My faith is weak on the way communion is done in the contemporary Church

[ccmcmg]

All the same, if I’m not properly disposed, I will more likely attend the Spanish Mass, where half don’t receive. At the English Masses, if you don’t stand in the communion line, you stand out like a sore thumb, figuratively speaking. So make all the comments on judging you want, but I can’t see how it can be avoided.

I suppose it’s perspective. I care more about what God thinks than what my fellow churchgoers think. I really think most of it is in our heads, worrying about what those in attendance think about us. That’s important for Confession too; if we worry about what the priest thinks, as opposed to focusing on God’s Mercy and Forgiveness, that’s a problem. (And even if fellow Catholics do judge us, that’s their problem, not mine. )

 

[SecretCatholic]

If you want a frank answer, what you are really doing is suffering from a confirmation bias. What this means is that you have already come to the conclusion and then interpret all the data as leading to this and only this conclusion.

I don’t think that’s quite fair to say. I think the reasoning is sound. Now, as you explain, there are several parts to committing a mortal sin, and I definitely think that ignorance (that is not having a full understanding) is one which prevents many people from technically being in mortal sin, so that what you are saying is true: they are not in moral sin. But only by a technicality, if you will!

Activities that the Church considers grave matter???

Most families I know participate in such activities as playing sports, participating in school activities, watching TV, housework and family time. The stay at home moms I know also participate in activities like knitting and sewing. Some even paint. Or volunteer their time at school, scouts or as coaches. None of this is grave matter.

I think what is being insinuated here is sexual sin, including birth control, which is common among Catholics. These are indeed “grave matters.”

 

[bouncebanana]

I’m a terrible sinner and most Sunday’s I just stay in my seat or stand to let people by then sit back down. I’ve never really thought about if anyone really else thinks anything about it.
I could really benefit from an early Sunday confession time instead of Saturday (when ours is.)

I do get what you are saying though. Of course, you can’t know if anyone else is in a state of grace but I’m still with you… A lot of them are probably even worse than me.

In my parish, most of them probably just don’t know any better.

 

[maryjk]

I think what is being insinuated here is sexual sin, including birth control, which is common among Catholics. These are indeed “grave matters.”

Ah, yes, the ol’, “they only have one child, they must be using birth control” thought process.

Believe me, I am a sinner. But through the grace of God, I don’t believe I commit a mortal sin, every time I turn around. In fact, I believe mortal sin must have all three conditions. And if it doesn’t, then it isn’t mortal sin.

I also believe that I am strengthened by receiving Christ. He is food for the journey. Refusing Him, because I might have sinned, and somehow not realized it, is wrong. (Which would make it not a sin, since you can’t sin by accident.)

I also don’t watch people going to Communion. I don’t look back to see if anyone stayed in their seat. I go, I return, I pray, then I sing. Maybe my brain isn’t smart enough to do anything else. I am normally just overwhelmed by the love of God, when I receive.

 

[ProVobis]

I don’t think that’s quite fair to say. I think the reasoning is sound. Now, as you explain, there are several parts to committing a mortal sin, and I definitely think that ignorance (that is not having a full understanding) is one which prevents many people from technically being in mortal sin, so that what you are saying is true: they are not in moral sin. But only by a technicality, if you will!

Good way to put it. Anglos seem to be quite creative with it too. And who knows, maybe God will reward us on our choice to stay ignorant and/or in denial. After all it does take work.

 

[ProVobis]

I don’t think that’s quite fair to say. I think the reasoning is sound. Now, as you explain, there are several parts to committing a mortal sin, and I definitely think that ignorance (that is not having a full understanding) is one which prevents many people from technically being in mortal sin, so that what you are saying is true: they are not in moral sin. **But only by a technicality, if you will!
**

I like the way you put it.

I think what is being insinuated here is sexual sin, including birth control, which is common among Catholics. These are indeed “grave matters.”

Among a lot of other things.

After all, “grave” (just like “big” or “small”) is a relative term and everyone measures it differently.

 

[FAB]

I’m a convert this year and this is a particular area that continues to nag and harm me.

With the way communion is done in the contemporary Church, it seems almost masochistic based on my temporal reasoning.

(A) Weekly (or even daily) receiving of the Eucharist is encouraged. It is not normal to just abstain from receiving. It is the norm in any parish across the country for almost everybody to filter up the procession line

(B) It is a mortal sin to receive communion while in mortal sin. Based on statistics and wordly observation, a larger-than-ever demographic of Americans are enamored in various activities that the Church considers to be a grave matter.

(C) Confession is less accessible than in decades

Now, seeing as how human beings are social creatures, how this works is that you’ll have your Sunday Mass, and with the current method, the entire congregation dronefully filters up to receive. If you are not Catholic, you will be a black sheep. If you feel unworthy to receive, you will be a black sheep (this is worse-than-ever in close-knit parishes). People describe this decision as being a private matter in the world of ivory tower theology. On planet Earth, you’re making a visible statement whether you want to or not. It almost seems set up as though the system is intentionally provoking people to sin, like pushing people along a sacramental meat grinder of spiritual mutilation or letting you to dwell among the ostracized.

That is what my human reasoning tells me. As you can see, it isn’t a very optimistic outlook.

On the other hand, I believe the Church is divinely protected by the Holy Spirit. I believe it is the will of Jesus Christ that he be received in the sacrament often. So reason also tells me that somewhere in the above paragraph, I have to have erred somewhere. There has to be something to this entire seemingly insane and suicidal set of circumstances that is wise which I am not appreciating as well as I should. What is it? Can somebody offer me illumination? Is this God’s way of telling people to grow a spine? That’s currently the best explanation I have, which I suppose is a good one.

I believe we should listen more closely to the words of Pope Frances

A sign of God’s openness is “that our church doors should always be open” so that those who seek God “will not find a closed door”; “nor should the doors of the sacraments be closed for simply any reason”. The Eucharist “is not a prize for the perfect but a powerful medicine and nourishment for the weak”.

We are all week and all sinners. We cannot know that someone next to us is less worthy than we are to approach the altar, to do so is a sin in itself.
As such we all come to the mass and Christ in the Eucharist for healing. Let the Lord sort out the sinners, we need to look out for our own spiritualty.
Dcn Frank

 

[TK421]

lol, this thread feels embarrassing now. I was exasperated whenever I was typing it and now I look like such a drama queen.

 

[ccmcmg]

lol, this thread feels embarrassing now. I was exasperated whenever I was typing it and now I look like such a drama queen.

No worries!

This is a ‘fairly’ safe place to vent; sometimes it reinforces us, and sometimes it corrects us. And if we look, we all tend to learn something, whether it’s directly from the thread/posts, or because it makes us think. And most people on this forum have vented a time or two, and some of us might have even been if not wrong, at the least, dramatic.

God bless you,

 

[SecretCatholic]

Ah, yes, the ol’, “they only have one child, they must be using birth control” thought process.

Don’t kill the messenger. However, many Catholics are rather vocal about their views.
maryjk;12009421:

I also don’t watch people going to Communion. I don’t look back to see if anyone stayed in their seat. I go, I return, I pray, then I sing. Maybe my brain isn’t smart enough to do anything else. I am normally just overwhelmed by the love of God, when I receive.

I don’t intentionally “watch” people going to communion, but I am a sensing organism who cannot help but hear and see those round me. I also try to be conscientious and move out of the way for those coming back into the aisle, which requires my being aware of those around me. I might even hear the loud conversation at the next table in a restaurant without meaning to be a snoop!

 

[maryjk]

I don’t intentionally “watch” people going to communion, but I am a sensing organism who cannot help but hear and see those round me. I also try to be conscientious and move out of the way for those coming back into the aisle, which requires my being aware of those around me. I might even hear the loud conversation at the next table in a restaurant without meaning to be a snoop!

Which would tell you who, of those around you, were getting up to get into line.

It would not tell you, if the entire church went up. To do that, you would have to have an eagle eye, watching, the entire time.

That is my point. The *only *way to know if everyone went up, *and *received Communion, would be to watch everyone. Watching everyone is being a snoop.

 

[Mark121359]

Fr. Wade Menezes, CPM is a member of the Fathers of Mercy. He’s one of my favorite Priests on EWTN. I heard him say on Catholic radio that only one third of American Catholics believe in the Real Presence. WOW! One third! Boy, that’s alarming! If that’s true, then there’s little wonder why so many people are going to communion when maybe they shouldn’t be. Fr. Menezes also states that regular confession is necessary, at least once a month…and I believe this as well. Why in the world wouldn’t you want to be as clean as possible when you receive Jesus? I go regularly because it’s a strengthening Sacrament. It is IMHO, ***THE ***most under used of the Sacraments. It doesn’t matter whether you’re regularly committing mortal sin or not. Even regularly committing venial sin does damage to your soul, and weakens you. Venial sin doesn’t make you unworthy of receiving Holy Communion; but it does prevent you from receiving the more abundant graces and blessings which you would otherwise receive from Holy Communion. Here’s some sobering statistics from Fr. Z’s site;

Fascinating and demoralizing reading.

Three-quarters of Catholics report that they never participate in the sacrament of Reconciliation or that they do so less than once a year.

About one in eight Catholics (12 percent), participate in Reconciliation once a year and an identical proportion do so several times a year. Two percent report that they participate in Reconciliation at least once a month. Results of a 2005 poll conducted by CARA with Knowledge Networks show similar patterns of participation in this sacrament.

That’s appalling to me. Considering some of the things that Catholics are embracing nowadays, such as so-called SSM, abortion, contraception, divorce, etc., these are very, very serious issues. Even those who go to Mass regularly are embracing them. The last thing on earth they should be doing, is going up and receiving Holy Communion. I can’t even imagine a greater sacrilege than that! You have to be concerned that they’re putting their very souls in grave danger. Now, if pointing out these facts ruffles some feathers, and makes people feel uncomfortable, and they want to say that I’m being judgmental…then so be it! I’ve been called worse.

Peace, Mark

 

[TK421]

Yes, material like this is appalling to read. I would have thought that a Church which defines things in such exact terms would have a distinct advantage over congregations whose belief system is much looser, and yet that isn’t the case. It might even be the opposite. I still can’t wrap my brain around why that is. It’s all there, in company boilerplate.

I guess it makes sense though. If there’s no belief in transubstantiation, then why not go up? What is there to love or fear about a piece of bread?

 

[Angel_Bradford]

Yes, but your state of grace is almost a dead giveaway to most who walk past you to communion. It’s easy to say “none of your business” but is that your feeling really?

I don’t think that staying in the pew infers anything other that you have chosen not to receive Communion at that particular Mass. Your reasons are between you and God.

 

[ProVobis]

I don’t think that staying in the pew infers anything other that you have chosen not to receive Communion at that particular Mass.

In that case, then you’re not looking like part of their community, which to many people is worse.

 

[Angel_Bradford]

In that case, then you’re not looking like part of their community, which to many people is worse.

How is it possibly anybody’s business why I may choose not to receive Communion? Not to mention the fact that there could be several reasons why and none of them have to do with the do state of my soul.

 

[SecretCatholic]

It would not tell you, if the entire church went up. To do that, you would have to have an eagle eye, watching, the entire time.

That is my point. The *only *way to know if everyone went up, *and *received Communion, would be to watch everyone. Watching everyone is being a snoop.

I thought it went without saying that when somebody says “everyone went up”, they are really meaning, generally speaking “the majority of people went up”, unless it was a very small congregation where it was obvious.

I doubt the poster meant “everyone” in the literal sense. If that was what was meant and it was not a very small congregation, then I agree, that is being “a snoop”, but I don’t think it was!

 

[maryjk]

I thought it went without saying that when somebody says “everyone went up”, they are really meaning, generally speaking “the majority of people went up”, unless it was a very small congregation where it was obvious.

I doubt the poster meant “everyone” in the literal sense. If that was what was meant and it was not a very small congregation, then I agree, that is being “a snoop”, but I don’t think it was!

Well, according to her post, she didn’t mean a majority went to Communion.

OP-- I think logic allows us to reasonably assume that in some situations some people are most likely taking communion when they shouldn’t be. I’ve been to mass with hundreds of people **where literally every single one **takes communion…and I was one of about three people at confession week after week. So logically it’s probable (though not absolutely certain) that some of these people shouldn’t be taking communion.

 

[Tigg]

lol, this thread feels embarrassing now. I was exasperated whenever I was typing it and now I look like such a drama queen.

Welcome to the Church! Not to worry - your journey is only really beginning.

As a mature, committed and traditional Catholic I often grieve over certain things I see and hear in the contemporary Church and believe me when I say I try my hardest to close my eyes, but regardless of the effort…it is still there before me, sometimes to make me angry or sad and sometimes just to make me pray upon what I perceive.

There are many things that can cause angst to our Catholic sense if one is committed to the spiritual life and somewhat savvy as to the current state of the Church. We have changed parishes over many things we have found intolerable and currently, we are discerning if we should even leave this diocese by selling our home. I digress, but the reality is that parishes can be as different as night and day and a truly holy pastor has much influence over the daily happenings, as his good intent has a way of countering the bad. I am learning (and it is a process) that in my distress I can plead with God and say…“see, look here, Lord…surely this is not a good thing, nor pleasing to You, yet I know I do not always see things with Your eyes, so purify this moment for my own good and correct those things that need to be corrected.” It’s similar to the “offering up” of daily discouragements and mini trials and the spiritual masters have encouraged this.

Blessings along the way!