Is it ever permissible for Catholics to receive communion from Protestant services

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fisherman_carl said:
This article suggests it is generally illicit but says there are exceptions. I’ve always heard that it was illicit from apologists on EWTN and Catholic Answers. And, canon 84 says it is illicit except with certain circumstances. What kind of circumstances would it be allowed?

uscatholic.org/church/2011/08/can-catholic-receive-communion-protestant-church
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This should be interesting. I personally can’t fathom a circumstance which would be acceptable but I too would like to see what others can come up with.
 
I hate to do this but I think I may have answered my own question.

Canon 844 states:

“Can. 844 §1. Catholic ministers administer the sacraments licitly to Catholic members of the Christian faithful alone, who likewise receive them licitly from Catholic ministers alone, without prejudice to the prescripts of §§2, 3, and 4 of this canon, and can. 861, §2.
§2. Whenever necessity requires it or true spiritual advantage suggests it, and provided that danger of error or of indifferentism is avoided, the Christian faithful for whom it is physically or morally impossible to approach a Catholic minister are permitted to receive the sacraments of penance, Eucharist, and anointing of the sick from non-
Catholic ministers in whose Churches these sacraments are valid.”

source: vatican.va/archive/ENG1104/__P2T.HTM

This clearly states the exception to receive communion is only valid in churches where the Sacraments are valid. As far as I know that would be the Eastern Orthodox churches but not the Protestant churches.
 
The only circumstance I know of where it wouldn’t be illicit, I think, is if one was dying and received Extreme Unction and Viaticum from an Eastern Orthodox priest. But the Orthodox probably wouldn’t give it to you unless you converted.

Kind of like how Orthodox can take Catholic communion, but they excommunicate themselves from the Orthodox church they are a part of by the very act. So, in actuality, they can’t, as they stop being Orthodox as soon as they take the communion.
 
fisherman_carl, you have hit the nail on the head with your interpretation. The US Catholic magazine has based their argument on a foundation of sand. We cannot receive “sacraments” in Protestant ecclesial communities because there are no sacraments there. It would be idolatry and schism to eat bread and drink wine (or grape juice) with Lutherans or other Protestants. They lack a valid apostolic priesthood and have no belief in the True Presence of the Eucharist.

I think that US Catholic is well-known for its heterodoxy, so I would steer clear, or take their opinions with a grain of salt in the future.
 
fisherman_carl said:
This article suggests it is generally illicit but says there are exceptions. I’ve always heard that it was illicit from apologists on EWTN and Catholic Answers. And, canon 84 says it is illicit except with certain circumstances. What kind of circumstances would it be allowed?

uscatholic.org/church/2011/08/can-catholic-receive-communion-protestant-church
Click to expand...
I find the logic of this article suspect… I think you ought to post this question to “Ask an Apologist” to get a clearer answer.
 
It is never permissible to receive communion in any Protestant church. It would also be disrespectful of Catholics to Protestants if they were to take communion in a Protestant church (though some do welcome people from other faiths).

Catholics can receive communion in an Orthodox church if it is impossible to receive in Catholic church. It has to be remembered though that generally the Orthodox faith doesn’t welcome people of other faiths taking communion from them… including Catholics.
 
fisherman_carl said:
This clearly states the exception to receive communion is only valid in churches where the Sacraments are valid. As far as I know that would be the Eastern Orthodox churches but not the Protestant churches.
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That is the correct interpretation. Only those Churches that have maintained Apostolic succession have valid sacraments.
 
I attended an ecumenical service (that I had to confess, and will never again attend sucha service) where our Catholic Priest said mass and the Protestant Lady read the readings and also said some words. When we were celebrating the Eucharist, we all received, and at the end the Catholic Priest gave the host into the hands of the Protestant Lady “Priest”, she gave it back to the Priest who recieved, and then he gave another host to the Protestant Lady, who received also. I was shocked. And I was so shocked that I had to go to confession the following weekend.
 
504Katrin said:
I attended an ecumenical service (that I had to confess, and will never again attend sucha service) where our Catholic Priest said mass and the Protestant Lady read the readings and also said some words. When we were celebrating the Eucharist, we all received, and at the end the Catholic Priest gave the host into the hands of the Protestant Lady “Priest”, she gave it back to the Priest who recieved, and then he gave another host to the Protestant Lady, who received also. I was shocked. And I was so shocked that I had to go to confession the following weekend.
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It was not your sin. If the priest was the one to say the words of consecration, it would not even be sinful to receive, though perhaps not advisable to appear to endorse such a bizarre situation. I can certainly understand the feelings of contact guilt, as I don’t understand why a priest would hold such a service.

My church at school one invited the woman minister from the neighboring Episcopalian chapel to deliver part of the homily (with permission from the bishop). The minister raised her arms mirroring our priest during the consecration later in the mass, but respectfully stood to the side of the sanctuary and did not otherwise participate in communion.

Unless there was a rare permission given from your bishop for your priest to give communion to the woman minister, then the priest’s actions would have been inappropriate.
 
runningdude said:
It was not your sin. If the priest was the one to say the words of consecration, it would not even be sinful to receive, though perhaps not advisable to appear to endorse such a bizarre situation. I can certainly understand the feelings of contact guilt, as I don’t understand why a priest would hold such a service.

My church at school one invited the woman minister from the neighboring Episcopalian chapel to deliver part of the homily (with permission from the bishop). The minister raised her arms mirroring our priest during the consecration later in the mass, but respectfully stood to the side of the sanctuary and did not otherwise participate in communion.

Unless there was a rare permission given from your bishop for your priest to give communion to the woman minister, then the priest’s actions would have been inappropriate.
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Thank you for your comforting words.
The Dian of our city happens to be my confessor, and I told him about it in the confessional as I did feel guilty. He said that the Priest was wrong but "if we always only go by the rules noone will come to church anymore 😦 I felt betrayed by those words, and after he had said that I felt even worse. It was a tough time and I just try not to think about it anymore. I haven’t been back to that ecumenical service, and that church alltogether, anymore ever since.
 
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