I totally agree, Laura! About a year ago, I was back in MI for our collective 50th birthday party and I attended a funeral mass for a friend's aunt. At communion time, the priest informed us that only those who are, in essence, a part of the Catholic community of believers can receive communion. WHAT?! When did this happen?

Granted, I am no longer a practicing Catholic (I'm actually a Baptist minister!). In our services, communion or the Lord's Supper is offered to ALL believers of any faith. So . . . Roman Catholic Church, what's up with this? Smh, heaven is not going to be separated by religion and neither should the celebration of the sacrifice of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Oh well, to each their own.

It has been the teaching of the Church ever since the very early days (i.e., going back to the Didache) that consuming the body and blood of Christ in an unworthy fashion is to commit a profanity against our Lord. See Corinthians: "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" (1 Cor. 11:27?28)

If, as the Church has taught from the very beginning, the Eucharist is actually the body and blood of our Lord, Jesus Christ, one should not approach that lightly.

The link below provides some more teaching on the topic: Web Link

Communion wafers are delicious with a little hummus on top.

I think you should go by the quote given by John -

"Let a man examine himself, and so eat of the bread and drink of the cup"

Ya gotta play by the house rules. Even if they were made by primitive, easily fooled men of ancient times, desperate to try and figure out how everything came to be. Now we have science, but some prefer "Faith" because it means never having to say they were wrong. Science can be wrong, but never Faith.

And obviously, Coleen is a theological expert? Hmmm kinda don't think so. But I agree with the poster stating that the unleavened host is indeed scrumptious with hummus. I like to add garlic. You?

BroIl - Colleen googled this and even my mom agrees. It is a mortal sin! And Vickie Wheeler - Baptist minister? You go girl! Don't get me started about the women's role in the Catholic church. Besides, nothing to do with food it's off limits on this blog for me. But the next one.....

I totally agree with you Laura. The Catholic Church is filled with contradictions. The first is the issue of married priests. Why was it OK for priests to marry for the Church's first 1,000 years? It wasn't until the Second Lateran Council held in 1123 when it ruled that priests could not marry. And today...why is it OK for a Catholic priest, who converts from being a married priest in another Christian denomination, to be a married Catholic priest? Today almost 100 American Catholic priests are married! Furthermore, there have always been married priests in the non-Latin rites, like Ukrainian Catholicism or Maronite Catholicism. These churches are fully Catholic, obedient to the pope, but they ordain married men.

People are sinners. Priests are people. Ergo, priests are sinners. The arguments that priest are sinners therefore are hypocrites, the Church is evil, and God doesn't exist, etc. are a silly arguments.

Personally, I like wine and real bread for communion like Jesus had, not wafers and grape juice.

When I was a child (late 60s) the government decreed that students should eat liver as it had a lot of nutritional value, so every week we were served liver. Needless to say, it all ended up in the trash. It was a waste of tax payer money, left students hungry, and by today's standards was a bad choice nutritionally.

Now, the government is again at it with predictability the same results. What is needed is education, not the heavy hand of those that think they know better.

Hey, here's an idea for student education: Web Link

@USA:

Are you implying that the Catholic Church is chopped liver?

I like chicken liver paté!

(in moderation, of course)

Awesome post friend.

This is a more delicate topic than it may appear. The moral rules people live by have developed over centuries. Sometimes, there are good reasons for old rules that are not immediately apparent. There is something to be said for a mindset that says, "I'm going to try to live up to this set of rules, and see how it makes me a better person," rather than "I'm going to figure it out for myself." Someone who points out the Catholic rules concerning communion may see it in a light of maintaining the standard.

That said - I'm not a Catholic - from my point of view, your taking Communion is a positive thing, in as much as provides you an opportunity to reflect on spiritual things - I'm completely pragmatic about it. But - my point is - be slow to take offense when people say, "you need to go through confession before taking communion". It may be less of a matter of them saying, "you're not part of the club," and more of a matter of them asking, "do you think it's okay to break the established rules?" Sometimes, the answer is "yes", but it requires reflection.

Love the introspection on this - thank you everyone. I have been sharing all your comments with my mother and it has broadened our conversation on the matter. Casa de Cerveza, I never there were married priests - but mom did!

Laura-- come back to California and return to being the happy, lapsed catholic that you were before. The church is morally and sprirtually bankrupt. There may be a new pope, but it is the same old, same old with the boys in their cassocks.

Rupert, let go of the hate. It only hurts you.

By your logic, since not every driver gets a ticket for speeding, no one should get a ticket for DUI either.

Thank you Sparty. But I see the logic more as just because you don't jump into the ocean in Half Moon Bay, doesn't mean you can't celebrate it's glory when traveling to Hawaii.