 
This would NOT be a normal happening…

Classic example would be if the person is in a place where a Priest does not come for a very long time …but they have Communion services…and the person has a grave reason…
 
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