I have always been embarrassed to bring non-Catholic people with me to mass (embarrassed of the Church, not them!) The reason is Communion. Those who are not "in communion" with the Catholic Church (i.e. non-Catholics) are not welcome to participate in, well . . .Communion. They can come up for a blessing (which no one does) and participate in the rest of mass, but not Communion.
It seems terribly unwelcoming. Which is hard when I'm, well . . . welcoming a friend.
It also seems controlling--if you believe that you need Communion for your salvation, and Communion is only possible for members of the Catholic Church, then it seems like there are high stakes for church membership. Whether this belief was ever "on the books" I don't know, but people have had the impression of this. The Catholic Church certainly has softer beliefs about salvation than that now, but in the old days who knows.
(This isn't the time to go into different beliefs about salvation, but Protestants have long argued for an individual, personal path to salvation, whereas Catholic Tradition has long argued for a community role, joining yourself to the body of Christ, which is, among other things, the Church. Can you really have Communion without community? This is why infant baptism is possible. It is not as much about personal choice as it is being brought into the fold. You still have to affirm this as an individual at some point. So the Catholic view has an interplay between individual choice and community involvement).
Closed Communion also just seems to create this "in group" mindset that seems contrary to everything Jesus was about. It was crap like that which tripped the Protestant Reformation in the first place. When abuses of this privilege become too much, it is not hard to see why people would seek a direct relationship with God instead of monkeying around with the Church. Just keep in mind that Protestants did not get rid of the concept of church, by any means, but maybe they see the role of church differently.
Right now, I'm just talking about the relationship to non-Catholics, I'm not even going to mention all the Catholics who often do not go to Communion because of some heinous sin they may have committed (such as, God forbid, missing mass).
It is bad enough the Catholic Church seems like it has some kind of dominion over the grace of God to transform the bread and wine into Christ's body and blood, but even worse to exclude people from that. Who are they to make that decision? (by the way, they don't feel like they can control God's grace, but they do believe that Christ made the promise that he would be available to them in the breaking of the bread). My beef has always been the exclusion of people more than whether or not the Eucharist is "real" or not (I believe it is).
It seems evident that Jesus would have invited anyone to Communion with him. He may have had his Last Supper with only his closest disciples, but you can read Eucharistic meaning into the more public meals, like the feeding of the multitude, which most certainly contained non-disciples (such as Brian). Besides, Judas was present at the Last Supper--at least in some gospel accounts. He wasn't exactly in "full communion" at the time, plotting Jesus' death and all.
However, there is nothing unreasonable for organizations to have rites of initiation. If someone values taking the Eucharist so much, then it shouldn't be so hard for them to take the classes and go through the steps to reach that point. If something is so precious, you would want to do your share to reach out toward it as much as expecting someone else to offer it to you. This argument doesn't work so well for a person who is not intending to be Catholic--Someone who still wants to be in communion with us while they are communing with us.
If I visited a Jewish Synagogue or Muslim Mosque, I would not be offended if there were certain parts of the ceremony that I could not participate in. It is not that I'm against openness, but I respect that different traditions have different levels of membership. I would not expect to take the job of an ordained minister without going to school and going through all the steps necessary. What is so wrong about having levels among community membership, as well?
This doesn't mean that God requires us to go through steps. I have no doubt that God welcomes us to Communion every day. But is there anything wrong with people putting an earthly structure around it? We are earthly beings, after all, and sometimes I think our minds can comprehend better when there is something concrete to springboard off of. Just as long as we don't lose sight of the fact that God doesn't always work within those human frameworks. The framework is valuable to our understanding, but not as a means of channeling God's grace, which falls like mist upon everyone and everything. Hey I don't know, I'm just thinking out loud here.
To Catholics, the Eucharist really is the Body of Christ. By taking that bread and wine, they are joining themselves mystically to Christ's body, which is already resurrected and ascended into Heaven. They are becoming con-corporeal with Christ as well as the Church, which is Christ's body, as well. Since Jesus is already ascended into Heaven, and you are taking in his body and blood, so you are joining yourself to Christ's body, then that is one step on your own path upward. If you don't believe that, and if you don't even want that, then why would you want to take Communion in the first place? However, I could imagine that there are non-Catholic Christians who would want that kind of union with Christ, whether or not they believe the Eucharist to be a symbolic or real event. So maybe Communion should include other baptized Christians, regardless of denomination?
I guess it raises the question as to what Communion really is. Is there a missionary value, welcoming all to the fold? Or is it "for members only"? Rites of Initiation are fine, but is something as important as the Eucharist really deserving to be the Rite of Initiation? Can't we make something else the Rite of Passage and leave the Eucharist for all people?
If the Eucharist really is that important, you would think you'd want it distributed as far and as widely as possible. But Eucharist is not just how it is offered, but how it is received, as well. It is something you can come forward to accept.
So I'm left unsure. How do non-Catholics feel about this exclusion? How do Catholics feel? What is the primary message of Communion--unity of believers or unity with all?
Ironically, my protestant boyfriend and I had this discussion yesterday (I attended his church). As a former Catholic, I guess, I always feel like it is kind of unwelcoming to people of other Christian faiths to not allow them to have communion in the church. I see your point about the Host representing your pledge to not only Jesus but also the church (which Jesus wanted established), but it seems to me all Christians are one with slight minor differences. I mean, really, this kind of closed pact is kind of one of the things that makes Protestants point fingers at the Catholic church.
ReplyDeleteIn my experiences in other Christian churches, this rule has not been as tight. In fact, my boyfriend invited me to take communion the one time that they were having communion in his church when I happened to be there. I didn't take communion as I'm not really Christian and I felt outside of the ritual at that moment. My Catholic upbringing reminds me daily of just what it means to take communion and I knew that I hadnt done that and that I wasnt willing to do that at this point in my life.
However, I admit that I did break this rule at my grandma's funeral service a few weeks ago. It was in a Catholic church in which I was saying the eulogy. I thought, I guess, in my mind that my grandma would be pleased to see me take communion. So I went up and did it for her, even though some of my Catholic friends to whom I told this later winced. But I feel okay about it. I was baptized Catholic; I took First Communion; I was all right with it and I think God would be too.
So, I dont know, at that moment I felt that it was an all right thing to do. I was moved to, even knowing what I know the act symbolizes. I'm kind of a shaky Christian these days (I mean, I am officially UU with Christian leanings). Also, I really feel like it symbolizes an acceptance within me of my origins, where I come from, and my change to be more open-minded than I used to be.
I dont know.
I agree with you that I wouldnt expect to be allowed to participate in the rituals at a Jewish synogue or Muslim mosque. But, also, those arent Christian religions (though they are branches from the same tree in their origins). My point is, I think that when we're talking about different flavors of the same basic religion, why can't a non-Catholic take communion in a Catholic church? (Or vise versa, because if my memory of catechism serves, Catholics are not supposed to take communion at another non-Catholic church.)
Also, most Catholics do take communion in other Catholic churches, not necessarily only their own. So that kind of breaks the idea that the directive is to be a member of the church community...
I'm generally in favor of open communion.
ReplyDeleteBut I just wanted to flesh it out, so to speak. Maybe I'm making more out of it with my embarrassment.
I can't just walk into most Protestant churches and expect that they are going to recognize me as an elder just because, nor would I expect them to.
But my gut says that Communion is too precious to be put into church strata like that.
Besides, anytime a discussion gets too tedious about when to do something and when not to, I tend to think there is something awry just from that. Of all the means of understanding God, legalisms are by far the clumsiest.
My perspective probably amounts to very little since I'm not really Christian... but I'm a former Catholic who observes tradition and has gained respect for it over the years... And, I dont know, I guess I see communion in the true sense of the word, which is "to commune." It's spiritually beautiful no matter how you interpret the Eucharist. A group of people coming together and sharing in the ritual of common belief, of hope in the same future for the course of humanity.
ReplyDeleteYou know, and the Last Supper represents so much on so many different levels. Sharing a meal with people you care about is a very holy thing. We share meals at funerals, weddings, celebrations of all kinds. What do two people do who havent seen each other in a long time? Usually meet somewhere over dinner, or make dinner at someone's house. Breaking the bread together is something we humans do to show kinship with each other.
There was a short story with this sort of theme that I read once in college. I cant remember what it was called or exactly what it was about, except that two people who had been through a lot of pain and turmoil in their lives were sharing a meal together and the meal together became a sort of healing process... and it wasnt unlike the Last Supper.
I was maybe 12 years old the first time I went to Catholic Mass with a friend. Nobody warned me about the whole communion thing, so I went ahead and got in line. I took the bread and the wine and was heading back to the pew when I heard the priest whisper to my friend "she's not Catholic, is she?" I was mortified! I felt like I'd totally offended everyone.
ReplyDeleteSince then, I'm okay with being excluded from communion as long as somebody, preferably the priest, explains the standard procedure. When in Rome, do as the Protestant Romans do.
Did I ever tell you about the time my aunt, whose job it was to prepare the bread and grape juice for communion in our Methodist church, decided to play a practical joke on the pastor by putting beer in the chalice instead of grape juice? Yeah. That would be my second communion-related mortification.
That would be my second communion-related mortification.
ReplyDeleteSounds more like a communion-related inebriation.