That's an awful story CHH, and I can't believe your Mom had to go through that. But it's anecdotal, and I don't think it is representative of the majority of Catholic parishes/priests. This is the first time i've EVER heard of that happening, actually.
Every religion has it's fringes, it's freaks, its ultra-weirdos. I think to be fair though, you have to try and judge on the whole....what do they teach, what do they preach, and what, on average, do they tend to practice? In those areas, I tend to like Catholics and their strange little religion :) (My mom would kill me if she knew I'd called it 'strange' just now!) On 7/11/07, Dana <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > yes, you are not supposed to receive communion unless you are both > Catholic and in a state of grace. I have never heard of having to > prove these things. But I suppose it's possible! Seems overly > controlling to me. But then so does much of Church teaching. > > On 7/10/07, C. Hatton Humphrey <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > > well, no, they don't ask for your credentials before you take > > > communion. Or at least they didn't use to. > > > > I'll respond to both your post and Eric's with the story of my own > > mother who is a devout Catholic. When she came to visit me the first > > time and went to Mass at our local church she was refused because the > > priest did not recognize her. It wasn't until afterwards that she met > > with him that she was allowed to take communion. > > > > More to the point: > > http://www.ourcatholicfaith.org/sacraments/receivingcommunion.html > > > > And I quote: > > In keeping with the sacramental meaning of the Eucharist this canon > > reserves the sacraments to Catholics, that is, those who are in > > communion with the Church. It then addresses the question of Catholics > > receiving the sacraments from non-Catholics. It sets the following > > strict conditions: > > > > a. necessity or genuine spiritual advantage > > b. when the danger of error or indifferentism is avoided > > c. it is physically or morally impossible to approach a Catholic > minister > > d. a church which has valid sacraments > > > > This last condition is the key one, since it eliminates ALL the > > Reformation churches (Anglican, Episcopalian, Presbyterian, Methodist, > > Baptist etc.), none of whom have valid sacred orders, and therefore, a > > valid Eucharist. > > > > > > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| CF 8 â Scorpio beta now available, easily build great internet experiences â Try it now on Labs http://www.adobe.com/cfusion/entitlement/index.cfm?e=labs_adobecf8_beta Archive: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/CF-Community/message.cfm/messageid:238150 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/CF-Community/subscribe.cfm Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/unsubscribe.cfm?user=89.70.5
