I take it then one can't give one's self bread and wine in remembrance of Christ, personally, because it would be meaningless?
Posted on 03/15/2007 1:48:10 PM PDT by Alex Murphy
Pope Benedict XVI has reaffirmed a strict ruling forbidding eucharistic concelebration with ministries of non-Roman Catholic churches, while at the same time giving priests the go-ahead to revive Latin as the main language used during the church service known as the Mass.
"The celebration and worship of the Eucharist enable us to draw near to God's love and to persevere in that love," Benedict said in an apostolic exhortation entitled "Sacramentum Caritatis" ("The Sacrament of Charity"). The 131-page document, released by the Vatican on 13 March, is a summary of papal reflections on discussions at the 2005 World Synod of Bishops on the Eucharist.
In his summary, the Pope restates his strong opposition to Catholics remarrying, and also asks priests to refrain from celebrating the Mass during weddings or funerals attended by non-practising Catholics.
"The Eucharist," Pope Benedict wrote, "implies full communion with the Church. This is the reason why, sadly, albeit not without hope, we ask Christians who are not Catholic to understand and respect our conviction, which is grounded in the Bible and tradition. We hold that eucharistic communion and ecclesial communion are so linked as to make it generally impossible for non-Catholic Christians to receive the former without enjoying the latter.
"Only in exceptional situations, for the sake of their eternal salvation, can individual non-Catholic Christians be admitted to the Eucharist, the sacrament of reconciliation and the anointing of the sick," said the 79-year-old pontiff.
Quoting from "Sacramentum Caritatis", the Pope confirmed "the Church's practice, based on sacred scripture, of not admitting the divorced and remarried to the sacraments, since their state and their condition of life objectively contradict the loving union of Christ and the Church, signified and made present in the Eucharist."
The Pope also reaffirmed, "the beauty and the importance of a priestly life in celibacy as a sign expressing total and exclusive devotion to Christ and to the Church. Therefore I confirm that it remains obligatory in the Latin tradition." He added, "'I ask that future priests ... be trained to understand and celebrate Holy Mass in Latin, use Latin texts and execute Gregorian chants."
Church rules adopted after the Second Vatican Council of 1965 said that congregations wishing to celebrate Mass in Latin had to seek permission from Rome or their local bishops.
The Second Vatican Council and the abandonment of the traditional Latin rite led to a schism within the church led by Marcel Lefebvre, a French archbishop who was later excommunicated by the late Pope John Paul II for consecrating four bishops in violation of canon law.
**Pope Benedict XVI has reaffirmed a strict ruling forbidding eucharistic concelebration with ministries of non-Roman Catholic churches, while at the same time giving priests the go-ahead to revive Latin as the main language used during the church service known as the Mass. **
Wow! Two things in one sentence!
I read this the same way you did. Our daughter married in November. He was raised in the Methodist church, but converted prior to marrying our daughter. It was a matter of great import to them to have the Eucharist on that day, even when half of the church was filled with her husband's non-Catholic family (not to mention the friends on both sides).
I hope to learn that we have mis-read this.
Do either of you know the actual rules regarding the Orthodox?
Thank you for the post to this thread. You may find this informative.
Last year, I stumbled upon the following series of articles and posted them to the forum. In case you missed it, .....
The Holy Sacrifice of the Mass: A Primer for Clueless Catholilcs. I learned so much from that series.
wagglebee, the section of the missalette which denotes those who can partake in Holy Communion says something like "those belonging to the Assyrian Church of the East, Orthodox Churches, and Polish National Churches are urged to respect their own diciplines, however the magesterium does not object to members of these churches receiving Holy Communion". I think, but I'm not sure, that the Assyrian Church of the East and the Orthodox Churches don't allow their members to receive Communion in Latin Rite churches and I don't know about the Polish National Church. To my knowledge, the Orthodox Churches do not allow Latin Rite Catholics to receive Communion in their Church. I'm not sure what they, the Orthodox, think about Eastern Rite Catholics. I hope somebody corrects me if I got anything wrong!
Thanks, I know that there is something in the Catechism about it, but I never paid much attention to it.
I take it then one can't give one's self bread and wine in remembrance of Christ, personally, because it would be meaningless?
What I see is the requirement that caution be used at a gathering at which the priest knows that a large number of people should not be admitted to the Eucharist. The priest should warn folks not to receive -- and failing that (i.e. if the priest doesn't give a clear warning or if the bride or groom or their parents would be embarassed at same and don't want him to) consider not having a Mass.
This avoids the sort of scandal they had when then-President Clinton and the missus sashayed up to the altar and took Communion in a Catholic church (in Africa?). Had the priest cautioned the congregation, they couldn't claim they didn't know (or, worse, that they'd been invited!)
This is exactly the procedure in our parish anyway -- at a wedding or a funeral the priest steps forward before Mass begins and reminds the assembly that only Catholics in good standing should receive and that everyone else can be blessed if they like. And when a Catholic marries a Protestant, they don't have a Nuptial Mass . . . since the non-partner can't receive.
Sis married a Greek Orthodox in a Catholic wedding and they both received communion.
1. Catholics don't believe that it is merely "this symbolic ritual." The Eucharist is the eternal Sacrifice offered on Calvary, and the bread and wine are miraculously changed into the Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity, of Christ.
2. If one doesn't believe this, he should not participate in a Catholic Eucharist, because he is acting a lie.
3. Receiving is also a statement of solidarity and conformance to all the beliefs of the Church. If one doesn't believe this, he is not only acting a lie but causing a public scandal.
4. Christ indeed gave this power - as well as, even more explicitly, the power to forgive or retain sins - to His disciples. That power is transmitted by the laying on of hands and receiving of the Holy Spirit in the process of ordination. So you are correct on that point, it is a royal priesthood, after the order of Melchisedek.
5. Of course one can give himself communion . . . if one is a priest!
Receiving Communion from onself (autocommunion) is contrary to the Catholic faith.
One way to look at the Eucharist is to imagine that a sort of "wormhole" in space and time opens up when the priest says "This is my Body" and "This is my Blood". Instantly, we are present at Golgotha in AD 33, witnesses (via the imaginary time warp) at the one and only Crucifixion of Christ, receiving (via the imaginary time warp) the one and only Body and Blood of the Lord. As we receive the Eucharist, we see, feel, and taste the physical and chemical accidents of "bread" and "wine" -- wheat, water, alcohol, etc. -- just as the Apostles did at the Last Supper, but what we are really and truly consuming is nothing else but the actual Flesh and Blood of Our Lord.
You misunderstand what the Pope has written.
You have.
Yippee!!!
This is very similar to the explanation I use with my 5th grade students. "Time is very complicated; if any of you ever earns a PhD in Physics, you're welcome to come back to my class and explain it more clearly to all of us!"
Of course, this is a judgment call, as a personal matter. We, as Catholics, have a different understanding of communion than Presbyterians do, so to me it makes sense not to receive communion in their church. I didn't receive communion in the Presbyterian church until I had been confirmed in that church. Since my children haven't been confirmed in the Presbyterian church, they shouldn't receive communion there.
In addition, a simple rule ("Don't receive communion when you go to church with Grandmama.") with a simple reason ("It's not good manners.") eliminates theological arguments :-).
A Christian cannot live without the Eucharist, Benedict XVI writes. In it, “the Lord truly becomes food for us, to satisfy our hunger for truth and freedom”...
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