Is it wrong to receive a blessing from non-catholic clergy?

[Chris_Etzel]

When I was young, my mom’s family was Lutheran, and whenever we’d go to their houses for Easter or Christmas (we always made sure to attend Mass on the vigil or Christmas Eve), they would encourage us to at least get a blessing when we went up for communion. Is this wrong. My parents never took communion, just the blessing as did us kids. Even as a child though I felt this was wrong and was reluctant to go up to a lutheran minister to get blessed.

So is it wrong to go up in the communion line to get blessed. I know non-Catholics who have done this at mass

If you don’t feel comfortable, don’t do it.

I wouldn’t personally walk up there for a blessing. It would be weird because I’m not Lutheran. But if the Pastor walked over to me, I would graciously accept any blessing that is given me. Who am I to say what gifts God wills to bestow upon me or by who he chooses to do it ?

 

[Stilldreamn]

In the LCMS we normally receive first communion at confirmation, usually 13-14. Younger children often accompany their parents (or grandparent, in my case ) and kneel beside them and receive a blessing. This blessing is not sacramental but a way of signing Christ’s love.

 

[Prodigal_Son1]

I invite you to read last Sunday’s gospel reading

Pope: Rejoice when non-Catholics do good

Castel Gandolfo, Italy, Sep 30, 2012 / 01:19 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- Pope Benedict XVI says that Catholics should be delighted whenever non-Catholics do what is good or embrace what is true.

“Members of the Church should not feel jealousy, but rejoice if someone from outside the community does good in the name of Christ, provided this is done with right intention and with respect,” he said during his Sept. 30 Angelus address at Castel Gandolfo.

The Pope was reflecting on the Sunday Gospel, as recorded by St. Mark, in which “a man, who was not the followers of Jesus had cast out demons in his name” when “the Apostle John, young and zealous, wants to stop him, but Jesus will not allow him.”

 

[CatholicServant]

Yes. Here are the Church’s rulings
catholicdoors.com/faq/qu389.htm
Peace to all here.

Very instructive - liturgically then, what are we as faithful practicing Catholics to do when our children are with us at Mass that have yet to receive first holy communion? Are they to sit in the pew until we return?

God bless all and thank you in advance for your responses.

 

[ConstantineTG]

Pope: Rejoice when non-Catholics do good

An Orthodox priest told me as much. “In Orthodoxy we do not pretend that we have a monopoly on grace. Anyone, anywhere can be holy.” Of course part and parcel to that, the Orthodox Church (from their perspective of course) knows the right path to holiness. But they don’t think that non-Orthodox cannot achieve holiness. It’s hard, but not impossible.

 

[JonNC]

Non-Catholic clergy are lay persons. What kind of blessing do you expect to be receiving from them?

Here’s what Catholic bishops say about our ministry:

1. Catholic judgment on the authenticity of Lutheran ministry need not be of an all-or-nothing nature. The Decree on Ecumenism of Vatican II distinguished between relationships of full ecclesiastical communion and those of imperfect communion to reflect the varying degrees of differences with the Catholic Church.(164) The communion of these separated communities with the Catholic Church is real, even though it is imperfect. Furthermore, the decree positively affirmed:

Our separated brothers and sisters also celebrate many sacred actions of the Christian religion. These most certainly can truly engender a life of grace in ways that vary according to the condition of each church or community, and must be held capable of giving access to that communion in which is salvation.(165)

Commenting on this point, Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger, prefect of the Congregation on the Doctrine of the Faith, wrote in 1993 to Bavarian Lutheran bishop Johannes Hanselmann:

I count among the most important results of the ecumenical dialogues the insight that the issue of the eucharist cannot be narrowed to the problem of ‘validity.’ Even a theology oriented to the concept of succession, such as that which holds in the Catholic and in the Orthodox church, need not in any way deny the salvation-granting presence of the Lord [Heilschaffende Gegenwart des Herrn] in a Lutheran [evangelische] Lord’s Supper.(166)

If the actions of Lutheran pastors can be described by Catholics as “sacred actions” that “can truly engender a life of grace,” if communities served by such ministers give “access to that communion in which is salvation,” and if at a eucharist at which a Lutheran pastor presides is to be found “the salvation-granting presence of the Lord,” then Lutheran churches cannot be said simply to lack the ministry given to the church by Christ and the Spirit. In acknowledging the imperfect koinonia between our communities and the access to grace through the ministries of these communities, we also acknowledge a real although imperfect koinonia between our ministries.

nccbuscc.org/seia/koinonia.shtml

Jon

 

[JonNC]

I invite you to read last Sunday’s gospel reading

Thank you, Don. As is often the case, we had the same reading Mark 9, and Numbers 11, as well).

Jon

 

[JonNC]

Then why bother? Anyone can do that, so then why go stand in line at some protestant church for such a so-called “blessing”? I can get that sort of “blessing” from the clerk at WalMart.

A “so-called blessing”.

Mark 9: *John answered him, saying: Master, we saw one casting out devils in thy name, who followeth not us, and we forbade him. 39 But Jesus said: Do not forbid him. For there is no man that doth a miracle in my name, and can soon speak ill of me. 40 For he that is not against you, is for you. 41 For whosoever shall give you to drink a cup of water in my name, because you belong to Christ: amen I say to you, he shall not lose his reward. *

Indeed, a cup of water.

Jon

 

[JonNC]

When I was young, my mom’s family was Lutheran, and whenever we’d go to their houses for Easter or Christmas (we always made sure to attend Mass on the vigil or Christmas Eve), they would encourage us to at least get a blessing when we went up for communion. Is this wrong. My parents never took communion, just the blessing as did us kids. Even as a child though I felt this was wrong and was reluctant to go up to a lutheran minister to get blessed.

So is it wrong to go up in the communion line to get blessed. I know non-Catholics who have done this at mass

there is a family in my parish with a Lutheran dad and a Catholic mom. The kids are being raised Catholic, and they often frequent our altar for a blessing. so does the mom.
they feel welcome and comfortable. But if you feel uncomfortable, then please do not feel compelled to go forward.

Jon

 

[StrawberryJam]

Go ahead and attack me for what I want so badly to share with you.

This fighting within the believers, it’s really taking a toll on me as a non believer.

Is it just me as a non believer, or does it put off others who are believers?

I really understand protocols in a place of worship, but I can not understand what seems to be a lot of petty infighting over things that could be solved if there was a shared goal.

Again, I could be wrong and not understanding the reasons for such disharmony.

 

[Yerusalyim]

A catholic should never receive communion in any church except a Catholic church…or an Orthodox church if a Catholic church is not practical.

Lay people can bless. I bless my children every night…and it is a pious tradition at least amongst Puerto Ricans for children to ask their father for a blessing…ergo…sure…a protestant minister can provide a blessing…but it’s not the same as that received by a priest. I have never asked a protestant minister for a blessing even though I’ve worked with many of them. I have asked (on a regular basis) for a blessing from several Orthodox priests I worked with.
Edited to add…oddly, I have asked a Rabbi I worked with for a blessing…

 

[CMatt25]

Go ahead and attack me for what I want so badly to share with you.

This fighting within the believers, it’s really taking a toll on me as a non believer.

Is it just me as a non believer, or does it put off others who are believers?

I really understand protocols in a place of worship, but I can not understand what seems to be a lot of petty infighting over things that could be solved if there was a shared goal.

Again, I could be wrong and not understanding the reasons for such disharmony.

No attack coming from me Strawberry Jam. No it is not just you my friend. I’m a believer and it puts me off too. But then I may be more ecumenical than the majority of CAF posters. The Principle of my belief is Christ Lord and Savior and it is He who breaks down walls. Where 2 or 3 are gathered in His name, there He is. Peace be with you.

 

[Khalid]

It doesn’t drive me away, but it saddens me that fallen humanity has failed so horribly in Christ’s prayer that we be as one, as he and his Heavenly Father are one.

Truth is truth, and it must be propagated (although it needs no true defense, as it defends itself). Of course, we could abide by Jesus’ word, if we all today decided to convert to Islam, or Judaism; but the spirit of Christ would be lost, and retaining the spirit of Christ is of the utmost importance, and the spirit of Christ is represented by love, and by doctrinal purity.

 

[Irishgal49]

Then why bother? Anyone can do that, so then why go stand in line at some protestant church for such a so-called “blessing”? I can get that sort of “blessing” from the clerk at WalMart.

If a clerk at Walmart said, “God bless you” that’s a blessing. And I gladly accept it in a world that seems to think that everyone should be segregated.

 

[JoeMike]

Go ahead and attack me for what I want so badly to share with you.

This fighting within the believers, it’s really taking a toll on me as a non believer.

Is it just me as a non believer, or does it put off others who are believers?

I really understand protocols in a place of worship, but I can not understand what seems to be a lot of petty infighting over things that could be solved if there was a shared goal.

Again, I could be wrong and not understanding the reasons for such disharmony.

Disagreement is one thing; fighting is another.

We talk about things so that we can share our knowledge, and maybe teach someone something, or learn something from someone. This is not a fight.

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And now, my opinion: Anyone can give a layperson’s blessing. But priests who have valid Holy Orders act “in persona Christi,” and give us Jesus’s blessing.

I’ll take any blessing I can get, but I prefer one from Jesus or from one who is authorized by the Church to act on His behalf.