Muslims receive communion??

[The_Reginator]

I just read this on americancatholic.org:

Speaking Oct. 4, Archbishop Jan Lenga of Karaganda, Kazakhstan, called Communion in the hand a “fad.” He proposed that the Vatican issue a universal norm to gradually do away with it and return to Communion on the tongue while kneeling.

The archbishop said Muslims in his predominantly Islamic country consider it disrespectful to receive Communion in the hand while standing. He said Catholics could learn a lot from Orthodox Christians and Muslims about how to show reverence to God.
Link: americancatholic.org/News/Synod/synodcommunion.asp
Why would Muslims be receiving Holy Communion? I thought that would go against their beliefs.

Please enlighten me. Thanks.

 

[elwill]

I just read this on americancatholic.org:

Speaking Oct. 4, Archbishop Jan Lenga of Karaganda, Kazakhstan, called Communion in the hand a “fad.” He proposed that the Vatican issue a universal norm to gradually do away with it and return to Communion on the tongue while kneeling.

The archbishop said Muslims in his predominantly Islamic country consider it disrespectful to receive Communion in the hand while standing. He said Catholics could learn a lot from Orthodox Christians and Muslims about how to show reverence to God.
Link: americancatholic.org/News/Synod/synodcommunion.asp
Why would Muslims be receiving Holy Communion? I thought that would go against their beliefs.

Please enlighten me. Thanks.

there’s no holy communion in islam , i think that he just refere to the point that muslims consider it disrespectful to receive Communion in the hand while standing. , he didn’t say that muslims recieving any Communion themselfs

 

[LilyM]

Muslims can have an opinion on Catholic practices without any personal involvement in the things they’re criticising - for example they can be of the opinion that the Pope is a good moral leader for Christians, without actually acknowledging the Pope as their** own ** spiritual leader.

In other words the article indicates that Muslims know ***of ***the practice and feel that were they in the same position they couldn’t bring themselves to receive Communion in the Hand.

Which isn’t the same thing as saying that they receive Communion under any form themselves.

 

[eichenb2]

I just read this on americancatholic.org:

Speaking Oct. 4, Archbishop Jan Lenga of Karaganda, Kazakhstan, called Communion in the hand a “fad.” He proposed that the Vatican issue a universal norm to gradually do away with it and return to Communion on the tongue while kneeling.

The archbishop said Muslims in his predominantly Islamic country consider it disrespectful to receive Communion in the hand while standing. He said Catholics could learn a lot from Orthodox Christians and Muslims about how to show reverence to God.
Link: americancatholic.org/News/Synod/synodcommunion.asp
Why would Muslims be receiving Holy Communion? I thought that would go against their beliefs.

Please enlighten me. Thanks.

No. You misunderstood it. The Archbishop is suggesting that Muslims may view recieving in the hand as a disrepectful. Even when I was Muslim, I would have agreed.

 

[pismopal]

Muslims can have an opinion on Catholic practices without any personal involvement in the things they’re criticising - for example they can be of the opinion that the Pope is a good moral leader for Christians, without actually acknowledging the Pope as their** own ** spiritual leader.

In other words the article indicates that Muslims know ***of ***the practice and feel that were they in the same position they couldn’t bring themselves to receive Communion in the Hand.

Which isn’t the same thing as saying that they receive Communion under any form themselves.

A good post but my jaw is still hanging at the thought that this would need to be explained

 

[FickleFreckled]

I’m just curious why Muslims would have any opinion on it at all since they don’t believe in the divinity of Jesus or the nature of the Eucharist. If they did, they’d be Catholic Christians and not Muslims. To them, we’re at best deluded and at worst, dangerous heretics.
If Jesus isn’t God, and the Eucharist isn’t Jesus, what difference does it make to them how people receive Communion?

 

[LilyM]

I’m just curious why Muslims would have any opinion on it at all since they don’t believe in the divinity of Jesus or the nature of the Eucharist. If they did, they’d be Catholic Christians and not Muslims. To them, we’re at best deluded and at worst, dangerous heretics.
If Jesus isn’t God, and the Eucharist isn’t Jesus, what difference does it make to them how people receive Communion?

Don’t we have opinions on Muslim practices such as the worship at the Ka’aba shrine, the mandating of the burka for women, and the truth of the Qu’ran even though we don’t believe Muhammad was a true prophet of God? Isn’t it equally true that these beliefs and practices don’t directly affect us (at least those of us not living in the Middle East)? So why then should we comment on them as we do?

 

[Rolltide]

I’m just curious why Muslims would have any opinion on it at all since they don’t believe in the divinity of Jesus or the nature of the Eucharist. If they did, they’d be Catholic Christians and not Muslims. To them, we’re at best deluded and at worst, dangerous heretics.
If Jesus isn’t God, and the Eucharist isn’t Jesus, what difference does it make to them how people receive Communion?

It probably has to do with the deep-seated Muslim / Middle Eastern taboo about using your left hand to handle food (since toilet paper was unknown until modern times). Using it to receive Jesus Himself, even if they believed it was only symbolic, would be a thousand times worse.

 

[dzheremi]

I’m just curious why Muslims would have any opinion on it at all since they don’t believe in the divinity of Jesus or the nature of the Eucharist. If they did, they’d be Catholic Christians and not Muslims. To them, we’re at best deluded and at worst, dangerous heretics.
If Jesus isn’t God, and the Eucharist isn’t Jesus, what difference does it make to them how people receive Communion?

They would probably be Orthodox, as most Christians in Kazakhstan are, not Catholic. Most Christians in Kazakhstan (like Christians in the rest of Central Asia) are ethnic Russians, so they follow the Russian Orthodox Church. The Catholics there are generally Poles, Lithuanians, and Ukrainians, with small minorities within the overall Catholic population (which is less than 2% of the total population to begin with) of Germans and Greeks, since most of these returned to their homelands after Communism collapsed. Kazakhstan was a place where Stalin would send a lot of his undesirables, though (including Catholics!), so there used to be a lot more there then there are now.

I am not surprised that Kazakh Muslims have an opinion on the practices of Christians in their country, though. If you look up the demographics of today’s Kazakhstan, the country is nearly evenly split between the two religions (something like ~50% Muslim and ~45% Christian), so I don’t think this is the case of Muslims picking on anyone, just commenting on what their fellow citizens do. Whether or not their comment is warranted is a matter of personal opinion, I guess. Personally, I would like to start to receive on the tongue as soon as possible, but as I came into the Church after Vatican II and do not have the good fortune to have attended a Latin Mass yet, I am not sure how to go about requesting it or fulfilling it. I wouldn’t go so far as to say that reception in the hand is intrinsically bad, but I have always felt a bit ashamed of it. I honestly have no idea why. It just doesn’t feel right.

 

[Gottle_of_Geer]

I just read this on americancatholic.org:

Speaking Oct. 4, Archbishop Jan Lenga of Karaganda, Kazakhstan, called Communion in the hand a “fad.” He proposed that the Vatican issue a universal norm to gradually do away with it and return to Communion on the tongue while kneeling.

The archbishop said Muslims in his predominantly Islamic country consider it disrespectful to receive Communion in the hand while standing. He said Catholics could learn a lot from Orthodox Christians and Muslims about how to show reverence to God.
Link: americancatholic.org/News/Synod/synodcommunion.asp
Why would Muslims be receiving Holy Communion? I thought that would go against their beliefs.

He doesn’t say they were.​

Please enlighten me. Thanks.

The last sentence may be true. But I would rather learn it from the Church. There is the wonderful devotion of St. Philip Neri & St. Pascal Baylon, & of St. Alphonsus Liguori - but of Muslims ? No, not here How can non-Christians tell us how to receive the Eucharist ? That is silly.​

We must not be fall into “Catholic self-hatred” - it is excellent that reverence is found outside the Church, but it does not follow that we have no examples of reverence within it. Besides, Muslims consider the Incarnation worse than disrespectful - understandably, since much of their teaching is intended to be anti-Christian. Are we expected to follow those whose doctrine is a rejection of ours ? BTW, their own reverence comes in part from Syriac Christian sources.

 

[FickleFreckled]

LilyM,
Yes, we have opinions on the burka for women and other religious customs, but primarily because they affect other people. Communion is received mostly in the “privacy” of a church; it doesn’t affect anyone or impose itself on anyone except the recipient. For them to have an opinion at all about the ritual of communion is as meaningless as a Christian criticizing a prayer rug.

dzheremi,
I wasn’t thinking; of course they’d be Orthodox! So sorry!

Rolltide,
Good point! I’d forgotten that.

Lest anyone think I’m picking on Muslims, I’m not. My last name is Arabic, in fact. I just don’t think their views should be considered a valid argument for or against how Communion should be received.