Answer this: say I’m traveling on a journey–it is Sunday and the only church that I can reach on that day is Orthodox.
Of course they don’t allow me as a Catholic to receive. Would it be a sin to not tell them that I was Catholic and go and receive anyway?
Yes, it would be a sin. Don’t do it.
Well maybe this would be a better question–would God care more about me not telling them I was Catholic and want me to receive without telling them–or would He care more for me not telling them?
In other words is not telling someone something them the same thing as me lying to them–if I am not asked?
Not always, but in *this *particular hypothetical scenario,
yes, your silence does constitute a lie. Because you
know Orthodox do not commune Catholics, and you
know it would be a violation from their point of view for them to administer the Holy Eucharist to you. For you to take advantage of sincere ignorance would be a sin against the eighth commandment - and in this case, a grave sin since this involves the Holy Mysteries.
Furthermore, silent deceit isn’t likely to get you Communion at an Orthodox temple. Especially if it’s a smaller community, the priest would likely ask anyone he doesn’t recognize who presents themselves for Communion if they’re Orthodox or not…
Were the spies of the Israelites doing wrong by being spies and not up front telling the Canaanites that they were there for the purpose of seeing how they could take their land?
That’s not a good analogy, Jerry.
The Israelites were, by God’s decision, entitled to the land the Canaanites occupied.
We Catholics are
not entitled to the Sacraments of the Eastern Orthodox Church. We have a solemn moral obligation to respect their rules.
I’m just asking–I’m sure God wouldn’t hold it against me if I couldn’t get to Mass on a journey–I’m just not so sure that He would hold it against me if I went up and received at an Orthodox church and did not tell them.
No offense, but I don’t believe you. It’s lying, it’s disrespectful, and you know it. How would you feel if a Protestant did this at a Catholic Mass?
Make the case why God would be offended by me receiving Jesus without telling the Orthodox?
Their rules prohibit it, and to do what you’re describing would be to deliberately convey the blatant falsehood that you are a canonical Orthodox Christian. As I said, it’s a sin against the eighth commandment… perhaps the seventh, too: you’d effectively be stealing their Sacrament.
I guess the REAL question is if they do indeed have the Body and Blood of Christ–does GOD will and intend that me as a Catholic not receive from them?
Correct. God expects you to treat your fellow human beings as you would want to be treated - or, in the words of our Lord, “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.”
If you wouldn’t want a Protestant or non-Christian secretly and deceitfully presenting themselves for Holy Communion at a Catholic Mass, then charity obliges you to show the Orthodox the respect you expect from others.
Going a few extra days without receiving the Eucharist won’t kill you.
I also didn’t know that at Orthodox churches that they asked your name if they didn’t know you at Mass if you came forward to receive communion–I’ve been to a Maronite Church and a Greek Melkite Church here in Birmingham Alabama and received mass and neither of those churches asked me anything–course they are Eastern Catholic Churches and not Orthodox.
Interesting. At my local eastern Catholic parish, the priest
does ask your name if he doesn’t know you when you approach to receive Holy Communion.
I will say this though–if they didn’t ask I wouldn’t feel bad about receiving communion there at one of their churches if I had no other alternative.
Then your conscience is defective in this particular, and you should work on improving that.
Why? Because I really do believe that it is God’s will that Catholics receive in that circumstance.
You are wrong about that, Jerry.
I really do believe that it is against God’s will for any Orthodox Church anywhere on planet Earth to deny the Eucharist to any otherwise able to receive Catholic.
Do you understand that you are not an arbiter or interpreter of God’s will?
I think the Orthodox are simply wrong.
Am I wrong for feeling this way?
Well, a feeling can’t be
morally wrong, per se, but
yes, your feeling that you are entitled to the Eucharist in churches with whom we are not in communion is misplaced and inaccurate - it doesn’t reflect the reality of the situation.
Point blank question that I’m sure will not be answered on this thread because people are afraid to ponder such truths: Is it God’s will for the Orthodox to deny the Eucharist to Catholics?
I’m not afraid to ponder such truths, I’m just not bold and foolish enough to believe that I can know God’s will in such a concrete, particular instance.
What I do know is this: As long as you would object to a Protestant sneakily receiving Communion at a Catholic Mass, “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you” obliges us not to receive at an Orthodox Liturgy unless they would honestly, truly allow it.
To receive when you know their rules prohibit it is truly a slap in the Lord’s face.
We believe in our faith, and you believe in your faith, and they’re not the same faith, so we commune separately. It has nothing to do with intellectual assent/belief or non-belief in a particular philosophy about the Eucharist, but about whether you confess what we confess (which you do not, by virtue of being in union with Rome and accepting its heterodoxy).
