Is telling a non-Catholic not to receive Communion spiteful or proper?

[rmarsland]

My pastor is upset with me because i told the Lutheran cantor and her husband that they shouldn’t be taking communion since they aren’t Catholic. Obviously, everyone knows if the cantor is receiving communion since they receive before anyone else. I think my big mistake was using the word “scandal”. Anyway, it turns out that this is a very anti-hierarchy ex-catholic Lutheran couple who are now spitting mad. Before leaving the church, the husband said I was spiteful and that the real scandal is our Catholic leadership including even “the current pope now giving a deposition in Texas.” (i think he was implying this was related to sex abuse, but he was too angry for me to really follow what he meant)

My question to you all is, methods aside, was telling them after mass the proper thing for me to do, or should i have discretely notified the pastor? The pastor wants to meet with me tomorrow, and i don’t think he is very happy.

 

[Peggy_Frye]

To notify the priest before approaching this couple may have been the prudent thing to do, but at the time you believed it was your responsibility as a Catholic to inform them of the norms regarding the reception of Holy Communion by non-Catholics. You were not wrong in speaking up.

Nor were you wrong to use the term “scandal” to describe their actions. Perhaps they associated this term with the clergy sex abuse scandal, and thus the negative reaction. The Catechism says that “scandal is an attitude or behavior which leads another to do evil. The person who gives scandal becomes his neighbor’s tempter. He damages virtue and integrity; he may even draw his brother into spiritual death. Scandal is a grave offense if by deed or omission another is deliberately led into a grave offense” (CCC 2284). I will pray for your talk with your pastor. Don’t be discouraged.

*“Celebration of the sacraments is an action of the celebrating community, signifying the oneness in faith, worship and life of the community. Where this unity of sacramental faith is deficient, the participation of the separated with Catholics, especially in the Sacraments of the Eucharist, Penance and Anointing of the Sick, is forbidden.” * (see document for rare exceptions)
Source

Further reading:

Non-Catholics Receiving Holy Communion