The Great Divide Facing Pope Francis That Only Catholics Understand

[rug]

Who can take Holy Communion? If people were honest, almost nobody you know.

09.21.14
Barbie Latza Nadeau

ROME, Italy — Forget such lofty aspirations as ridding the Church of child abusers or clamping down on financial corruption, Pope Francis’s biggest obstacle in reforming the Catholic Church comes down to a tiny round gluten-rich Styrofoam-tasting wafer.

The Blessed Eucharist, Holy Communion, the breaking of bread, panis triticeus, the host with the most—whatever Catholics call the thin round wafer made of unleavened wheat, the sacrament of the Eucharist is the culminating point of any Catholic mass. And, according to Catholic teaching, the most important of the seven sacraments.

Taking communion is when Catholics accept the ultimate sacrifice made for them—the body and blood of Christ who died for their sins—preferably on an empty stomach and with a clear conscience in a sin-free state of grace. In some Catholic families (disclaimer: like the one I grew up in), Saturday night confession was a pretty good way to ensure one could still be free of sin by Sunday morning mass (or in some cases, confession was followed directly by Saturday night mass in lieu of Sunday, just to be safe).

Communion in the Catholic Church is extremely important, but it is rife with hypocrisy. In some Catholic communities, eyebrows are raised when certain members of the congregation join the queue to take communion; in others, nobody balks because everybody’s straddling the same thin sinner-saint line. Many Catholics who stand up for communion know they are unworthy, but they are far too worried what the neighbors might think if they sit out a Sunday, speculating on what sins weren’t forgiven in time.

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2014/09/21/the-great-divide-facing-pope-francis-that-only-catholics-understand.html

Priest: This is the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. Happy are those who are called to his supper.
All: Lord, I am not worthy to receive you, but only say the word and I shall be healed.

It's often said that the Eucharist is the heart of the Church. We'll soon see how large that heart is.

[IrishAyes]

1. Indeed we shall.

One time the server with the chalice pulled it back from me when I approached. He'd already said the blood of Christ and I'd already said amen, but I guess the thought of my politics gripped him at the very last and he couldn't bear to help a heretic commit more heresy. So he pulled it back. We locked eyes in the Death Stare, and I said quite firmly, "AGAIN I say amen." Gimme that! I was starting to wonder if he needed a good right hook to the jaw, but eventually the officiating priest gave him a warning look and the emergency passed. Yeah, so tell me about hypocrisy.

[rug]

2. Lol! A punch in the jaw at the Communion line might move things a lot faster than a synod.

[47of74]

3. There was one time an acquaintance of my Grandma was refused service

She went up in line to receive and the lady there refused to give her communion. She wound up having to go to a different line where she received the host. Something was said to the pastor but I don't know if the EM was removed from duty. When I was an EM I figured it was not my duty to decide who was worthy of communion or not and gave to anyone who approached. I figure any decisions about that are way above my paygrade, as it were.