Must I tell my co-worker she can't have Communion?

[anneline]

My co-worker is Episcopalian. We have talked about our faiths and one day when I was stepping out for daily Mass she said, “Oh, you’re going to the church a block away. I go there on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday since I can’t make it to my church.” I said “Really?” assuming she was thinking of another church nearby and she replied, “When I go to church, I try to make sure to go to Catholic or Episcopalian Mass.”

She has discussed with me a few times that Episcopalians and Catholics are pretty much the same. I have to tread carefully since she is my co-worker so I usually just talk about my Catholic faith, but nothing too controversial. The other day she mentioned that we should go to Mass together on Ash Wednesday. Do I have an obligation to discuss with her that Catholic Communion is for Catholics only? I think that I should stay out of it and that it’s really none of my business. Is this incorrect?

 

[Michelle_Arnold]

So far, there has been no reason to offer her information on Catholic Communion protocol since all she has told you is that she attends a Catholic Mass occasionally. Non-Catholics are welcome to do so, and you would be correct to charitably assume that she is observing proper Communion protocol when she goes on her own.

Now, though, she has suggested going to Mass together on Ash Wednesday. If you do go together, it would be appropriate to give her Communion protocol information, just in case. One way to do so might be to ask her when you’ve both settled into the pew: “Oh, I meant to ask you [as if you were just remembering to do so], have you had a chance to read the guidelines for reception of Communion?” If she says no, show her the Communion guidelines on the inside front cover of the missalettes that are usually stocked in the pew. If she says yes, or says she knows Catholic Communion protocol, leave it at that.

Your responsibility is merely to make certain at an appropriate time and place that a non-Catholic has the information necessary to make a rightly-informed decision about receiving Communion. What that person does with that information then becomes her own responsibility.