Non-Catholics attending Roman Catholic mass

[everyoneshero]

My story is similar to Cat’s, I started attending mass with my ex-boyfriend who is Catholic. I had to work every Sunday and I was really getting down about not being able to go to church so he invited me and I enjoyed it although it was different than what I was used to. Most of my friends are Catholic and I hang out with them a lot, sometimes I feel like the odd person out but they try their best to make me feel welcome in most situations. In saying this my friends are not my only reason for attending mass. I love Jesus and I really enjoy the homily.

 

[jmcrae]

As a protestant would I be in “trouble” if I did take communion at a rcc?

From God only; it’s a sin against God.

The people in the parish would most likely not say anything to you. Although if someone present there knew you were a Protestant, they might speak to you afterwards to make sure you knew that we don’t practice “open communion,” and the requirements (which are God’s requirements; they’re not just a random invention of human beings in the Church) for receiving First Holy Communion in the Catholic Church.

 

[CWBetts]

I couldn’t attend Mass without receiving the Eucharist. I wonder how others can do this…

I attended Mass (without recieving) for more than a year before enrolling in RCIA. Mass is NOT a “members only” event! Recieving the Eucharist, of course, is. How can we get converts if they can’t come and hear?

 

[jmcrae]

Vanquisher, confession can be made now just once a year. Although I go much more often, that’s the rule today. It is harder to know you are conscious of sin, rather than not knowing you have sinned.

We are required to go to Confession every time we need to go. You can’t just go at set intervals and expect to be “covered” for sins committed in between times.

You have to go at the next opportunity after you commit the sin, before you again receive Holy Communion.

Once a year is the absolute minimum.

 

[CWBetts]

Vanquisher, confession can be made now just once a year. Although I go much more often, that’s the rule today. It is harder to know you are conscious of sin, rather than not knowing you have sinned.

Once a year does not cut it. If you are concious of grave sin, you may not present yourself for COmmunion until confession is made.

 

[Church_Militant]

As a protestant would I be in “trouble” if I did take communion at a rcc?

Yes!

If you do not accept the doctrines of the Eucharistic Real Presence of Christ then you need to refrain from receiving communion. You may approach the priest with your hands folded in an X over your chest and then bow your head to receive a blessing, but under no circumstance should you attempt to take communion.

Pope John Paul II The Great taught as follows:

                43. In considering the Eucharist as the sacrament of ecclesial                     communion, there is one subject which, due to its importance, must not be                     overlooked: I am referring to the *relationship of the Eucharist to                     ecumenical activity*. We should all give thanks to the Blessed Trinity for                     the many members of the faithful throughout the world who in recent decades                     have felt an ardent desire for unity among all Christians. The Second Vatican                     Council, at the beginning of its Decree on Ecumenism, sees this as a special                     gift of God.89 It was an efficacious grace which inspired us, the sons and daughters of the                     Catholic Church and our brothers and sisters from other Churches and Ecclesial                     Communities, to set forth on the path of ecumenism.

Our longing for the goal of unity prompts us to turn to the Eucharist, which is the supreme sacrament of the unity of the People of God, in as much as it is the apt expression and the unsurpassable source of that unity.90 In the celebration of the Eucharistic Sacrifice the Church prays that God, the Father of mercies, will grant his children the fullness of the Holy Spirit so that they may become one body and one spirit in Christ.91 In raising this prayer to the Father of lights, from whom comes every good endowment and every perfect gift (cf. *Jas *1:17), the Church believes that she will be heard, for she prays in union with Christ her Head and Spouse, who takes up this plea of his Bride and joins it to that of his own redemptive sacrifice.

1. Precisely because the Church’s unity, which the Eucharist brings about through the Lord’s sacrifice and by communion in his body and blood, absolutely requires full communion in the bonds of the profession of faith, the sacraments and ecclesiastical governance, it is not possible to celebrate together the same Eucharistic liturgy until those bonds are fully re-established. Any such concelebration would not be a valid means, and might well prove instead to be an obstacle, to the attainment of full communion, by weakening the sense of how far we remain from this goal and by introducing or exacerbating ambiguities with regard to one or another truth of the faith. The path towards full unity can only be undertaken in truth. In this area, the prohibitions of Church law leave no room for uncertainty,92 in fidelity to the moral norm laid down by the Second Vatican Council.93

I would like nonetheless to reaffirm what I said in my Encyclical Letter *Ut Unum Sint *after having acknowledged the impossibility of Eucharistic sharing: “And yet we do have a burning desire to join in celebrating the one Eucharist of the Lord, and this desire itself is already a common prayer of praise, a single supplication. Together we speak to the Father and increasingly we do so ‘with one heart’”.94

1. While it is never legitimate to concelebrate in the absence of full communion, the same is not true with respect to the administration of the Eucharist* under special circumstances, to individual persons *belonging to Churches or Ecclesial Communities not in full communion with the Catholic Church. In this case, in fact, the intention is to meet a grave spiritual need for the eternal salvation of an individual believer, not to bring about an *intercommunion *which remains impossible until the visible bonds of ecclesial communion are fully re-established.

…

These conditions, from which no dispensation can be given, must be carefully respected, even though they deal with specific individual cases, because the denial of one or more truths of the faith regarding these sacraments and, among these, the truth regarding the need of the ministerial priesthood for their validity, renders the person asking improperly disposed to legitimately receiving them. And the opposite is also true: Catholics may not receive communion in those communities which lack a valid sacrament of Orders.98

The faithful observance of the body of norms established in this area 99 is a manifestation and, at the same time, a guarantee of our love for Jesus Christ in the Blessed Sacrament, for our brothers and sisters of different Christian confessions – who have a right to our witness to the truth – and for the cause itself of the promotion of unity.

 

[Church_Militant]

Once a year does not cut it. If you are conscious of grave sin, you may not present yourself for Communion until confession is made.

More importantly, no one would want to risk an untimely or accidental death that might put one before Our Lord with such a sin having killed one’s state of grace.

 

[NDfan]

Keep coming.
As a Catholic, I have also attended services with my non-Catholic brothers and sisters. We simply cannot share each others communion because to do so would imply a unity that is still incomplete.
Welcome.

So doesn’t the practice of not sharing communion fuel the division?? Why not start sharing communion which then would foster unity? Seems we’re doing it backwards.

PEACE

 

[Church_Militant]

So doesn’t the practice of not sharing communion fuel the division?? Why not start sharing communion which then would foster unity? Seems we’re doing it backwards.

PEACE

No, we cannot bear false witness to them of a unity that does not really exist at this time.

To share communion implies shared doctrinal agreement, and that does not exist.

JPII’s great encyclical Ecclesia De Eucharistia lays it all out very plainly.

We long for and hope for unity, but so far…

We cannot even infer a compromise in this matter as that would be deceptive and counter to real unity.

Hope that clears that up for you.

 

[JonNC]

So doesn’t the practice of not sharing communion fuel the division?? Why not start sharing communion which then would foster unity? Seems we’re doing it backwards.

PEACE

For me, the sad innability of Catholics and Lutherans (my case) to share the Eucharist should be a condition that prods us to continue to seek unity.

Jon

 

[JonNC]

To share communion implies shared doctrinal agreement, and that does not exist.

yet.

 

[CWBetts]

Until it does, Communion should not be shared.

 

[JonNC]

Until it does, Communion should not be shared.

Agreed. Except perhaps in our prayers and our love for each other.

Jon

 

[Vanquisher]

As a protestant would I be in “trouble” if I did take communion at a rcc?

Yes, you would be partaking of it to your own damnation, as St. Paul says.

 

[Vanquisher]

For me, the sad innability of Catholics and Lutherans (my case) to share the Eucharist should be a condition that prods us to continue to seek unity.

Jon

The only unity we should seek is your conversion to the Roman Catholic Church.

 

[reteeks21]

Yes, you would be partaking of it to your own damnation, as St. Paul says.

Oh well. Sucks for me, I guess.

 

[DebChris]

As a protestant would I be in “trouble” if I did take communion at a rcc?

The Catholic Church does not ask for a person’s “membership card” when he or she approaches the altar for communion. It relies on personal conscience. A Catholic who knows a person to be non-Catholic might approach him/her after Mass. You are not responsible for what you do not know.
Receiving communion means acceptance of what the Catholic Church teaches. In the same way, were I to receive communion in a non-Catholic church I would be submitting to the teachings of Luther or Calvin or whoever.
During the Mass we are fed by the Word of God. We are also fed during the Eucharistic banquet by Christ himself.
A child must reach the age of reason before receiving communion. it is important to know the significance of Him whom we receive.
As another poster mentioned, while not required to meet the requirements of attending Mass, there is “something missing” when Communion is not received whenever I attend Mass. It can be especially painful for those who have remarried outside the Church since that second marriage is considered adultery and therefore a sin that keeps the couple from receiving the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ. Mortal sin separates us from Christ and from the Eucharist. Venial sins are forgiven through receipt of the Sacrament.
It is easy for this thread to stray from the original post.
Yes, non-Catholics are welcome to join us in worship at Mass even if we must regrettably refuse reception of the Eucharist. You remain our brothers and sisters in Christ.

 

[reteeks21]

The Catholic Church does not ask for a person’s “membership card” when he or she approaches the altar for communion. It relies on personal conscience. A Catholic who knows a person to be non-Catholic might approach him/her after Mass. You are not responsible for what you do not know.
Receiving communion means acceptance of what the Catholic Church teaches. In the same way, were I to receive communion in a non-Catholic church I would be submitting to the teachings of Luther or Calvin or whoever.
During the Mass we are fed by the Word of God. We are also fed during the Eucharistic banquet by Christ himself.
A child must reach the age of reason before receiving communion. it is important to know the significance of Him whom we receive.
As another poster mentioned, while not required to meet the requirements of attending Mass, there is “something missing” when Communion is not received whenever I attend Mass. It can be especially painful for those who have remarried outside the Church since that second marriage is considered adultery and therefore a sin that keeps the couple from receiving the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ. Mortal sin separates us from Christ and from the Eucharist. Venial sins are forgiven through receipt of the Sacrament.
It is easy for this thread to stray from the original post.
Yes, non-Catholics are welcome to join us in worship at Mass even if we must regrettably refuse reception of the Eucharist. You remain our brothers and sisters in Christ.

I like what you have to say here. Thanks for explaining it to me. What if I agree with a great deal of what the rcc teaches but not all of it? What if a catholic is in the same boat?

 

[jmcrae]

I like what you have to say here. Thanks for explaining it to me. What if I agree with a great deal of what the rcc teaches but not all of it?

Keep studying, keep praying, and keep coming to Mass. When you are ready, go through the process of conversion through the RCIA, so that you can begin to receive the Sacraments.

What if a catholic is in the same boat?

If he’s already Catholic, he should do his best to educate himself on the teachings of the Church, and make frequent use of the Confessional, whenever he needs it.

 

[reteeks21]

Keep studying, keep praying, and keep coming to Mass. When you are ready, go through the process of conversion through the RCIA, so that you can begin to receive the Sacraments.

If he’s already Catholic, he should do his best to educate himself on the teachings of the Church, and make frequent use of the Confessional, whenever he needs it.

Thanks for the encouragement! I’m still confused a bit, though. Help me out. Why is their a difference between a non-cath and a cath in receiving communion if neither accept all the teachings of the church? Maybe I need to stop analyzing it too much!