Non-confirmed adult taking comunion

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InspiritCarol

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A friend of mine has an adult son who refuses to become a confirmed Catholic because he disagrees with how Catholicism limits who can receive the host. He is mostly AOG in beliefs and practices. He currently attends a “Bible College” in Redding, CA.
  1. If he doesn’t fully believe in/ understand eucharist, should he be allowed to partake?
  2. Is the onus on me to inform the current priest of his misunderstanding? My inclination, in that case would be for me to speak with the young man about his going to the priest with his issues (or a priest), and certainly inform him before I were to do so.
I consider the young man a friend as well and only want to do right by him and his family as well as his church family.
 
InspiritCarol,
  1. No
  2. I would mention it to the Priest. Father will choose the best way to handle the situation.
 
a) A person does not have to be **confirmed **to recieve; they must only be:
---- Baptised
---- State of Grace

Now; onto your questions specifically;
  1. If he does not understand the Eucharist he should speak to his Priest; if he does not - perhaps you could advise the Priest about the situation and ask for advice. However; it is clear that even if he recieves without the correct disposition; the effacity of the sacrament is delayed until the disposition is present. Yet; if he is both in a state of Grace; and Baptised then the Sacrament has effacity for him immediatly; it may be the case that his beliefs constitute a Grave (and therefore **possibly **Mortal) sin against his grace; thus delaying the effacity of the Sacrament; however it may not be the case as he may not have the required knowlege to constitute a mortal sin even if Gravity is present. This is probably why you should speak to a Priest and get more detailed and specific advice on the matter.
  2. You are obligated under James 5;20 to admonish the sinners; it is also one of the Spiritual Works of Mercy. You may wish to speak to this man and encourage him to see a Priest; and if he does not; you should Go to the Priest for advice yourself. However;
It would also not be immoral of you to go to a Priest beforehand so as that you may have Full knowlege of where he stands; that you will be better equipped to advise your Friend. It would be foolish of you to go ill-prepared to your friend; so speaking to a Priest yourself - First would probably be the best course of action.

👍
 
My gut feeling would be that if he doesn’t fully believe what the Catholic Church teaches about Holy Communion then he shouldn’t receive it. and with respect to the other posters I think the first thing to do would be to speak to this person to get a clear picture of what’s going on and see what he truly believes about the Eucharist, then speak to (or better yet get him to speak to) father when you have solid information. If his sympathies are mainly AOG then an appeal through St Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians may help you out. (Specifically 1 Corinthians 11:23-34). And if he will listen the Catechisms’ information on the Eucharist (CCC1322-1419) with numbers 1398-1401 dealing with our separated brethren.
 
=InspiritCarol;6914862]1) If he doesn’t fully believe in/ understand eucharist, should he be allowed to partake?
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Absolutely not. When the priest says “body of Christ” and he says “Amen” that means that he accepts that the Eucharist is the body of Christ and the he is in communion with all that the Church teaches.
  1. Is the onus on me to inform the current priest of his misunderstanding? My inclination, in that case would be for me to speak with the young man about his going to the priest with his issues (or a priest), and certainly inform him before I were to do so.
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I would tell him that if he doesn’t believe that he cannot partake. He is bringing judgment upon himself as Paul clearly tells us in 1 Cor. 11:27-30

A lot of Catholics take the Eucharist without a correct understand of exactly what it is they are doing. but this young man openly rejects the teachings of the Church with full consent and he should not receive.
 
He sounds like one of the many misguided people out there that seem to think they are teaching the Church a lesson or punishing it by avoiding a sacrament.

Not everyone that receives the Blessed Sacrament understands it as it is taught in the Catechism - due to poor teaching, poor parenting, or any one of the many other circumstance that may have befallen them.
 
You don’t have to be confirmed to take communion. As to whether or not his state of mind is such he should be taking communion you have no way of knowing. That is between him and his priest. Not between him, his priest, his parent and his parent’s friend. If he knows enough about the rules to know some are excluded he knows enough to know when he should not take communion.

Personally, I don’t think this is your business and you should stay out of it. His parent is the one that should be going to the priest or talking to their adult child if they feel it is needed. Unless he has spoken directly to you about his beliefs you have no way of knowing if his parent has conveyed his thoughts properly.

If he is a young man attending college let him find his own way. Lots of college students take that time to re-think their beliefs. If you come down on him too harshly you may do more harm than good.

If you absolutely have to say something tell him to talk to the priest because you think the priest does a good job helping people figure things out.
 
InspiritCarol said:
A friend of mine has an adult son who refuses to become a confirmed Catholic because he disagrees with how Catholicism limits who can receive the host. He is mostly AOG in beliefs and practices. He currently attends a “Bible College” in Redding, CA.
  1. If he doesn’t fully believe in/ understand eucharist, should he be allowed to partake?
  2. Is the onus on me to inform the current priest of his misunderstanding? My inclination, in that case would be for me to speak with the young man about his going to the priest with his issues (or a priest), and certainly inform him before I were to do so.
I consider the young man a friend as well and only want to do right by him and his family as well as his church family.
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If I were you - I would charitably inform the parties involved about what consitutes the Sin of Sacriledge. The Sin of Sacriledge is a Mortal Sin. Ultimately - once an individual is aware of what constitutes the Sin of Sacriledge then its up to them to avoid that Sin and thus not be a scandal to their neighbor. Perhaps even confess it and amend their life. Hate the Sin but love the Sinner. So long as your motivation is Charity for your Neighbor out of your love and fidelity for GOD - you have done your duty as a Catholic.

Pax
 
Unfortunately, I doubt he will ever be refused once he presents himself.
 
InspiritCarol said:
A friend of mine has an adult son who refuses to become a confirmed Catholic because he disagrees with how Catholicism limits who can receive the host. He is mostly AOG in beliefs and practices. He currently attends a “Bible College” in Redding, CA.
  1. If he doesn’t fully believe in/ understand eucharist, should he be allowed to partake?
Click to expand...
The issue is not that he doesn’t understand it (because, who can truly say that they understand it?) but rather, that he opposes what he does understand of it. It is because of his opposition to what he does understand of it that takes away his ability to partake of it; not his lack of understanding.
  1. Is the onus on me to inform the current priest of his misunderstanding? My inclination, in that case would be for me to speak with the young man about his going to the priest with his issues (or a priest), and certainly inform him before I were to do so.
Click to expand...
I consider the young man a friend as well and only want to do right by him and his family as well as his church family.
Click to expand...
What you should do is approach him as a friend and let him know that, in his current situation, he is separating himself from full holy communion with the Church.

I also don’t think that the AOG would look favorably on him coming to Mass and receiving Catholic Holy Communion either, so you could recommend to him not only to discuss his issues with a good, orthodox priest, but also to discuss his issues with his AOG pastor, as well, to receive enough data to decide which side of the fence he wants to land on. Obviously, you want him to decide for the Catholic side (which means that you have to pray before, during, and after every time you speak to him), but at the same time, things can’t really continue as they are.
 
Did I REALLY think you guys would let me off the hook?

~sigh~ Doing what’s right is never that easy. … Really, I’ve know about this for about a year now, and I’ve prayed on it quite a bit. It’s not that it bothers my personal sensibilities so much as there’s just been that little itch at the back of my conscience telling me that I ought to help in some way here.

My biggest fear is that I would proceed incorrectly and accidentally push this family away through clumsiness. I love them dearly and think they are very God-centric; just very confused about exactly what “communion” entails.

Pray for them please. Pray that I don’t misstep here.

Maybe I should show the young man this thread and see what he thinks.

Thanks.
 
Confirmation is not required for one to receive. Only baptism.

But I think the issue here is not confirmation, but the disposition of the person receiving which would disqualify him.
 
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