Can A Catholic Receive Communion At A Lutheran Service

You are at the wedding of a honey family member or friend, which is taking place at a Lutheran church. You lot gladly accepted the invitation to celebrate this happy solar day with the bride and groom. But and so there is a phone call to come to the table of the Lord's Supper, to receive communion. This is the awkward moment you knew was coming. Tin can you, and should y'all, a practicing Catholic, accept the invitation?

According to the Code of Canon Law, receiving communion in a Protestant church is generally not permissible. According to catechism 844, "Catholic ministers may licitly administer the sacraments to Cosmic members of the Christian faithful simply and, likewise, the latter may licitly receive the sacraments only from Cosmic ministers." The primal term hither is licit. If a Catholic receives communion from a Protestant minister, it is generally considered "illicit" or unlawful.

The reason for the Catholic Church building'southward general dominion against sharing in the Eucharist with other churches is that a person can merely be in full communion with one church. As a Catholic, the core of one'due south union with Christ is union with the church. The center of this union lies in the reception of the sacrament of the Eucharist during Mass, which is both a confession and embodiment of unity with the Roman Catholic Church.

Simply canon 844 includes an exception to the dominion "whenever necessity requires or general spiritual advantage suggests, and provided that the danger of error or indifferentism is avoided."

The 2nd Vatican Council'south Decree on Ecumenism said that, as a general rule, common worship and eucharistic and other sacramental sharing should "signify the unity of the church." But information technology acknowledges that such sharing can also exist seen as advancing unity. In fact, according to the decree, "the gaining of a needed grace sometimes commends" it.

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Nevertheless, within the confines of canon police force, the exceptions to the dominion are rather limited, and receiving communion from a Lutheran pastor during a hymeneals would normally exist seen equally "illicit" for Catholic wedding guests. At the same time, some Catholics would like to, and do, receive communion on these rare occasions.

These Catholics, subsequently a careful examination of their conscience, find compelling reasons to "gain a needed grace" past receiving communion in a Protestant church. And it is also true that eucharistic sharing has occurred at the highest levels of the church building. Even Jesus occasionally broke the religious police force of his day, though he did then to fulfill the "spirit" of the law.

So it is possible that ane could follow Jesus' lead. In our example a compelling reason might be to demonstrate ane'south deep love and commitment to nurturing the relationship of the newly married couple. Intercommunion could exist a "yes" to God by witnessing to God's presence in the marriage and committing to God's work of conservancy in their lives.

In the end, this may be fulfilling the "spirit" of catechism law while going against the letter of the alphabet.

This article appeared in the October 2011 outcome of U.South. Catholic (Vol. 76, No. 10, folio 46).