Jul
09
2012
By Anonymous (not verified)
Why Aren't All Christians Able to Receive the Eucharist?
Answer: At the Last Supper, Jesus prayed to His Father that His followers would "be one" as He and the Father are one (see Jn 17:21-22). In fact, it is a scandal that all Christians cannot be united around the one table of the Lord because of the various divisions that have arisen in the Church in the last 2,000 years. However, we cannot simply gloss over these divisions as if they do not exist. When there is not a true unity of belief and practice, intercommunion would become a mockery of the unity we seek.
Various Churches and ecclesial communities are related to the Catholic Church in different ways. Intercommunion is permitted under certain circumstances with some Eastern Churches such as the Orthodox, who possess true Sacraments. These Churches are closely joined with us through apostolic succession, the priesthood, and the Eucharist (see Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1399).
However, the Church teaches that Protestant communities derived from the Reformation and separated from the Catholic Church "have not preserved the proper reality of the Eucharistic mystery in its fullness, especially because of the absence of the sacrament of Holy Orders" (Catechism, 1400). Eucharistic intercommunion is not possible with those communities. There are ongoing ecumenical dialogues with them that must always be based on truth.
Pope John Paul II taught, "The communion of the particular Churches with the Church of Rome, and of their Bishops with the Bishop of Rome, is - in God's plan - an essential requisite of full and visible communion ... of which the Eucharist is the highest sacramental manifestation" (Ut Unum Sint, 97).
Let us pray for the unity that Jesus so desires.
Father Joe Roesch, MIC, welcomes your questions. Send them to: Ask a Marian, Editorial, Eden Hill, Stockbridge, MA 01263, or email [email protected].
Receive a free copy of Marian Helper magazine.
Answer: At the Last Supper, Jesus prayed to His Father that His followers would "be one" as He and the Father are one (see Jn 17:21-22). In fact, it is a scandal that all Christians cannot be united around the one table of the Lord because of the various divisions that have arisen in the Church in the last 2,000 years. However, we cannot simply gloss over these divisions as if they do not exist. When there is not a true unity of belief and practice, intercommunion would become a mockery of the unity we seek.
Various Churches and ecclesial communities are related to the Catholic Church in different ways. Intercommunion is permitted under certain circumstances with some Eastern Churches such as the Orthodox, who possess true Sacraments. These Churches are closely joined with us through apostolic succession, the priesthood, and the Eucharist (see Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1399).
However, the Church teaches that Protestant communities derived from the Reformation and separated from the Catholic Church "have not preserved the proper reality of the Eucharistic mystery in its fullness, especially because of the absence of the sacrament of Holy Orders" (Catechism, 1400). Eucharistic intercommunion is not possible with those communities. There are ongoing ecumenical dialogues with them that must always be based on truth.
Pope John Paul II taught, "The communion of the particular Churches with the Church of Rome, and of their Bishops with the Bishop of Rome, is - in God's plan - an essential requisite of full and visible communion ... of which the Eucharist is the highest sacramental manifestation" (Ut Unum Sint, 97).
Let us pray for the unity that Jesus so desires.
Father Joe Roesch, MIC, welcomes your questions. Send them to: Ask a Marian, Editorial, Eden Hill, Stockbridge, MA 01263, or email [email protected].
Receive a free copy of Marian Helper magazine.
