Why is church lenient to fornicators than to cohabitators in respect to communion

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vio_dsa

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The Church is very clear on not giving holy communion to cohabitators, I guess its mainly because they are living like married couples (having sex outside the bond of marriage). Fornicators do the same thing, they have sex before marriage and surprisingly the church are not strict with them.
 
I believe that the best way to stop abortion is to focus on the fornicators. By the time a couple gets to the abortion they have committed countless crimes against God and are at the hopeless stage which makes them vulnerable to the scary & horrible act of abortion.
 
Of course the church is strict with those who fornicate. It is a mortal sin, and thus a person who does so should not receive communion without first going to Reconciliation. What would you like to happen? Have priests ask everyday before giving them the Eucharist, “Have you fornicated recently?”
 
I’m pretty sure those who commit fornication can’t receive communion until they have repented.
 
vio_dsa said:
The Church is very clear on not giving holy communion to cohabitators, I guess its mainly because they are living like married couples (having sex outside the bond of marriage). Fornicators do the same thing, they have sex before marriage and surprisingly the church are not strict with them
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The Church is not very clear on that, at least not to the level you imply. The rule is the same for all, if you have a serious sin that has not been confessed, you are not to receive communion. In the case of a public display of the sin, a priest can choose to withhold communion. But that is not the same as saying the Church always withhold communion from people who cohabitate. If a couple is not married and living as brother and sister, and a priest assumes the worse and says something, I cannot image the case where after an explanation of the facts, a priest would with hold communion.
 
Neither should receive communion. But ultimately, the Church leaves it up to the individual’s conscience whether to actually come up and receive or not–even if the priest knows you are guilty of a sin, he shouldn’t stop you. She only refuses communion to those whose sins are public in order to avoid scandal (ie the appearance of approving of the sin). Cohabitation is generally seen, like an attempted illicit marriage, as a public sin.
 
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vio_dsa said:
The Church is very clear on not giving holy communion to cohabitators, I guess its mainly because they are living like married couples (having sex outside the bond of marriage). Fornicators do the same thing, they have sex before marriage and surprisingly the church are not strict with them.
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Probably due to the duration of sin, if I had to guess.

If I fornicate, then I’ve done so at a moment in time that passes. If I’m co-habitating, I’m doing that continuously as long as the living arrangement maintains.

I could be wrong here, but this is my “from the gut” view of the question.
 
vio_dsa said:
Fornicators do the same thing, they have sex before marriage and surprisingly the church are not strict with them.
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How do you know whether someone hasn’t been to confession? How do you know the Church isn’t strict with them?
 
Lol…I feel the same way everytime I hear ‘we need to be welcoming to those who are struggling with fill in the blank’. We don’t come to church with sin tags on.
 
I’m pretty sure priests can’t give communion to explicitly public sinners.
 
It’s the living arrangements. Cohabitors are publicly sharing an address and by inference, bed. Fornication isn’t so public, so scandalous.
 
Murder is also at the moment. Even a very henious not that “nice” kind of murder. Yet this person on death row could be forgiven and take comunion.

Yet that happy loving family with 3 children is “something else” because daddy was married before and should rather go back to cheating wife nr 1 and also they are separated from comunion.

Ps. This is not against you, just made me think of something because what you posted (and If I have to bet that wasn’t exactly ALL you meant 😉 )
 
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I understand that point, Thank You.
I was asking the OP a question that I hoped would lead to further discussion at which time I would make that very same point.
 
That’s what I said (or at least tried to!). I was talking about a sin the priest knows about, but is otherwise “occult.” He shouldn’t withhold it then. Here’s a brief article on this from a canon lawyer:

canonlawblog.wordpress.com

A brief thought on the phrase ‘manifest sin’ in Canon 915

As I look through the continuing blogosphere commentary on the lesbian/Communion case, I see many people confusing the concept of “manifest sin” in Canon 915 with the notion of, I dunno, something …
canonlawblog.wordpress.com canonlawblog.wordpress.com
 
MichaelP3 said:
Murder is also at the moment. Even a very henious not that “nice” kind of murder. Yet this person on death row could be forgiven and take comunion.

Yet that happy loving family with 3 children is “something else” because daddy was married before and should rather go back to cheating wife nr 1 and also they are separated from comunion.

Ps. This is not against you, just made me think of something because what you posted (and If I have to bet that wasn’t exactly ALL you meant 😉 )
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No, it’s a valid point. Minor sins of duration seem to be more effective at perpetually blocking communion than major sins of impulse.

I don’t make the rules. Obviously. 😅
 
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I find it better to explain like this.

Cohabitation is a public sin. It’s your public state of appearance, you live as you present yourself. Fornication can occur within cohabitation, and usually cohabitation implies fornication unless the priest knows there’s merely a filial relationship occurring before marriage.

Fornication is a private sin, unless one is broadcasting it over Facebook live. A priest can’t know about it, which is even more shameful, because by taking the body of Christ, a sinner is condemning himself even more so. It’s one thing for a priest to approve of a sinners behaviour, thus confusing them. It is another thing to cheat the sacrament, and drink condemnation upon yourself. This is why confession and penance is so important.
 
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