Made a mistake

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thednt

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Went to Vigil Mass this evening at local Catholic church this evening (as an Anglican).

Took Holy Communion without thinking (ie not in Communion with the Catholic Church).

Priest gave me the deserved ticking off afterwards when he realised who I was (oops).

From a Catholic POV, is this a serious error I have committed?

To be honest, I was on auto-pilot as the words and rite of the Mass were in many ways similar to C of E worship. Nothing malicious intended.
 
Holy cow. You really forgot you were not at a mass? That seems surprising to me. I guess when I am at a Protestant service I am usually praying for unity among Christians and that reminds me that there is no real consecration, we are not in full communion, etc.

None the less, I don’t think you need to confess this or anything because you did it so unconsciously. I would maybe examine how you normally receive the Eucharist. It is really easy for us to all fall into autopilot but I think we have a tremendous responsibility to be diligent in reverence in receiving the Body and Blood of Christ. It seems that maybe this attentiveness maybe lacking or you might have been more in tune with the fact that you were not at mass. This is an issue that I have confessed before- the autopilot issue.
 
wow. you accidentally received the Body and Blood of Christ. you might want to examine how attentive you are when receiving communion in your own denomination, because i am sure you might want to be attentive and not in autopilot. for me when i am attending a service at a protestant denomination i am constantly praying for christian unity and charity…so that helps to keep me clued in that this is not a catholic mass. i am not trying to judge- i have often been in autopilot during the mass, but we must be diligent to keep our reverent attention where it needs to be.
 
rachael_maria said:
wow. you accidentally received the Body and Blood of Christ. you might want to examine how attentive you are when receiving communion in your own denomination, because i am sure you might want to be attentive and not in autopilot. for me when i am attending a service at a protestant denomination i am constantly praying for christian unity and charity…so that helps to keep me clued in that this is not a catholic mass. i am not trying to judge- i have often been in autopilot during the mass, but we must be diligent to keep our reverent attention where it needs to be.
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Ya

You’re right.

I feel a right idiot. Needless to say this did not go down well with local Catcholic Priest.

I will be back at 9am Mass tomorrow to ‘start again’ as it where.

In my own defence, I had an 18 hour shift on callout before attending. MUST TRY HARDER.
 
Yeah, it might be wise to let the priest know, if he doesn’t already, that you did not intentionally go against the restriction of Holy Communion to Catholics.

Once, before my actual conversion to the faith, I went forward at a Mass and received Holy Communion- (in a state of mortal sin even.) I did this because I was trying to “feel” the Presence of God. I completely knew better, but rationalized it in my mind. Very, very foolish. Now, as a Catholic, I know that I must have a very deep devotion to the Eucharistic Savior in reparation. How I regret that sacreligious communion!

In your case, there was no intended sin.
 
rachael_maria said:
wow. you accidentally received the Body and Blood of Christ. you might want to examine how attentive you are when receiving communion in your own denomination, because i am sure you might want to be attentive and not in autopilot. for me when i am attending a service at a protestant denomination i am constantly praying for christian unity and charity…so that helps to keep me clued in that this is not a catholic mass. i am not trying to judge- i have often been in autopilot during the mass, but we must be diligent to keep our reverent attention where it needs to be.
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Was the poster inattentive to what was being received, or to where it was being received? I think charity obliges one to assume the latter.

Mortal sin requires grave matter, full knowledge and full consent. While receiving as a non-Catholic is a grave matter and you had the knowledge that it was wrong, it doesn’t appear that you had any intent to do wrong. God is very patient with unintentional errors. 👍
 
As an Anglican you are not in union with Rome and therefore our tenets of faith are not binding on you as far as your culpablity goes. You should know that the Catholic Church does not allow for others to receive the Eucharist because that signifies unity and that unity does not exist until you are Catholic. The Catholic priest should not have read you the riot act but should have been more pastoral in his explanation. It seems, however, that you are aware of what you did and that this most likely won’t happen again. You cannot go to confession ( and no sin may have been committed) so just speak with a priest in your Church and follow his or her advice… teachccd
 
teachccd said:
As an Anglican you are not in union with Rome and therefore our tenets of faith are not binding on you as far as your culpablity goes. You should know that the Catholic Church does not allow for others to receive the Eucharist because that signifies unity and that unity does not exist until you are Catholic. The Catholic priest should not have read you the riot act but should have been more pastoral in his explanation. It seems, however, that you are aware of what you did and that this most likely won’t happen again. You cannot go to confession ( and no sin may have been committed) so just speak with a priest in your Church and follow his or her advice… teachccd
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So, I went along for 9am Mass, said my apologies, stated it was a mistake and unintentional, did not take Mass this morning and all sorted.

A lesson learned, the hard way!
 
I can’t understand the priest’s harsh response. He shouldn’t have made you feel so much in the wrong, but given you the benefit of the doubt and corrected you very gently. I hope he realises how badly he handles the situation.

How was his attitude when you went back?
 
paperwight66 said:
I can’t understand the priest’s harsh response. He shouldn’t have made you feel so much in the wrong, but given you the benefit of the doubt and corrected you very gently. I hope he realises how badly he handles the situation.

How was his attitude when you went back?
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Warm.

Didn’t get much chance to talk as there are several services this morning, but was handed a copy of the Magnificat for March 2011 to read, inwardly digest and contemplate on.

If I go through with RCIA, I am prepared for the fact that this will take a full year as I’m to late for the coming Easter. Also, this is a difficult journey (not a difficult decision) and has to be handled with care, love and prayer.
 
I’m so glad he was warm. Perhaps he realised he was too strict the first time, or perhaps it was an uncharacteristic blip for him. I recall a bit of good advice my mother gave me when I felt someone had been off with me, which was that to remember that i didn’t know what the situation or person had been like that the ‘offender’ had just dealt with before speaking to me.
I think you have been so humble and kind in your reaction, and I wish you every blessing.
I used to be an Anglican too, and one Sunday I absentmindedly lifted both hands to my mouth after receiving the Host like it was done in the C of E I used to attend, rather than pick up the host with my other hand. Imagine my horror when this was quoted in a sermon the following Sunday as an example of not being reverent! It still hurts thinking about it. I didn’t go back to the priest to explain, because I knew it would have upset me so much to go over it again. I wish now that I had, but it’s too late now, the priest is dead now.
 
thednt said:
Went to Vigil Mass this evening at local Catholic church this evening (as an Anglican).

Took Holy Communion without thinking (ie not in Communion with the Catholic Church).

Priest gave me the deserved ticking off afterwards when he realised who I was (oops).

From a Catholic POV, is this a serious error I have committed?

To be honest, I was on auto-pilot as the words and rite of the Mass were in many ways similar to C of E worship. Nothing malicious intended.
Click to expand...
Qui dormit non peccavit. No one sins unintentionally, and constant vigilance is not possible.

You accepted the priest’s thick with humility, and God likes the humble minds.
 
paperwight66 said:
I can’t understand the priest’s harsh response. He shouldn’t have made you feel so much in the wrong, but given you the benefit of the doubt and corrected you very gently. I hope he realises how badly he handles the situation.

How was his attitude when you went back?
Click to expand...
Sometimes my adult children misinterpret my tone of voice when I am expressing concern over this or that. I love my children. I want them to do what is right. So when my tone seems to get a little stern it is more out of concern than anger. It may have been the same with the priest.
 
paperwight66 said:
I can’t understand the priest’s harsh response. He shouldn’t have made you feel so much in the wrong, but given you the benefit of the doubt and corrected you very gently. I hope he realises how badly he handles the situation.

How was his attitude when you went back?
Click to expand...
One never knows what may be affecting a priest at a given time. One morning a former pastor was biting everyone’s head off. We just stayed out of his way. We found out later that he was on his way to say a funeral mass for the teenage son of some friends, who had committed suicide.
 
thednt said:
Warm.

Didn’t get much chance to talk as there are several services this morning, but was handed a copy of the Magnificat for March 2011 to read, inwardly digest and contemplate on.

If I go through with RCIA, I am prepared for the fact that this will take a full year as I’m to late for the coming Easter. Also, this is a difficult journey (not a difficult decision) and has to be handled with care, love and prayer.
Click to expand...
Dont be so hard on yourself. God sees your heart. Be patient some things have to be done in Gods time and it dose`nt always correspond to our time. Till you finish RCIA ask the
Lord since you cannot now recieve the Eucharist to come at least spiritualy into your
heart. Remember The Lord is God and nothing is impossible for Him. Pax;)
 
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