Refusing communion?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Amy_in_MI
  • Start date Start date
Status
Not open for further replies.
A

Amy_in_MI

Guest
I’m trying to understand something that happened at Mass Sunday.

An elderly man was up to receive communion and kneeled down. The priest quietly said something in his ear and then motioned for the next person to come up. The man knelt there about ten seconds then stood up and went back to his seat without ever receiving communion.

I know it’s not alot to go on, but can anyone help me understand what may have happened??
I’m actually not trying to be nosey. If there was a problem that the priest knew of with this man’s spiritual life, I don’t need to know and I don’t want to know. But our priest is fairly new, and I’ve not seen this man before, so it’s not like he’s known in the church to be a fallen away Catholic who now worships turnips or anything like that.

From browsing past posts, I know many of you are head-and-shoulders beyond me in knowledge of the faith, so I thought you might have some insight. Is there an issue with how we receive the Eucharist? Is it so important that if you do it wrong, you’ll be refused??? Just wondering.

BTW - if it’s important, In our church we receive the Eucharist standing up - with a reverential bow.
 
Hello,

The thought that immediately enters my mind is that the priest told the elderly gentleman that he must stand to recieve the Eucharist, and probably in the hand too. This is a common problem in the Church. However, if this is the case then the gentleman was in the right.

Redemptionis Sacramentum states:

[91.] In distributing Holy Communion it is to be remembered that “sacred ministers may not deny the sacraments to those who seek them in a reasonable manner, are rightly disposed, and are not prohibited by law from receiving them”. Hence any baptized Catholic who is not prevented by law must be admitted to Holy Communion. Therefore, it is not licit to deny Holy Communion to any of Christ’s faithful solely on the grounds, for example, that the person wishes to receive the Eucharist kneeling or standing.

I hope this helps.
 
Perhaps he’s not Catholic. He could be an RCIA candidate or something that made an error in going up, and the priest might have reminded him.

I know its odd to not get communion in the church. Until my wife and I are welcomed officially into the church, we can’t have it. It feels really awkward, because in big parishes there’s many people who don’t know you, and wonder if you are making some kind of statement by not going up.

It could be he was just new, and maybe not a Catholic. Not many people know all the rules, especially if they weren’t raised in a Roman Catholic church.
 
40.png
ScottH:
Perhaps he’s not Catholic. He could be an RCIA candidate or something that made an error in going up, and the priest might have reminded him.

I know its odd to not get communion in the church. Until my wife and I are welcomed officially into the church, we can’t have it. It feels really awkward, because in big parishes there’s many people who don’t know you, and wonder if you are making some kind of statement by not going up.

It could be he was just new, and maybe not a Catholic. Not many people know all the rules, especially if they weren’t raised in a Roman Catholic church.
Click to expand...
Yes this is true. However, I see many who voluntarily stay in the pew and do not receive. This is usually because there is serious sin that they have not confessed and they do not want to receive unworthily. In such cases, Catholics who do not receive, and visiting non-Catholics remain in the pew and receive a spiritual communion. Also, you can stand in the communion line and receive a blessing from the priest when you approach him. This sounds like the situation that the OP witnessed.
 
Amy in MI:
I’m trying to understand something that happened at Mass Sunday.

An elderly man was up to receive communion and kneeled down. The priest quietly said something in his ear and then motioned for the next person to come up. The man knelt there about ten seconds then stood up and went back to his seat without ever receiving communion.

I know it’s not alot to go on, but can anyone help me understand what may have happened??
I’m actually not trying to be nosey. If there was a problem that the priest knew of with this man’s spiritual life, I don’t need to know and I don’t want to know. But our priest is fairly new, and I’ve not seen this man before, so it’s not like he’s known in the church to be a fallen away Catholic who now worships turnips or anything like that.

From browsing past posts, I know many of you are head-and-shoulders beyond me in knowledge of the faith, so I thought you might have some insight. Is there an issue with how we receive the Eucharist? Is it so important that if you do it wrong, you’ll be refused??? Just wondering.

BTW - if it’s important, In our church we receive the Eucharist standing up - with a reverential bow.
Click to expand...
If you are afraid or embarassed to approach your priest, mail him a copy of JMJ coder’s post. It’s accurate. Unless the man was not Catholic or a notorious sinner or dissenter (unlike Senators John Kerry or Ted Kennedy, for example:rolleyes: ), he should have been allowed Holy Communion even if he knelt. Another poster points out correctly that had he wished to rec. on the tongue, that was also his option.
 
The reason why that man did not receive is between, himself, the priest, and Almighty God. No one else! It is not our place to sit here and speculate as to why. He very well may have just gone up to receive a blessing. Everyone is entitled to that not matter where they are in their faith.

Confrontations should never occur at the altar rail, and this doesn’t appear to be one.

The man went before the Altar of God and got on his knees. That’s all we need to know.
 
Perhaps he just received a blessing, since he was in a state of mortal sin. Speculation isn’t wrong, but remember that this is best left between the elderly man, the priest, and God.
 
40.png
IanS:
The reason why that man did not receive is between, himself, the priest, and Almighty God. No one else! It is not our place to sit here and speculate as to why. He very well may have just gone up to receive a blessing. Everyone is entitled to that not matter where they are in their faith.

Confrontations should never occur at the altar rail, and this doesn’t appear to be one.

The man went before the Altar of God and got on his knees. That’s all we need to know.
Click to expand...
Agreed.
How can we tell non-catholics that no one will care that they do not go up when everyone else is receiving if we sit by in idle speculation like this.
I have been told on many occasions that one person or another does not want to go to Mass because they would feel like the eyeball. I can’t imagine why…:rolleyes:
 
40.png
IanS:
The reason why that man did not receive is between, himself, the priest, and Almighty God. No one else! It is not our place to sit here and speculate as to why. He very well may have just gone up to receive a blessing. Everyone is entitled to that not matter where they are in their faith.

Confrontations should never occur at the altar rail, and this doesn’t appear to be one.

The man went before the Altar of God and got on his knees. That’s all we need to know.
Click to expand...
This really is the very best answer of all.

Speculation can lead to gossip and all kinds of insanity. Better to say a prayer for all concerned and let it go.
Pax tecum,
 
Sorry. I was really not intending at all to put the man under a microscope. Rather I was curious about the situation if it demonstrated anything about the -dare I say- politics of my parish/priest.

I have no interest in the spiritual state or struggles of someone else that may -or may not- affect their standing in the church. I have enough spiritual struggles of my own to keep me busy for a lifetime. (I’m a firm believer in contending with the plank in my own eye and not looking for the splinter elsewhere…)

I probably didn’t explain my interest clearly enough in my original post. My only speculation is whether or not the communion police is out in force in my parish. Does the church have a stipulation on HOW we receive the Eucharist? Are there priests who are especially particular about this? Is this a pre-emptive strike against any “return-to-Pre-Vatican-II” movement??

We had a women standing at the back of the church yelling at the priest after this occured. If this is going to become an issue in my parish, I just wanted to be a bit educated. - *Not/I] on the man’s spiritual state ( please note the emphasis) , but on the church’s stand on our posture in receiving communion. Again I apologize if I offended anyone by mentioning the incident. (without naming names, the parish, or the town).
Thanks to all who’ve helped explain and thanks to JMJ_coder for the consise reply and exerpt.

Blessings*
 
40.png
JMJ_coder:
Hello,

The thought that immediately enters my mind is that the priest told the elderly gentleman that he must stand to recieve the Eucharist, and probably in the hand too. This is a common problem in the Church. However, if this is the case then the gentleman was in the right.

Redemptionis Sacramentum states:

[91.] In distributing Holy Communion it is to be remembered that “sacred ministers may not deny the sacraments to those who seek them in a reasonable manner, are rightly disposed, and are not prohibited by law from receiving them”. Hence any baptized Catholic who is not prevented by law must be admitted to Holy Communion. Therefore, it is not licit to deny Holy Communion to any of Christ’s faithful solely on the grounds, for example, that the person wishes to receive the Eucharist kneeling or standing.

I hope this helps.
Click to expand...
In our parish a number of parishoners regularly receive Holy Communion kneeling. So that can’t possibly be the reason… 👍 HTH
 
40.png
JMJ_coder:
The thought that immediately enters my mind is that the priest told the elderly gentleman that he must stand to recieve the Eucharist, and probably in the hand too. This is a common problem in the Church. However, if this is the case then the gentleman was in the right.
Click to expand...
I don’t think this is accurate. I don’t follow the intricate details of the kneeling-for-communion debate, but from what I gather the many times it’s come up here, the normative posture in the United States is standing. So the gentleman was not in the right, for he wasn’t following the norms. However, the priest was even more in the wrong, as he was violating Canon Law (assuming JMJ_coder’s speculation is correct).
 
Hello,

Yes, you are correct. The USCCB has determined that in the United States the normative posture is to stand to recieve the Eucharist. This is in their power to do.

However, the GIRM and more forcefully Redemptionis Sacramentum state that the communicant has a right to recieve the Eucharist kneeling. It is licit and valid to receive both ways. The same is true for the related topic of receiving Communion in the hand or on the tongue. It is valid and licit to receive both ways.

I hope this clarifies it.
 
While many who have posted on this thread are lucky enough to have not encountered a situation where a person is wrongly refused the Eucharist due to their preferred way of showing reverence (tongue or kneeling), it does happen. You may want to touch bases with your new pastor and ask him, not to learn the disposition of the particular gentleman, but more to know if the posture of kneeling is something that he would consider an impediment to the receipt of communion. If he indicates he would refuse for this reason, then you might want to provide the information given by JMJ.

It definitely is NOT permissible to deny communion on these grounds, even while standing is the norm in the states.

CARose
 
Just to throw in a little more official documentation. A letter from the Congregation of Divine Worship and Discipline of the Sacraments in 2002 (to a Diocese where parishioners were denied Communion for kneeling), explicitly stated that kneeling was acceptable:
…Even where the Congregation has approved of legislation denoting standing as the posture for Holy Communion, in accordance with the adaptations permitted to the Conferences of Bishops by the Institutio Generalis Missalis Romani n. 160, paragraph 2, it has done so with the stipulation that communicants who choose to kneel are not to be denied Holy Communion on these grounds.
Click to expand...
In fact, as His Eminence, Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger has recently emphasized, the practice of kneeling for Holy Communion has in its favor a centuries-old tradition, and it is a particularly expressive sign of adoration, completely appropriate in light of the true, real and substantial presence of Our Lord Jesus Christ under the consecrated species.
Click to expand...
Given the importance of this matter, the Congregation would request that Your Excellency inquire specifically whether this priest in fact has a regular practice of refusing Holy Communion to any member of the faithful in the circumstances described above and - if the complaint is verified - that you also firmly instruct him and any other priests who may have had such a practice to refrain from acting thus in the future.

catholic.com/library/liturgy/kneeling_1.asp
Click to expand...
 
Well, its a small world after all! Just happen to have learned about the elderly man being REFUSED Holy Communion because he knelt to receive. Yep, thats what it was all about so nobody needs to think anybody is unduly worrying about his worthiness to receive, etc. The problem is the priest has a very WRONG intolerance of anyone kneeling during the Mass and/or receiving Holy Communion.
Complaints have been made to the Bishop and more will most likely be made after this last incident. The woman who yelled out that “this is wrong” was justified in her anger to see an elderly gentleman bullied.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top