Is the Eucharist only for Catholics?
drchris March 26th, 2007
Is Christ for all or an exclusive few?
Recently I came across a report in a Catholic weekly trying to explain in detail why Protestants cannot receive Holy Communion at a Catholic liturgy. In fact of late in many of our Churches there are announcements and LCD projections reminding the congregation that Holy Communion is reserved only for baptized and practicing Catholics. To me this is quite disturbing as I see it as a discriminating act.
Who is a practicing catholic – one who observes strictly all the rituals of the Church at any cost or one who genuinely carries Jesus into his daily living and in the process ignores some of the rituals?
What about a Catholic politician who abuses his power to subdue his people and amass large amount of wealth? What about glamorous celebrities who live immoral lives against the teachings of the Church?
This discriminatory action of our modern Church poses one important question in the minds of many liberal thinking Catholics – Is Christ for all or is He reserved for an exclusive few?
Holy Communion,I admit, is not a trivial matter and the Eucharist is not to be toyed with, but denying our separated brethren the Eucharist because of their dispute with Catholics is definitely tantamount to revenge especially when this dispute is as ancient as the Church itself. If this is not a spiteful policy then what is it?
The practice of excluding some people from Communion may be Biblically based, and it reflects the mind and heart of the early Church, as they were taught by the Apostles. Wouldn’t it be morally wrong on our part to carry the ancient animosity created by our ancestors onto the present generation of Christians who had no part whatsoever in that ancient dispute?
None will deny that there must be conditions for receiving Christ in Holy Communion. These should be based on the condition of the heart of the receiver and not rituals he performs or group to which he belongs. The fundamental requisite should be faith and a sincere eagerness to welcome Christ into his life.
In a world torn apart by hate and revenge, Christ should an instrument of unity and peace among not only Christians of the various denominations but of the whole human race.
Christ belongs to all, including sinners, not to just a chosen few. He is not the founder of an exclusive club called Christianity or to be more specific Catholicism. Let’s not confine him to this club by imposing man-made rules and rituals. As his faithful we have a far greater obligation, to bring His love to all mankind.
Dr.Chris Anthony
The Eucharist is the source and center of the life of the Church. There are few Catholic teachings that do not connect to the Eucharist, nor are many as ancient. This sacrament developed early in the Church’s history.
If other people wish to receive the Eucharist, it is a matter in most Churches for adults to attend classes for a few months, and be baptized and confirmed. Children may be just baptized if they are prior to the age of confirmation in that Diocese.
This is hardly a division and separation – if individuals TRULY believe that the Eucharist is the Body of Christ, they have only to convert to Catholicism – hardly a matter of years of classes.
Offering the Eucharist to all and sundry who wish to receive, on the basis that they wish to “overcome prejudice,” even if they do not believe that the Eucharist is the body of Christ, is to mock the teaching of the Church AND our own belief in the process. Biblically, we have no reports of those who rejected Christ utterly receving miraculous healings or being invited to follow him. However, those who manifested Faith in Christ were subject to these events.
One might object that there are Christians who believe in Christ – should they not be permitted access to the Eucharist. To do so would be to permit those who don’t believe that Christ is found in the Eucharist to engage in logical inconsistency.
Those who have chosen a different path to Christ should not allow themselves to claim that our path is the divisive one. That approaches the ridiculousness of allowing anyone to have a Ph.D. or M.D. who manifests enough of an emotional desire to have one, rather than having to go through years of work and study. If we were to do that, however, countless people would be damaged or injured, and the meaning of Ph.D. or M.D. would sink beyond any sort of worth.
-Jonathan
You’re not much of a theologian but you are a fine heretic.
Sympathy is all fine and good, but it’s an emotion and you have an opinion about your emotion. The Church doesn’t rest these statements on emotions, but rather on deep truths. I think you should listen to the pope. It’s the Christian thing to do.
Dr. Anthony,
I wrote a response to this post on my blog. It is in two parts.
Part 1: http://phatcatholic.blogspot.com/2007/03/profaning-communion -for-sake-of.html
Part 2: http://phatcatholic.blogspot.com/2007/04/profaning-communion -part-2.html
Feel free to respond, either through my comment box, or via email.
Pax Christi,
phatcatholic
Dr Chris,
I share your disdain for the exclusion of other Christians from Holy Communion. There are several questions I have. My understanding of the development of the situation (I know it may be quite incomplete, and probably is) began when the entire Church was Catholic. There were many heretical sects and pretenders who were informers for the government from the very beginning of the Church and She wanted to protect the sanctity of the Eucharist, thus there was much caution called for. Is all that necessary today?
I think some caution is still called for. As the centuries progressed these problems did not disappear. Some disguised themselves in various different heresies, but there was also something new with the Protestant Reformation. Many, many of these people are truly Christian in my eyes. They are not all heretics as in the first centuries of the Church, people like the Baptists, the Presbyterians, the Lutherans, and many other truly Christian denominations. Why are they kept from the Eucharist? Is their faith in the Lord inferior to those in the Roman Church? Their formation may not be as complete as ours, but I do not believe their faith is at all lacking. It is the same Holy Spirit that calls these people into the Christian faith. It is the same Jesus Christ that leads their church. They know the same God, who created all that is seen and unseen.
Priests have a special duty to bring the sacraments to the faithfull. That comes with a lot responsibility. They need to heed the warning not to allow someone to receive the Eucharist to their damnation. The priest would share in the Lord’s judgement for their fall. It is not and should not be taken lightly. But who is the ultimate judge of the disposition of a man’s soul? What about people, like you say who are in a state of mortal sin and receive Holy Communion anyway? Does the priest or Eucharistic minister really know the state of the recipient’s soul? These are not easy questions for me to answer.
I think a faithful Lutheran should be able to receive the Eucharist in a Catholic Liturgy, but then who is to say the recipient will be aware of the other requirements in the reception of the Eucharist? I have seen Lutheran liturgies in which the priest allows the “consecrated host’s” crumbs to fall on the floor and remain until after the service is over and the church is empty! Is that the way we should allow our Lord’s true body to be treated? Then do we really think they are fit to receive the Eucharist in the same way we do?
What about our citizenship? According to the Scriptures we have a heavenly citizenship, rather than an earthly one. So the Eucharist is our “passport.” According the the Church when we receive it we trandscend time and are in full comminion with Jesus and the saints, for all ages. Who is to say that we should not receive Holy Communion if there will ever be a time in the future when we will be in full communion with the Church of Rome? But on the other side of things, who would be so unwilling to wait eight months and go through RCIA to be able to fully participate in the sacraments along with the rest of the Church? It would not be someone who is trully convicted to join the Roman Church. As a convert from a protestant denomination, I must say that I am very gratefull for my formation as a Roman Catholic and my period of formation was rich and fruitful for me. I would not miss it if I had the choice.
This is a complex question, and to give it the attention it trully dsreves requires much more than an internet blog. I can only say that my heart aches over the division of the Church. We are all brothers, even though some may be a little lacking in Christian formation. We must begin our journey towrds unity with prayer, as in all things, but be sure, unity must be our goal, above all other things.
God bless and a very happy Easter to you and your family. The Lord is risen!
Pretty nice site, wants to see much more on it!