If protestants truly believe Eucharist can they partake

[CSJ]

While “familiarity breeds contempt” might seem a strong choice of words, it really isn’t. Paul warned of eating or drinking unworthily lest we eat or drink condemnation unto ourselves - now that’s a strong choice of words!

I’ve also wondered why we (Protestants, that is) still call it “Communion”? After all, we don’t believe in the Real Presence so what are we communing with? Somewhat of a paradox?

CSJ

 

[Teflon93]

simply put why cant they if they believe and have the desire?

One must be confirmed first.

As Protestants do not meet the requirements for confirmation in the Catholic Church, they may not be admitted to the Eucharist.

 

[chris_molter]

One must be confirmed first.

As Protestants do not meet the requirements for confirmation in the Catholic Church, they may not be admitted to the Eucharist.

I was under the impression that the sacrament of confirmation was not necessary for reception of the eucharist. Can someone provide documentation on this?

 

[Church_Militant]

I was under the impression that the sacrament of confirmation was not necessary for reception of the Eucharist. Can someone provide documentation on this?

Stop and think about what you are saying Chris. When is 1st Communion for most kids? Then when is Confirmation?

You have them backwards though some of the Eastern Rite folks do all the Sacraments of Initiation at the same time at Baptism.

 

[Teflon93]

I was under the impression that the sacrament of confirmation was not necessary for reception of the eucharist. Can someone provide documentation on this?

From the Catechism:

1298 When Confirmation is celebrated separately from Baptism, as is the case in the Roman Rite, the Liturgy of Confirmation begins with the renewal of baptismal promises and the profession of faith by the confirmands. This clearly shows that Confirmation follows Baptism.[110] When adults are baptized, they immediately receive Confirmation and participate in the Eucharist.[111]

We had to be confirmed (and baptized, if we hadn’t been before) before we could partake of the Eucharist.

 

[Teflon93]

also

1306 Every baptized person not yet confirmed can and should receive the sacrament of Confirmation.[121] Since Baptism, Confirmation, and Eucharist form a unity, it follows that “the faithful are obliged to receive this sacrament at the appropriate time,”[122] for without Confirmation and Eucharist, Baptism is certainly valid and efficacious, but Christian initiation remains incomplete.

 

[chris_molter]

I’m still not seeing where it’s stated specifically that it is not permitted to receive the Eucharist prior to Confirmation (but after Baptism/Reception into the Church).

 

[Church_Militant]

As for the initial question, I think Pope John Paul II The Great sums this up very very well in his encyclical Ecclesia de Eucharistia when he says.

1. In considering the Eucharist as the sacrament of ecclesial communion, there is one subject which, due to its importance, must not be overlooked: I am referring to the relationship of the Eucharist to ecumenical activity.
   …

1. Precisely because the Church’s unity, which the Eucharist brings about through the Lord’s sacrifice and by communion in his body and blood, absolutely requires full communion in the bonds of the profession of faith, the sacraments and ecclesiastical governance, it is not possible to celebrate together the same Eucharistic liturgy until those bonds are fully re-established. Any such concelebration would not be a valid means, and might well prove instead to be an obstacle, to the attainment of full communion, by weakening the sense of how far we remain from this goal and by introducing or exacerbating ambiguities with regard to one or another truth of the faith. The path towards full unity can only be undertaken in truth. In this area, the prohibitions of Church law leave no room for uncertainty,92 in fidelity to the moral norm laid down by the Second Vatican Council.93

I would like nonetheless to reaffirm what I said in my Encyclical Letter Ut Unum Sint after having acknowledged the impossibility of Eucharistic sharing: “And yet we do have a burning desire to join in celebrating the one Eucharist of the Lord, and this desire itself is already a common prayer of praise, a single supplication. Together we speak to the Father and increasingly we do so ‘with one heart’”.94

1. While it is never legitimate to concelebrate in the absence of full communion, the same is not true with respect to the administration of the Eucharist under special circumstances, to individual persons belonging to Churches or Ecclesial Communities not in full communion with the Catholic Church. In this case, in fact, the intention is to meet a grave spiritual need for the eternal salvation of an individual believer, not to bring about an intercommunion which remains impossible until the visible bonds of ecclesial communion are fully re-established.

This was the approach taken by the Second Vatican Council when it gave guidelines for responding to Eastern Christians separated in good faith from the Catholic Church, who spontaneously ask to receive the Eucharist from a Catholic minister and are properly disposed.95 This approach was then ratified by both Codes, which also consider – with necessary modifications – the case of other non-Eastern Christians who are not in full communion with the Catholic Church.96

1. In my Encyclical Ut Unum Sint I expressed my own appreciation of these norms, which make it possible to provide for the salvation of souls with proper discernment: “It is a source of joy to note that Catholic ministers are able, in certain particular cases, to administer the sacraments of the Eucharist, Penance and Anointing of the Sick to Christians who are not in full communion with the Catholic Church but who greatly desire to receive these sacraments, freely request them and manifest the faith which the Catholic Church professes with regard to these sacraments. Conversely, in specific cases and in particular circumstances, Catholics too can request these same sacraments from ministers of Churches in which these sacraments are valid”.97

These conditions, from which no dispensation can be given, must be carefully respected, even though they deal with specific individual cases, because the denial of one or more truths of the faith regarding these sacraments and, among these, the truth regarding the need of the ministerial priesthood for their validity, renders the person asking improperly disposed to legitimately receiving them. And the opposite is also true: Catholics may not receive communion in those communities which lack a valid sacrament of Orders.98

The faithful observance of the body of norms established in this area 99 is a manifestation and, at the same time, a guarantee of our love for Jesus Christ in the Blessed Sacrament, for our brothers and sisters of different Christian confessions – who have a right to our witness to the truth – and for the cause itself of the promotion of unity.

 

[Teflon93]

Now if I could just get some of our parishioners to take the Eucharist as seriously as you.:banghead:

Amen to that!

 

[Ani_Ibi]

As for the initial question, I think Pope John Paul II The Great sums this up very very well in his encyclical Ecclesia de Eucharistia when he says.

I love the way you just put it right out there: Pope John Paul II The Great. I am going to follow your example.

 

[Ani_Ibi]

ddeluna:

Several months ago one of my agents died. Most of my office went to the funeral. We were all in tears (he was the fittest guy in my office. 31 years old and overflowing with a zest for life) and at communion, one of my best agents leaned over and asked me “I’m Lutheran, can I get Communion?”. I told her yes, go up.

Yes. I understand. I want to tell you about a friend of mine. A Catholic. She, like many of us, had her unhealed places, her ambivalences. In the process of dying, she sent me out to get prayer cards, she sent me out to find Charismatic prayer groups and Catholic healing ministries. And I went to the Cathedral every day and prayed the Rosary after Mass.

Oh, and wasn’t there a war on for her soul! Her neighbour ripped a poster depicting the Crucifixion off the bulletin boards and tore them into shreds. Another neighbour salvaged one poster and held it up for ridicule during a neighbourhood meeting. The display of religious symbols was banned from the neighbourhood. And so on.

The Lord healed three tumours from my friend’s brain. He healed her memories, her emotions, her thoughts, her relationships particularly among family members, but left one tumour in her liver which killed her.

At the funeral, unbelievers thronged to the Cathedral because of her witness. For so many of them, hearing the Mass among all the stained glass, the statues, the Crucifix, the incense was alien and frightening. But one unbeliever (the daughter-in-law) was so moved that she ran up to the priest and begged to be given the Eucharist. If I remember correctly, she bargained for it.

Bless her soul.

The priest withheld the Eucharist from her. But perhaps a seed was sown? Catholics will not rush folks into the fold. We are patient. We respect the free will which God gave folks. We respect decisions not to enter the Church. And because we believe in the Baptism of Desire we are not driven by fear and urgency concerning accepting folks into our Communion and allowing them the Eucharist.

What I want to say about my friend is that she was just an ordinary person like us. But folks saw something in her that led them to the Catholic Church. Maybe because she was on the side of the angels. I dunno, but that is how the Holy Spirit works. Thank you God.

ddeluna:

As much as it felt right at the time, I think I need to go to confession.

It’s not about feelings, is it? Confession doesn’t hurt. It helps.

 

[Teflon93]

Yes. I understand. I want to tell you about a friend of mine. A Catholic. She, like many of us, had her unhealed places, her ambivalences. In the process of dying, she sent me out to get prayer cards, she sent me out to find Charismatic prayer groups and Catholic healing ministries. And I went to the Cathedral every day and prayed the Rosary after Mass.

Oh, and wasn’t there a war on for her soul! Her neighbour ripped a poster depicting the Crucifixion off the bulletin boards and tore them into shreds. Another neighbour salvaged one poster and held it up for ridicule during a neighbourhood meeting. The display of religious symbols was banned from the neighbourhood. And so on.

The Lord healed three tumours from my friend’s brain. He healed her memories, her emotions, her thoughts, her relationships particularly among family members, but left one tumour in her liver which killed her.

At the funeral, unbelievers thronged to the Cathedral because of her witness. For so many of them, hearing the Mass among all the stained glass, the statues, the Crucifix, the incense was alien and frightening. But one unbeliever (the daughter-in-law) was so moved that she ran up to the priest and begged to be given the Eucharist. If I remember correctly, she bargained for it.

Bless her soul.

The priest withheld the Eucharist from her. But perhaps a seed was sown? Catholics will not rush folks into the fold. We are patient. We respect the free will which God gave folks. We respect decisions not to enter the Church. And because we believe in the Baptism of Desire we are not driven by fear and urgency concerning accepting folks into our Communion and allowing them the Eucharist.

What I want to say about my friend is that she was just an ordinary person like us. But folks saw something in her that led them to the Catholic Church. Maybe because she was on the side of the angels. I dunno, but that is how the Holy Spirit works. Thank you God.

It’s not about feelings, is it? Confession doesn’t hurt. It helps.

Confession would be good in this case. Unfortunately, when we urge people we know do not qualify to partake of the Eucharist, we are failing to safeguard our Lord and placing our priests in a terrible position where they too have failed to safeguard Him.

However, this is mitigated certainly by the fact that the intent was to bring someone to the Lord, not to compromise the sacrament, nor to superimpose one’s will on a priest doing his sacred duty.

We are not Pharisees.

 

[Ani_Ibi]

We are not Pharisees.

No. But even the Saints went to Confession.

 

[Ani_Ibi]

I just wonder if its Christs body we are remembering, isnt it the remembering thats important not how its done?

Here are a number of excellent points of view on this subject:

Eucharist: Why did He let them walk away?

Communion and unity: The Ideal Church

 

[InLight247]

Well, several reasons:

“[The Eucharist is called] Holy Communion, because by this sacrament we unite ourselves to Christ, who makes us sharers in his Body and Blood to form a single body.” (CCC 1331) By definition, Protestants do not claim to form a single body with Catholics, and to receive the Eucharist would be to make a statement to the contrary. Why would a person wish to publicly profess beliefs which they do not have? Receipt of the Eucharist is, among other things, a profession of faith.

CCC 1362 to 1368 reflect the Catholic view that salvation is a process and that the re-presentation in the Eucharist of the Christ’s sacrifice are part of this ongoing process. Thus, participation in the Sacrament is contrary to many Protestant theologies that view salvation as a one time event, a switch to be flicked. Again, reciept of the Eucharist would be antithetical to many Protestants’ beliefs.

“To respond to this invitation we must prepare ourselves for so great and so holy a moment. St. Paul urges us to examine our conscience: “Whoever, therefore, eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of profaning the body and blood of the Lord. Let a man examine himself, and so eat of the bread and drink of the cup. For any one who eats and drinks without discerning the body eats and drinks judgment upon himself.” Anyone conscious of a grave sin must receive the sacrament of Reconciliation before coming to communion.” (CCC1385). The Church has rightly recognized heresy as a grave sin. Those separated from the communion of the body of the Christ through heresies do grave harm to the Body (See Matt. 12:25). One would not want to take part in Holy Communion while a Protestant if they heed the warning of 1 Cor. 11:27-29. At the very least, they might respect Catholic custom as a matter of social courtesy

Lastly, CCC 1410, “It is Christ himself, the eternal high priest of the New Covenant who, acting through the ministry of the priests, offers the Eucharistic sacrifice. And it is the same Christ, really present under the species of bread and wine, who is the offering of the Eucharistic sacrifice.” One cannot simultaneously accept the real presence and deny the validity of the Church!

I hope this is enlightening. I certainly learned a couple things researching my answer.

This is the first time I read this thread. What a good response you gave. I learned a lot. Thank you!