N
NFPgirl
Guest
I can’t answer your first question, but let me address the second and third questions. For the sake of trying to be clear and use fewer words, I will use the term non-Catholic to refer to Catholic Christians who have lapsed in their practice of the faith, non-Catholic Christians, and non-Christians. Okay, that said…
As to the priest being adamant about not addressing the congregation at the wedding w/regard to non-Catholics receiving Communion for fear of disunity – he needs to think again. His allowing (due to his NOT announcing this fact) non-Catholics to receive Holy Communion is NOT an act of true unity.
The act of reception of the Holy Eucharist is to say to the world, “I believe that this is the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ and I join myself to Him by receiving Him into my own body. In addition, by my reception of this sacrament, I join myself to all Catholics around the world in that I believe what the Church teaches and practice it in my life.” When a person receives Christ in the Eucharist, he does not do it alone. He receives Jesus’ Body and Blood in conjunction with the other members of the Body of Christ – that is to say, the Catholic Church. If a person who is not in full communion with the Catholic Church (because he is not Catholic or he has lapsed in his Catholic faith due to sin or he was never Christian at all) purposefully receives communion knowing he should not, then by his very action, he lies and, to paraphrase St. Paul, brings death upon himself.
If I were your sister, I would ask the priest yet again and explain that I had very strong feelings about it and would he please reconsider. If he says absolutely not and again refuses, I would put a blurb into my wedding booklet that is handed out to the congregation as they enter prior to the wedding. I grew up Southern Baptist and because my DH’s family and friends live far away, there were very few people there to represent his family. IOW, most of the guests were non-Catholics. We put together a wedding booklet that explained the Mass in detail (we included scripture references where the parts of the Mass are found in the Bible), complete with readings, responses, and directions on what to do when. In the inside front cover of the booklet we had a bit about who may and who may not receive Holy Communion and if you are unable to receive to feel free and come forward for a blessing from the priest (just as you would do if you were Catholic but had not received your First Holy Communion). This worked pretty well from what I recall.
As for the business of being an EMHC, unless there will be so many people there who could and should receive Holy Communion, then you really should have no need for anyone but the priest to distribute it. We had over 100 people at our wedding and our priest did it all. If there are going to be quite a few people receiving, then I would see if there is a deacon or another priest in your parish who wouldn’t mind serving with the priest. Surely between the two of them they could handle serving. That would take any responsibility you might feel (due to being an EMHC) to refuse one of the Lutheran congregants off your shoulders.
One final thing before I end this. Ultimately, it isn’t your responsibility to see to it that people who aren’t allowed to receive don’t receive. It is the responsibility of the priest to make the announcement and then the culpability falls on each individual. We are each held accountable for our own individual sins and as long as you (and your sister) do due diligence in trying to get the priest to make an announcement or putting a written blurb into people’s hands, then I think you’re off the hook.
Hope this makes sense and helps some. God bless!
Pax,
NFPgirl
As to the priest being adamant about not addressing the congregation at the wedding w/regard to non-Catholics receiving Communion for fear of disunity – he needs to think again. His allowing (due to his NOT announcing this fact) non-Catholics to receive Holy Communion is NOT an act of true unity.
The act of reception of the Holy Eucharist is to say to the world, “I believe that this is the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ and I join myself to Him by receiving Him into my own body. In addition, by my reception of this sacrament, I join myself to all Catholics around the world in that I believe what the Church teaches and practice it in my life.” When a person receives Christ in the Eucharist, he does not do it alone. He receives Jesus’ Body and Blood in conjunction with the other members of the Body of Christ – that is to say, the Catholic Church. If a person who is not in full communion with the Catholic Church (because he is not Catholic or he has lapsed in his Catholic faith due to sin or he was never Christian at all) purposefully receives communion knowing he should not, then by his very action, he lies and, to paraphrase St. Paul, brings death upon himself.
If I were your sister, I would ask the priest yet again and explain that I had very strong feelings about it and would he please reconsider. If he says absolutely not and again refuses, I would put a blurb into my wedding booklet that is handed out to the congregation as they enter prior to the wedding. I grew up Southern Baptist and because my DH’s family and friends live far away, there were very few people there to represent his family. IOW, most of the guests were non-Catholics. We put together a wedding booklet that explained the Mass in detail (we included scripture references where the parts of the Mass are found in the Bible), complete with readings, responses, and directions on what to do when. In the inside front cover of the booklet we had a bit about who may and who may not receive Holy Communion and if you are unable to receive to feel free and come forward for a blessing from the priest (just as you would do if you were Catholic but had not received your First Holy Communion). This worked pretty well from what I recall.
As for the business of being an EMHC, unless there will be so many people there who could and should receive Holy Communion, then you really should have no need for anyone but the priest to distribute it. We had over 100 people at our wedding and our priest did it all. If there are going to be quite a few people receiving, then I would see if there is a deacon or another priest in your parish who wouldn’t mind serving with the priest. Surely between the two of them they could handle serving. That would take any responsibility you might feel (due to being an EMHC) to refuse one of the Lutheran congregants off your shoulders.
One final thing before I end this. Ultimately, it isn’t your responsibility to see to it that people who aren’t allowed to receive don’t receive. It is the responsibility of the priest to make the announcement and then the culpability falls on each individual. We are each held accountable for our own individual sins and as long as you (and your sister) do due diligence in trying to get the priest to make an announcement or putting a written blurb into people’s hands, then I think you’re off the hook.
Hope this makes sense and helps some. God bless!
Pax,
NFPgirl