Why does the Catholic Church Deny Protestants Communion?

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Mickey said:
From the Catechism of the Catholic Church:

[1400](javascript:openWindow(‘cr/1400.htm’)😉 Ecclesial communities derived from the Reformation and separated from the Catholic Church, "have not preserved the proper reality of the Eucharistic mystery in its fullness, especially because of the absence of the sacrament of Holy Orders."239 It is for this reason that, for the Catholic Church, Eucharistic intercommunion with these communities is not possible. However these ecclesial communities, "when they commemorate the Lord’s death and resurrection in the Holy Supper . . . profess that it signifies life in communion with Christ and await his coming in glory."
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Right. I’m just curious if this “qualifies” as a spiritual communion or are we talking something different here.
 
jmcrae said:
I don’t think we have any kind of an official teaching about the spiritual effects of other people’s practices.

We listen to what they say they believe about it (ie: that it is a symbolic ordinance) and evaluate our own response to it (ie: don’t participate in it) from there, but I don’t think we try to evaluate what’s going on in the hearts of Protestants while they are doing this.
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Remember though that not all Protestants profess the Eucharist to be symbolic, some hold to the Real Presence. This is a different understanding than transubstantiation, and you all believe our orders to be invalid in any case, but remember that not all Protestants have the same view on the subject.
 
I don’t recall the entire neighborhood invited to the Last Supper–only the 12 apostles. At least that is one aspect as to why the Catholic Church does not not have an “open communion”.

:twocents:
 
You’ve got the terminology right! An act of spiritual communion is taken by someone at Mass who cannot receive physical communion.

example:
My Jesus, I believe that You are present in the Most Holy Sacrament.I love You above all things, and I desire to receive You into my soul. Since I cannot at this moment receive You sacramentally, come at least spiritually into my heart. I embrace You as if You were already there and unite myself wholly to You. Never permit me to be separated from You.
Amen.

Whether protestant communion (even by those professing belief in the Real Presence) qualifies, I can’t say, however, I’m inclined to think no, since the Spiritual Communion points to the Sacramental Communion which is present only at a valid Catholic Mass. This is not to deny that protestant communion cannot convey God’s grace, of course! Just that it does not qualify as a valid sacrament in the eyes of the Church.
 
carol_marie said:
I’ve not heard of the term “Spritual Communion.”
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Okay - those of us with a more traditional education call various kinds of prayers “Acts” of whatever - an Act of Faith, Act of Hope, Act of Charity, and so on. There are standardized prayers for these, and also little formulae for making your own - for example, an Act of Charity always includes a request to be able to love one’s neighbor better, and an expression of love for God.

Hopefully you’ve at least heard of an Act of Contrition, which is an expression of sorrow for sins and a resolve to avoid committing sin in the future.

For people who are unable to receive at Mass, there is something called the “Act of Spiritual Communion,” which in essence is a request to Jesus to come to the person in a spiritual manner, even though He cannot come in a material manner at this time, for whatever reason.

Again, as I mentioned earlier in this thread, if you google on “Spiritual Communion” you will find a variety of set prayers in this genre, and also it is easy enough to make your own simply by asking Jesus to come and be with you in a spiritual way while others around you are receiving Holy Communion.
 
jmcrae said:
Okay - those of us with a more traditional education call various kinds of prayers “Acts” of whatever - an Act of Faith, Act of Hope, Act of Charity, and so on. There are standardized prayers for these, and also little formulae for making your own - for example, an Act of Charity always includes a request to be able to love one’s neighbor better, and an expression of love for God.

Hopefully you’ve at least heard of an Act of Contrition, which is an expression of sorrow for sins and a resolve to avoid committing sin in the future.

For people who are unable to receive at Mass, there is something called the “Act of Spiritual Communion,” which in essence is a request to Jesus to come to the person in a spiritual manner, even though He cannot come in a material manner at this time, for whatever reason.

Again, as I mentioned earlier in this thread, if you google on “Spiritual Communion” you will find a variety of set prayers in this genre, and also it is easy enough to make your own simply by asking Jesus to come and be with you in a spiritual way while others around you are receiving Holy Communion.
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I had not heard of that. Thanks for the explanation. 🙂
 
I’ve always learned that a Spiritual Communion can be done of often as you like - just thinking about how much Our Lord loves us.

St John Vianney said, “…whenever you feel your love of God growing cold, quickly make a spirtual communion.”

As far as a Priest blessing someone in the Communion line who either is unable to receive or is not Catholic, they usually appear with both hands across their chests. Even little children do this. It’s very possible that Priest was taken aback by a non catholic about to recieve the Body of Our Lord Jesus Christ.
 
tparsons said:
A friend ask me “Why does your church deny protestants communion”? He said Jesus would never deny anyone communion so why do catholics deny communion to those outside the church?

I told him because we believe in the Real Presence!..Not good enough for him. BTW- he is methodist. This is a difficult question to answer, at least for me it is.

Many Thanks!
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Many Protestant groups practice “closed communion.” Like the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod here, even closed to other, more liberal Lutherans:

lcms.org/pages/internal.asp?NavID=2148
 
rr1213 said:
Remember though that not all Protestants profess the Eucharist to be symbolic, some hold to the Real Presence. This is a different understanding than transubstantiation, and you all believe our orders to be invalid in any case, but remember that not all Protestants have the same view on the subject.
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Alright, enough of the whining! Closed communion was practiced by many churches throughout history - perhaps most. The only difference is that the Catholic Church has not changed its stance while ALL the others - despite no changes in Scripture - have changed THEIR stance. I think the real question is why they have changed their stance rather than ask why the Catholic Church has not.
 
rr1213 said:
That’s a bit too simple I think. If the husband is not in communion with the Church, then he also is not in communion with his wife…yet his wife is in communion with the church. Bit circular. Also, seems a preposterous to me that Christ can say that husband and wife are one, and that noone should put asunder what God has joined, yet husband and wife cannot be in communion with each other because the Church states that the husband cannot take communion.
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What makes you think being in communion with the Church and being in a sacramental union with your spouse are the same thing?
 
tparsons said:
A friend ask me “Why does your church deny protestants communion”? He said Jesus would never deny anyone communion so why do catholics deny communion to those outside the church?

I told him because we believe in the Real Presence!..Not good enough for him. BTW- he is methodist. This is a difficult question to answer, at least for me it is.

Many Thanks!
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For a Methodist they do not believe in the Real Presence, so if they were to receive Holy Communion in the Catholic Church it would be grave sacrelidge. It is the reverse if a Catholic who believes in the Real Presence receives in a Methodist Church- since there is no change in the substance of bread there then it is idolatry.

That is just one reason why, there are several others. It is NOT true that Jesus himself would not deny a Methodist from receiving Holy Communion for He is already stating that through His Church.

Ken

Ken
 
chris_molter said:
You’ve got the terminology right! An act of spiritual communion is taken by someone at Mass who cannot receive physical communion.

example:
My Jesus, I believe that You are present in the Most Holy Sacrament.I love You above all things, and I desire to receive You into my soul. Since I cannot at this moment receive You sacramentally, come at least spiritually into my heart. I embrace You as if You were already there and unite myself wholly to You. Never permit me to be separated from You.
Amen.

Whether protestant communion (even by those professing belief in the Real Presence) qualifies, I can’t say, however, I’m inclined to think no, since the Spiritual Communion points to the Sacramental Communion which is present only at a valid Catholic Mass. This is not to deny that protestant communion cannot convey God’s grace, of course! Just that it does not qualify as a valid sacrament in the eyes of the Church.
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Ok, I follow you. Thanks.
 
the question should be rephrased in light of the actual truth of the situation: Why do Protestans reject Catholic Eucharist? By virtue of the fact that an individual belongs to a Protestant denomination, he has rejected the authority given by Christ to the Catholic Church to confect the Eucharist and to sanctify the world through His sacraments. If they have rejected the authority, they have also rejected the reality of the sacrificial and sanctifying nature of the Eucharist and the sacraments which flow from this. Why would an Protestant who firmly believes the tenets of his faith and the doctrine developed by the reformers in establishing his denomination, cave on those beliefs and seek communion in the Catholic Church? Communion means unity. If he craves that unity, he seeks to become Catholic. If he is not Catholic or does not want to be, he does not want unity with the Church, so why would he ask to be part of the primary sign of that unity?

that is like saying, my adult son has quarrelled with the family and everyone in it, despises his parents and their authority, and refuses to attend any family functions, so the family has somehow banned him from Thanksgiving dinner.
 
Once again puzzleannie has demonstrated her ability to grasp the true nature of this argument.

BRAVO!:clapping: :clapping:
 
Well i understand Catholic practise close communion, and when i asked the priest wha action shall be taken for those protestant who partake Eucharist in CC , he got a little agitated by asking “don’t tell me you partake Eucharist in my church” i was like what are you talking about!!! I am here asking you a question there you are jumping into conclusion thinking i partake Eucharist!! Anyway he continued to say that why would protestant wanted to partake Eucharist in CC since they break away from the church century ago…!!!

Anyway it does not matter to me whether i would to partake my communion in a CC/ protestant church, but what make me upset is the priest attitude, does he really watches his attitude when he was talking to a protestant as a spiritual person, lost the peace of his when a baby Christian asked him question that irate him!!! The thing that are different here is when American are praying for the convertion of protestant back to CC while i have this cute priest who told me straight off, if you are not interested in baptizing as a catholic then you can back off from the RCIA course…i was like , huh!!! what a way to talk pple out…and i gets alittle mad with him, and i told him straight off immediately, i will stay put for the RCIA course till the end, if i find myself learning about Catholicism is waste of time , i won’t even wanted to waste my time to go for it…Eventually the priest keep his mouth shut…

To me partaking communion is a spiritual act, it is not just eating a pcs of bread or drink wine/juice for a simple reason. One need to examine themselve have they being sinning against God!! And worthy they are to partake it…Everyone can simply say they aim sinning against God, but who know except for God!!! A slight gossip i cast to another will put myself in a unworthy situation to partake my communion. One need to reconcile with God for all the mistakes you have done, repent before God then you shall able to clear yourself from for Sin to partake communion
 
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