What are a priest or deacon's moral obligations when giving Communion?

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Hi guys. This thread is inspired off of another thread.

What are a priest or deacon’s moral obligations when giving Communion to a person? If the priest has good reason to believe that the person receiving Communion is not in a state of grace, does he have the right to refuse Communion? Does he have a moral obligation to refuse Communion?

Are there any rules or guidelines about this? What about Extraordinary Ministers? Do they follow the same rules/guidelines or different ones?

Links from authoritative sources would be nice to get me started.

Thanks.

Peace.
 
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My wife used to be an EMHC and was told to refuse Communion to no one.

She felt so uncomfortable with that she resigned.
 
If it happens I don’t know under what conditions they are able to do this or if it is decided by the diocese.
 
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Canon 915 applies here. I know Wikipedia is disliked by some as a source for Catholic information, but I find no fault with this article:


If I were a priest, I would be interpreting this canon very liberally (i.e., as to the prerogative of the priest to deny sacraments).
 
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Can. 915 Those who have been excommunicated or interdicted after the imposition or declaration of the penalty and others obstinately persevering in manifest grave sin are not to be admitted to holy communion.
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If the priest knows that someone has been excommunicated or interdicted, then he can refuse them Holy Communion.

If the priest knows that someone is “obstinately persevering in manifest grave sin” then he can also refuse them Holy Communion. I would posit two things:
  1. As shown by the source I post below, often the bishop seems to set some policy for his diocese, so if Bishop Malooly decides he’s not going to deny communion to Joe Biden, then any priest who did that would be at odds with the Bishop, with all that entails.
  2. Also as shown by the source, priests are generally taught to give communicants the benefit of the doubt that they are properly disposed to receive, so a priest refusing Communion would be an uncommon thing.
 
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Tis_Bearself said:
If the priest knows that someone has been excommunicated or interdicted, then he can refuse them Holy Communion.
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This happened locally here when Bishop Bruskewitz excommunicated members of several groups in 1996. Priests were instructed to refuse Communion to members of those groups when they presented themselves for Communion. I know of a couple who did that.
 
Our previous priest has refused obviously drunk people Holy communion. I’m guessing that was more because of the likelihood of them dropping the Host or committing other abuses. It was before I came to the parish so I didn’t see.
Our current priest did not refuse some people who attended mass whilst drinking but did not cause a scene and in fact were quiet and reverent but had their beer cans under there seats so I’m pretty sure he didn’t see them or know they had not observed the required fast and were actually drinking minutes before mass began. It was weekday mass and they were on the way home from a stag do so they said after mass - they were chatty enough on their way out. I wonder if he could/should have refused them. It must be a very difficult choice and hard to impose on strangers.
 
I saw a situation a few weeks ago where the local priest had someone come up to Communion who didn’t appear to know how to receive - didn’t know how to hold his hands, and after some back-and-forth the priest finally gave him Communion but he walked away holding it instead of consuming it. I did watch the guy to try to make sure he didn’t do anything strange with Jesus and it appeared that he did consume it and then sat in his pew till the end of Mass. As I left the church I saw that the same priest had engaged him in conversation and from what I overheard as I walked past, the man was discussing Satan and sounded like he needed professional help. I would presume the priest was trying to find out if he were Catholic or what was going on with him and probably told him if he wasn’t Catholic and hadn’t been to confession he shouldn’t be coming up to receive again.
 
I had a kid come up one time with a blue tongue and the blue lollypop that caused it in one hand, holding out the other hand to receive. I did not give communion to this kid.

-Fr ACEGC
 
edward_george1 said:
I had a kid come up one time with a blue tongue and the blue lollypop that caused it in one hand, holding out the other hand to receive. I did not give communion to this kid.

-Fr ACEGC
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Father,

So it is correct that priest’s are allowed to refuse Communion if it is abundantly clear that the person shouldn’t be receiving? Can this vary from diocese to diocese?
 
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PaulinVA said:
My wife used to be an EMHC and was told to refuse Communion to no one.

She felt so uncomfortable with that she resigned.
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That’s the right answer. EMHC’s are not to make those judgments personally. It’s not within their sphere of competency.

That answer doesn’t mean “no one can refuse”, just that “EMHCs can’t refuse.”

Was she really thinking that she would be standing up there deciding to tell folks “no soup for you!”…?
TK421 said:
So it is correct that priest’s are allowed to refuse Communion if it is abundantly clear that the person shouldn’t be receiving?
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There’s a difference between a prudential judgment that a person hasn’t even attempted the one-hour fast and a judgment that a person is currently in a state of unrepented mortal sin, isn’t there?
 
This is a topic that is often in the news. Pro-abortion politicians have come forward for communion and been refused. Though I would be on the side of refusing communion then I am happy I am not in the situation of the person refusing communion when it means being attacked in the media over it.
 
Gorgias said:
That answer doesn’t mean “no one can refuse”, just that “EMHCs can’t refuse.”

Was she really thinking that she would be standing up there deciding to tell folks “no soup for you!”…?
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She was uncomfortable, knowing the people in the parish, and being an EMHC. That’s it. Not being judgmental, just not comfortable being an EMHC.
 
PaulinVA said:
She was uncomfortable, knowing the people in the parish, and being an EMHC. That’s it. Not being judgmental, just not comfortable being an EMHC.
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OK. So, “knowing the people in the parish”, she didn’t want to participate in the distribution of Eucharist to them. (Not that I fault her; it’s a difficult thing to see, sometimes.)
 
Gorgias said:
OK. So, “knowing the people in the parish”, she didn’t want to participate in the distribution of Eucharist to them. (Not that I fault her; it’s a difficult thing to see, sometimes.)
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To elevate the discussion above my wife to the US Church in general -

We know that most Catholics don’t go to confession.
We know only a small fraction of Catholic couples use a licit means to regulate births.
We know that many Catholics do not hold beliefs the Church considers essential, ie the Real Presence.

I could go on, but I hope you get the point. Many people that present themselves for Communion should not.
 
PaulinVA said:
I could go on, but I hope you get the point. Many people that present themselves for Communion should not.
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I absolutely get your point! And, what the Church says is that the moral responsibility is on the person who presents themselves for Communion. Definitely not on an EMHC, (and, I’d assert, not on a deacon who is distributing the Precious Blood); and, under certain (relatively strictly delimited) circumstances, a priest may exercise authority in the matter.
 
PaulinVA said:
We know that most Catholics don’t go to confession.
We know only a small fraction of Catholic couples use a licit means to regulate births.
We know that many Catholics do not hold beliefs the Church considers essential, ie the Real Presence.
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No one could know these things abt other people. If the parish priest doesn´t have them for confession, then that might as well mean that they confess to someone else. And no one would know what birth regulations couples use or if they truly believe in Catholic doctrine, if not they´ve discussed this with their pastor.
 
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