Protestant Communion?

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Guidelines for the Reception of Communion
FOR OUR FELLOW CHRISTIANS
We welcome our fellow Christians to this celebration of the Eucharist as our brothers and sisters. We pray that our common baptism and the action of the Holy Spirit in this Eucharist will draw us closer to one another and begin to dispel the sad divisions which separate us. We pray that these will lessen and finally disappear, in keeping with Christ’s prayer for us “that they may all be one” (Jn 17:21).
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Because Catholics believe that the celebration of the Eucharist is a sign of the reality of the oneness of faith, life, and worship, members of those churches with whom we are not yet fully united are ordinarily not admitted to Holy Communion. Eucharistic sharing in exceptional circumstances by other Christians requires permission according to the directives of the diocesan bishop and the provisions of canon law (canon 844 §4). Members of the Orthodox Churches, the Assyrian Church of the East, and the Polish National Catholic Church are urged to respect the discipline of their own Churches. According to Roman Catholic discipline, the Code of Canon Law does not object to the reception of Communion by Christians of these Churches (canon 844 §3).
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Contarini said:
I don’t find it offensive either. And of course LCMS Lutherans don’t either–and unlike you (and possibly me) they really are Protestants:D I was speaking generally and should have said “many Protestants.”

I entirely agree about the burden of taking offense.

Happy birthday to you too!

Edwin
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I thank you. I celebrated by having a new water heater installed.
 
Contarini said:
The Eucharist is not a contract. It’s a divine fire. A saintly Protestant who fasts and prays and does works of charity in humility and godly fear is far more capable of receiving it without being consumed (I am avoiding the awful word “worthy,” since as the Roman liturgy says none of us is worthy) than a self-righteous Catholic who thinks himself “worthy” because he “belongs to the true Church” and believes all the right things.

Untrue. While that is no doubt a consideration, it’s not the decisive one. If it were, then Protestants who believe what Catholics believe about the Eucharist would be invited to receive.

Edwin
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Rather than engage in banter, I’m just going to reference some Catholic Answers articles on the topic:
catholic.com/quickquestions/why-cant-non-catholics-receive-communio
catholic.com/tracts/who-can-receive-communion
forums.catholic-questions.org/showthread.php?t=410274
catholic.com/quickquestions/what-is-the-rule-is-for-non-catholics-to-receive-the-eucharist

And to GKC, Many Happy Returns to you on the celebration of your birthday. Here’s to many more to come 🙂
 
stillone said:
the nice thing about being raised and educated catholic-- is when you have a born again experience -and recognize the presence of the holy spirit
then you are not deceived by ceremony and reticial
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Wow, you sound like a very angry and bitter person. I don’t believe the Holy Spirit would approve of your words. 😦
 
If we want to go to early tradition,The Didache presents (Trinitarian) baptism as the line one must cross in order to participate in Communion. All who have posted here meet that hurdle, I believe.

When me and mine meet, we practice open communion, hence all here who are of the body of Christ could participate, we don’t believe in dividing the body of Christ, but rather to realize and respect the oneness of His Body, not leaving any brother or sister sitting on the sidelines.

Jesus said, “By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.” He said take and eat, not take and debate and pick apart and divide up into groups, excluding some brothers and sisters from the table and look down your noses at one another, many people and many denominations do that, it is a very very sad thing indeed.
 
porthos11 said:
Even if we as Catholics must affirm that there is no Real Presence within the Protestant communities, we cannot go so far as to say that their Communion is devoid of grace.

Given that our Protestant brethren here have affirmed their belief in Christ’s presence in their Eucharistic celebration despite our disagreement tells us that they have accepted the word of Christ at face value, even though we differ in the philosophical technicalities, if you can call them that.

God can and does use their Eucharistic beliefs and services for much good, including Christian fellowship with each other, a desire to to good and to recall the Lord’s salvific deeds. And in many cases, that grace has led both individual Protestants and entire communities/parishes into the Catholic Church.

So even if we must affirm that the Protestant Eucharist is invalid for doctrinal reasons, it is not for us to declare it devoid of grace. We need to realize that this is important for them too and must address it respectfully.
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I would agree with this.
Catholics are not fundamentalists, our way or the highway.
 
CuriousMike said:
Rather than engage in banter, I’m just going to reference some Catholic Answers articles on the topic:
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That’s a cop-out. I accept, with regret, that you are unwilling to engage in further conversation, but your assumption that I am ignorant either of official Catholic teaching or of the standard apologetics “line” on these matters (not the same thing) is a mistaken one, and thus singularly unhelpful.

I am not criticizing the Catholic position. I am criticizing the flawed rationale you are giving for it.

Edwin
 
Kliska said:
If we want to go to early tradition,The Didache presents (Trinitarian) baptism as the line one must cross in order to participate in Communion. All who have posted here meet that hurdle, I believe.

When me and mine meet, we practice open communion, hence all here who are of the body of Christ could participate, we don’t believe in dividing the body of Christ, but rather to realize and respect the oneness of His Body, not leaving any brother or sister sitting on the sidelines.

Jesus said, “By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.” He said take and eat, not take and debate and pick apart and divide up into groups, excluding some brothers and sisters from the table and look down your noses at one another, many people and many denominations do that, it is a very very sad thing indeed.
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It is easy to understand how one would feel that way.
 
Kliska said:
If we want to go to early tradition,The Didache presents (Trinitarian) baptism as the line one must cross in order to participate in Communion. All who have posted here meet that hurdle, I believe.

When me and mine meet, we practice open communion, hence all here who are of the body of Christ could participate, we don’t believe in dividing the body of Christ, but rather to realize and respect the oneness of His Body, not leaving any brother or sister sitting on the sidelines.

Jesus said, “By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.” He said take and eat, not take and debate and pick apart and divide up into groups, excluding some brothers and sisters from the table and look down your noses at one another, many people and many denominations do that, it is a very very sad thing indeed.
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Your liturgy your rules. But the Church’s liturgy is not her own, it belongs to Christ, so she must conduct it according to his teachings on the topic, not on our feelings about it.

If I were to attend your communion services, even though you would accept my receiving your communion, I could not because I do not hold to your beliefs about the Eucharist. If I received I would be saying that I do. You wouldn’t want me to make a hypocrite of myself, I know. 🙂

By receiving the Eucharist at a Catholic Mass you are declaring you believe all the Church holds true. If you cannot do that, you cannot receive unless you wish to violate your conscience, and we cannot ask you to do that. 🙂
 
Della said:
By receiving the Eucharist at a Catholic Mass you are declaring you believe all the Church holds true. If you cannot do that, you cannot receive unless you wish to violate your conscience, and we cannot ask you to do that. 🙂
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Even a majority of Catholics probably receive without believing all the Church holds to be true. This will probably be dismissed by claiming that they are just “cafeteria Catholics.” 🤷
 
Thorolfr said:
Even a majority of Catholics probably receive without believing all the Church holds to be true. This will probably be dismissed by claiming that they are just “cafeteria Catholics.” 🤷
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If they do they are poor Catholics in need of correction and education.
 
Della said:
Your liturgy your rules. But the Church’s liturgy is not her own, it belongs to Christ, so she must conduct it according to his teachings on the topic, not on our feelings about it.

If I were to attend your communion services, even though you would accept my receiving your communion, I could not because I do not hold to your beliefs about the Eucharist. If I received I would be saying that I do. You wouldn’t want me to make a hypocrite of myself, I know. 🙂

By receiving the Eucharist at a Catholic Mass you are declaring you believe all the Church holds true. If you cannot do that, you cannot receive unless you wish to violate your conscience, and we cannot ask you to do that. 🙂
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That is a good reply Della. I hope it will help some have a better understanding.
 
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