The priest is required to offer the Sacraments ( including Communion) to all those who are not prohibited by law. (Canon 213)Can a priest refuse to give an individual the eucharist during the communion procession if the priest believes the individual isn’t worthy (has personal knowledge of the individual’s grave sin?) or is it up to the individual?
Yes the priest may do that, but there are very strict circumstances where they may do that. If one is known to be not a Catholic, or one has come out publicly criticizing the Church or openly opposing Church teachings of a grave nature, then the priest may deny Communion.Can a priest refuse to give an individual the eucharist during the communion procession if the priest believes the individual isn’t worthy (has personal knowledge of the individual’s grave sin?) or is it up to the individual?
yes there are times when a priest must exercise his pastoral responsibility and refuse communion to someone he knows is not worthily disposed. That should be very rare however, and happen only after he has counselled the person privately and warned him not to approach communion until he has rectified the situation and been absolved.Can a priest refuse to give an individual the eucharist during the communion procession if the priest believes the individual isn’t worthy (has personal knowledge of the individual’s grave sin?) or is it up to the individual?
Depends on what you mean by “personal knowledge” of the grave sin. Obviously anything the priest hears in confession must stay there. However anything else, unless it is publicly known, also cannot be the basis for withholding communion. Only grave sins that are publicly known can be used as the basis for denying communion.Can a priest refuse to give an individual the eucharist during the communion procession if the priest believes the individual isn’t worthy (has personal knowledge of the individual’s grave sin?) or is it up to the individual?
Yes, as would be the case with someone divorced and “remarried.”Are people who are married civilly, but not in the church, considered to have committed grave sins?
We must place the most charitable light on this. The priest may not know the situation, as happens in large parishes. The parishioners may have convalidated or sanated their marriage without your knowledge of the details. There may be other circumstances known only to the priest and persons involved.I think technically they are, but I know of families where the parents were married civilly and attend church and receive communion regularly.
Personal knowledge is insufficient. Public record is necessary for living in sin w/o repentance.Can a priest refuse to give an individual the eucharist during the communion procession if the priest believes the individual isn’t worthy (has personal knowledge of the individual’s grave sin?) or is it up to the individual?
So you refuse to accept the authority of the Church, and you could take steps toward convalidation but you don’t wanna, and yet you demand to participate in a sacramental life as if nothing is wrong?As to the civil marriage v. sacramental marriage…that is ****. I have been married for 12yrs…civil marriage. I wanted to be married outdoors and our religion doesn’t allow that. STUPID!! I didn’t want a full mass, just a simple ceremony. My husband is not religious and at the time I went to mass only when I felt like it, so I didn’t really want a big church todo either. During these 12yrs, I have been through 3 pastors, and they all know my marital status and I have never been refused. Married is married…plain and simple
unless you know for a fact these individuals did not confess and receive absolution for their percieved sins right before communion, you are not in a position to judge their disposition for reception. btw NO EMHC, a layperson, is in any position to make such a judgment, which is for on who has authority to absolve sin alone.Thanks for the informative responses.
I imagine it could be very embarrassing for someone to be refused communion at mass.
Are people who are married civilly, but not in the church, considered to have committed grave sins? I think technically they are, but I know of families where the parents were married civilly and attend church and receive communion regularly.
It would be a grave sin to mimic the sacrament of matrimony with a civil ceremony, but if they do not engage in marital relations, or anything else that is generally reserved for married people, remaining in that situation is not a further sin.I appreciate the information and I know usually the answers to these questions aren’t that simple.
One final question on this subject (and I apologize b/c I’m new to this forum and I’m sure this subject has been covered before). If a husband and wife do not have “marital relations” are they considered married by the Church? That is, if they are civilly married (so marriage not recognized) and do not have marital relations, is that still considered a grave sin?
The act of marrying outside the Church is itself grave matter. This can be rectified via a convalidation of the marriage. They can also go to Confession and receive absolution for this sin as part of the convalidation process.IOne final question on this subject (and I apologize b/c I’m new to this forum and I’m sure this subject has been covered before). If a husband and wife do not have “marital relations” are they considered married by the Church? That is, if they are civilly married (so marriage not recognized) and do not have marital relations, is that still considered a grave sin?
And you are not simply willing to go to the rectory and get the marriage convalidated, quietly?The marriage rule is simply one I personally do not agree with. I am not going to go to confession for having a civil wedding ceremony because 1) I am not sorry for making that choice and 2) I remain married and therefore confession/absolution is meaningless in this instance and 3) nowhere in the Bible does it state that a marriage is only valid it is takes place in a church, by a priest and it that priest agrees that the marriage is a good idea and agrees to marry you.
Can. 227 The lay Christian faithful have the right to have recognized that freedom which all citizens have in the affairs of the earthly city. When using that same freedom, however, they are to take care that their actions are imbued with the spirit of the gospel and are to heed the doctrine set forth by the magisterium of the Church. In matters of opinion, moreover, they are to avoid setting forth their own opinion as the doctrine of the Church.This is a rule man up by our church leaders that I think needs to be re-evaluated.
Subjectivism…The marriage rule is simply one I personally do not agree with. I am not going to go to confession for having a civil wedding ceremony because 1) I am not sorry for making that choice and 2) I remain married and therefore confession/absolution is meaningless in this instance and 3) nowhere in the Bible does it state that a marriage is only valid it is takes place in a church, by a priest and it that priest agrees that the marriage is a good idea and agrees to marry you. This is a rule man up by our church leaders that I think needs to be re-evaluated.
I am at a loss to understand how a Catholic would think that her marriage is in any way better or more proper or holy when witnessed by some non-believing freemason civil judge than by a Catholic priest.The marriage rule is simply one I personally do not agree with. I am not going to go to confession for having a civil wedding ceremony because 1) I am not sorry for making that choice and 2) I remain married and therefore confession/absolution is meaningless in this instance and 3) nowhere in the Bible does it state that a marriage is only valid it is takes place in a church, by a priest and it that priest agrees that the marriage is a good idea and agrees to marry you. This is a rule man up by our church leaders that I think needs to be re-evaluated.