Jail ministry: is it okay for non-Catholic prisoners to receive the Eucharist?

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I recently began assisting in a jail ministry program; occasionally we have Mass in the jail. One of the volunteers advocated that it is okay for non-Catholic prisoners to receive the Eucharist as long as they believe it’s the real presence of Jesus Christ.

I know non-Catholics cannot normally receive the Eucharist, but does being incarcerated qualify as a special exception?
 
In our diocese the answer is usually no. We give them a blessing. We just had an inmate make her First Communion last week. Instruction is given by our chapel counsel inmates. However, there is an emergency procedure that we follow for several religions that believe in the real presence. If the inmate is in grave danger of death, believes in the true presence, and requests the Eucharist and all attempts to find a minister or priest from their denomination fails, we give them Communion. I have personally have never had this come up at the prison, but it did come up once when I was in hospital ministry.:blessyou:
 
to-the-point said:
I recently began assisting in a jail ministry program; occasionally we have Mass in the jail. One of the volunteers advocated that it is okay for non-Catholic prisoners to receive the Eucharist as long as they believe it’s the real presence of Jesus Christ.

I know non-Catholics cannot normally receive the Eucharist, but does being incarcerated qualify as a special exception?
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No its not okay. There is no exception. The priest who brought me into the Church 15 years ago (he ran the RCIA program in Singapore) is now the Chaplain of Prisons there and he confirmed this.
 
Sorry to disagree. Go to Catholic Answers and look up -Who can receive Communion and you will find that what I said was true. If you will accept the Catholic Answers expertise. They also have the allowing instructions. It is toward the bottom of the information.

May God bless you. I have been serving in a prison for over five years and received this info from competant sources.

canon 844-4
 
to-the-point said:
I recently began assisting in a jail ministry program; occasionally we have Mass in the jail. One of the volunteers advocated that it is okay for non-Catholic prisoners to receive the Eucharist as long as they believe it’s the real presence of Jesus Christ.

I know non-Catholics cannot normally receive the Eucharist, but does being incarcerated qualify as a special exception?
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No non-Catholics CANNOT receive the eucharist under the conditions you describe. In a mixed liturgy this must be made very clear before the Mass starts by the celebrating priest. The rules for reception of Holy Communion by non-Catholics are not optional.
 
CCC
1415 Anyone who desires to receive Christ in Eucharistic communion must be in the state of grace. Anyone aware of having sinned mortally must not receive communion without having received absolution in the sacrament of penance.
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This is the point that has concerned me regarding the Eucharist in prison.
 
EBSSTF4 said:
CCC

1415 Anyone who desires to receive Christ in Eucharistic communion must be in the state of grace. Anyone aware of having sinned mortally must not receive communion without having received absolution in the sacrament of penance.

This is the point that has concerned me regarding the Eucharist in prison.
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To receive Holy Communion one needs to be in a state of grace. We know this is not optional.

For anyone to receive Holy Communion they need to believe in the Ministerial priesthood for the sacrament of penance. They would need to hold the same belief that we as Catholics hold.
 
Walking_Home said:
To receive Holy Communion one needs to be in a state of grace. We know this is not optional.

For anyone to receive Holy Communion they need to believe in the Ministerial priesthood for the sacrament of penance. They would need to hold the same belief that we as Catholics hold.
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With many inmates denying what they have done, can they truly be in a state of grace?
 
EBSSTF4 said:
With many inmates denying what they have done, can they truly be in a state of grace?
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They can deny it to the authorities—but they cannot deny it to God. For an inmate to receive Holy Communion they do need to be in a state of grace—and for this a priest.
 
EBSSTF4 said:
CCC

This is the point that has concerned me regarding the Eucharist in prison.
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How would anyone know? Would it not be possible for a priest to stop by to hear Confessions. Could he have heard Confessions before Mass without any one knowing except those who asked him to hear their Confessions?

There was a story from Portland, OR. About a microphone that the state had placed in a room where priests heard Confessions. It was removed after the courts said that they could not use any of the information they might have heard.
 
Whoo hoo! I have some experience. When priests visited me in jail to bring me Communion, they easily had time to hear my confession first and they did so with the other inmates too. The sad thing is that the priest wouldn’t have been there at all if I hadn’t been there.

The only jail I’ve been in that had an actual Mass made the rules for receiving Communion clear. I think he even asked if the communicant was Catholic before he gave them the Host. That said, a priest cannot tell if the communicant is really Catholic or if they were worthy of reception. The Mass I attended was total chaos with the inmates yapping and goofing off. It was pretty sad. The poor priest, and you could tell he was frustrated, just carried on.
 
:cool: No it is not.They had an article about Jewish prisoners in Texas prisons.It is kind of a similar situation.It invovled an article about prisoners trying to keep kosher.Of the 861 inmates who claim to be jewish,only 75 are considered bona fide jews by the state’s three Jewish chaplins.
Rabbi Yosef Marrus of San Antonio is among three Jewish chaplains contracted by Texas.As an orthodox rabbi he believes every soul in prison,including the few who are Jewish is worthy of his visist from the free world.

Of the six who attend his monthly meeting at the Connally Unit(Kenedy,Tx)only three are confirmed jewish he said.As such Marrus only permitted those three to pray with Tefillin,the ritual boxes of scpriture bound to the head and arms by jewish men.
Marrus,who has worked with jewish prisoners for 8years,said he’s able to make determinations based on personal interviews,birth and family data and observing an inmate’s behavior and knowledge of the jewish faith.
This is what catholic chaplins should do.
Some prisoners change religions like a pair of sox.To see what privildges etc.they can get.Though there are some who are sincere.
 
Sorry I am not computer literate enough to cut and past.

If you go to the possible exceptions section near the bottom. This comes from Canon Law( 844-4). It says that we may minister the Sacraments to those who are not in full communion with the Catholic Church, if they are in grave danger of death and their own minister is not available. The same requirements apply-they must believe in the true presence and be free of mortal sin.
 
See also Code of Cannon Law 844 section #4

It states that the bishop (We have his permission) may allow the Sacraments (Communion) to someone not in full Communion with the church. In the case of grave danger or danger of death. The usual requirements must be met.

The Canon is online, if you don’t have the books.

God bless you,
Deacon Tony

The apologist on these boards may also be familiar with this.
 
plato3 said:
See also Code of Cannon Law 844 section #4

It states that the bishop (We have his permission) may allow the Sacraments (Communion) to someone not in full Communion with the church. In the case of grave danger or danger of death. The usual requirements must be met.

The Canon is online, if you don’t have the books.

God bless you,
Deacon Tony

The apologist on these boards may also be familiar with this.
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That applies to baptised persons but who are not Catholic and only when in danger of death.
Unless I misunderstood the OP is simply talking about non-Catholic prisoners receving Communion each Sunday. That is not allowed.
 
Agreed. I was responding to the answer that it was never allowed to give communion to a non-catholic inmate. This is a rare exception, but it is good to know as I have ran into this in hospital ministry and was reluctant to give a very ill non-catholic our communion, until it was explained to me. We could not find a minister from her church and she believed in true presence. I would hate to think that I denied a person the right to receive Jesus, when they were near death and then find out that they could have received under Canon 844.

Sorry about the confusion.
 
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