I was raised Catholic and had my First Communion. But later in life, I converted to Lutheran because I do not agree with many Catholic Beliefs.
If I’m in a Catholic church, like for a wedding or funeral, and they offer communion, should I participate? I think that ‘technically’ I can, because I had my Catholic First Communion. But, I also think that I shouldn’t, because I am no longer Catholic.
Does anyone the Catholic church’s official view on this? (not just personal opinions)
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You should not partake of communion in the Catholic Church.
When we receive communion, not only are we saying that we agree it is the true body and blood of Christ….but we also are agreeing to all that the Holy Catholic Church teaches and professes to be true.
You are not in communion with us because you are not in communion with the Church of Rome and the Pope…and because you do not share our beliefs.
Also, you do not participate in the Sacrament of Reconciliation, which is an integral part of being eligible to receive the Eucharist.
http://www.adoremus.org/CommGuide.html
They explain it better than I can. Since you are no longer practicing, you must either repent for your apostasy by going to confession and desiring true reconciliation with Christ and his church; or you can either stay in your pew or go forward but ask for a blessing.
Sorry,
If you haven’t been to confession…You cannot take communion.
Technically, you CANNOT receive the Eucharist when you are visiting a Catholic Church. This is in the Canon Law of the Catholic Church.
For one, you’ve formally joined the Lutheran church, so that’s your official exit from Catholicism. But even if you didn’t join officially and were just going to the Lutheran church regularly, you couldn’t receive the Eucharist unless you went to confession first, because you’d be in a state of mortal sin for not meeting your Mass obligation on Sundays and Holy Days for all this time.
Thirdly, if you don’t believe in what the Catholic Church teaches and if you don’t want to be Catholic, you ought to not receive the Eucharist just on principle. Why pretend to be in communion with the Church you don’t agree with?
I don’t think you can because you’re supposed to physically believe that the host IS the body of Christ rather than a symbol.http://www.americancatholic.org/Messenge…
No, do not take the host or the wine. Even a devout Catholic shouldn’t take communion unless they have been to confession within a week of doing so.
According to their “official” view, you have fallen into apostacy, and if they knew you were going to a Lutheran church, they would not allow you to participate in their communion.
The official view of the Catholic church is that only Catholics can be saved. If you are no longer a Catholic, you are doomed and cannot participate in communion.
Don’t let them control you, even a little. Salvation is not in the communion; faith/trust in Christ is where salvation resides.
There are no other provisos.
.
Holy communion is open to all who accept transubstantiation and are in a state of Grace.
Missing mass is in itself a sin, so until you go to confession, you should not receive holy communion.
It does not sound like you were ever taught much about Catholicism, maybe you should give it another objective look now that you are an adult.
For some easy information, find EWTN (Catholic television) you might just be surprised how the things that made you leave make much more sense when explained.
Good Luck and Peace be with you!
And Hogie (above) you are wrong. it is NOT the official teachings of the Catholic Church that only Catholics can be saved. The Pope was grossly mis-quoted last month by the AP. you can go to http://www.Catholic.com to find out the truth.
From Catholic Answers, sorry for length but important issue!:
“The Holy Eucharist is the most important of the seven sacraments because, in this and in no other sacrament, we receive the very body and blood, soul and divinity of Jesus Christ. Innumerable, precious graces come to us through the reception of Holy Communion.
Communion is an intimate encounter with Christ, in which we sacramentally receive Christ into our bodies, that we may be more completely assimilated into his. “The Eucharist builds the Church,” as Pope John Paul II said (Redemptor Hominis 20). It deepens unity with the Church, more fully assimilating us into Christ (1 Cor. 12:13; CCC 1396).
In John’s gospel, Jesus summarized the reasons for receiving Communion when he said:
“Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of man and drink his blood, you have no life in you; he who eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day. For my flesh is real food, and my blood is real drink. He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me, and I in him. As the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so he who eats me will live because of me. This is the bread which came down from heaven, not such as the fathers ate and died; he who eats this bread will live forever” (John 6:53–58).
Catholics and Communion
The Church sets out specific guidelines regarding how we should prepare ourselves to receive the Lord’s body and blood in Communion. To receive Communion worthily, you must be in a state of grace, have made a good confession since your last mortal sin, believe in transubstantiation, observe the Eucharistic fast, and, finally, not be under an ecclesiastical censure such as excommunication.”
the official view is that you should not take Communion. Only a Catholic in good standing can take Communion.
I wish I had a Missal here, because it’s pretty clear. There’s something about “significant liturgical differences” that would prevent you from participating in Catholic communion. And what everyone else said about you needing to participate int he sacrament of reconciliation.
That being said, you are still nominally a catholic. Even had you been baptized Lutheran and not Catholic, the catholic church recognizes Lutheran Baptisms. Some people jokingly refer to Lutherans as “non-papist Catholics”.
No, you cannot receive Holy Communion in the Catholic Church. Receiving Holy Communion implies acceptance of all of the teachings of the Church and unity with Catholics throughout the world. Since you are not Catholic, you are not in union with the Church; thus, you cannot receive Holy Communion.
You have to go to confession before you can take Communion.
You are Catholic. Your Baptism made you that way.
I would say that without going to Confession, however, before you receive the Blessed Sacrament…you leave yourself open to great spiritual peril.
If I was in your shoes…I would go to the weddings, etc. – - but I would NOT receive Communion unless I made my Confession.
If you do not consider yourself Catholic, you should not receive the Eucharist. The Eucharist is not only the literal body and blood of Christ (receiving without believing this would be sacrilegious), but it is also the central symbol of Catholic unity, and the principle expression of that unity. To receive the Eucharist is to say “I am Catholic. I accept and embrace the teaching of the Holy Catholic Church”. If you cannot say that in words, you should not indicate it by your actions either.
No you should not particpate in communion. To partake in communion when not in a state of grace can endanger ones soul. If you are no longer Catholic then you have not particpated in the sacraments (confession specifically) and you are therefore not in a state of grace. You should not partake in communion on those grounds. There is no shame in that. I am Catholic and I have had to skip communion on more than one occassion.
If you wish however, you can approach the priest with your arms crossed across your chest at communion time and recieve a blessing.
EDIT: Hogie “The official view of the Catholic church is that only Catholics can be saved. If you are no longer a Catholic, you are doomed and cannot participate in communion.”
Sorry but you are way off base. Quote me one source that says that is the Catholic churches “official view”.
Dear P M G,
Biblicaly I don’t believe that there is any problem. However us Lutherans and our Roman brothers are always trying to do what is best in the light of Scripture. Therefore the Church of Rome and Confessional Lutheran Churches have and will continue to practice “Closed” communion. Each Church does this not to exclude any one, but for their protection. They do not want to cause any one with a “wrong understanding” or someone without belief from sinning against the body and blood of our Lord.
There have been exceptions. Talk to your Pastor, and also talk to the officiating Priest.
I’m Lutheran. I became good friends with a Catholic Priest through the funeral business. We often discussed theology at length. I attended a wedding at his Church and after the service Father admonished me for not receiving communion. I told him I was not allowed. He told me that the Lord allows me to receive in the Lutheran Church. The Catholic Church has the same Lord. I continued to abstain in his Church, we remained friends until he died. He always respected me and my faith.
Mark
There are several reasons why you can’t partake of the Eucharist. Here are some of the official reasons given by the Catholic Church.
“[The Eucharist is called] Holy Communion, because by this sacrament we unite ourselves to Christ, who makes us sharers in his Body and Blood to form a single body.” (CCC 1331) By definition, Protestants do not claim to form a single body with Catholics, and to receive the Eucharist would be to make a statement to the contrary. Why would a person wish to publicly profess beliefs which they do not have? Receipt of the Eucharist is, among other things, a profession of faith.
CCC 1362 to 1368 reflect the Catholic view that salvation is a process and that the re-presentation in the Eucharist of the Christ’s sacrifice are part of this ongoing process. Thus, participation in the Sacrament is contrary to many Protestant theologies that view salvation as a one time event, a switch to be flicked. Again, receipt of the Eucharist would be antithetical to many Protestants’ beliefs.
“To respond to this invitation we must prepare ourselves for so great and so holy a moment. St. Paul urges us to examine our conscience: “Whoever, therefore, eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of profaning the body and blood of the Lord. Let a man examine himself, and so eat of the bread and drink of the cup. For any one who eats and drinks without discerning the body eats and drinks judgment upon himself.” Anyone conscious of a grave sin must receive the sacrament of Reconciliation before coming to communion.” (CCC1385). The Church has rightly recognized heresy as a grave sin. Those separated from the communion of the body of the Christ through heresies do grave harm to the Body (See Matt. 12:25). One would not want to take part in Holy Communion while a Protestant if they heed the warning of 1 Cor. 11:27-29. At the very least, they might respect Catholic custom as a matter of social courtesy
Lastly, CCC 1410, “It is Christ himself, the eternal high priest of the New Covenant who, acting through the ministry of the priests, offers the Eucharistic sacrifice. And it is the same Christ, really present under the species of bread and wine, who is the offering of the Eucharistic sacrifice.” One cannot simultaneously accept the real presence and deny the validity of the Church!
Hope this helped you some
God Bless
Robin
Depends:
If you don’t believe in the transsubstantiation, don’t do it because when the priest blesses, the bread literally becomes the body of Christ. This has been photographically confirmed by stygmatics–or does it?
You need read http://www.revelado.org/revealed.htm
Shalom, peace in Jesus, Ben Yeshua
I think communion is still about Christ.
No matter what church you are in.
So long as that is what is in your heart.
You can take it anywhere, and God looks
into your heart, sees you remembering Christ
and that is the whole point.
As a member of a Bible believing Church, you will not be turned away for communion. Take it, it is in remenbrance of Christ. I have never seen anyone refused communion.
Why would you want to take communion from heretics and blasphemers? They believe that the eucharist actually becomes the body of Christ. Are you kidding me? I wouldn’t stand, kneel or participate in communion at a Catholic church. No. Do not participate.
if you believe that the host and wine turn into the actual body and blood of christ (not just symbolic), then yes, you can participate. other wise you should just walk up and get a blessing.
Go right ahead. As far as the Church is concerned, you were baptized Catholic and you will remain so until Excommunication.