Reply to St. Columba's overly political sermons...

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[quote=Anonymous]I hesitate to open up this can of worms, but for those of you who are offended by closed communion, you need to understand that the tenants of Protestant vs. Roman Catholic view of the Eucharist is very different.  Protestants view the Eucharist as a symbol.  However, (in a nutshell) Roman Catholics (among others) believe in transubstantiation which means the change of the substance of bread and wine into the substance of the Body and Blood of Jesus.  Believing that Christ is risen from the dead and is alive, the Catholic Church holds that when the bread is changed into his body and the wine to his blood, not only his body and blood is present, but[u] Christ as a whole is present[/u] (i.e. body and blood, soul and divinity.) Thus, a priest cannot knowingly give the Eucharist to non-Catholics (who do not believe that Christ is wholly present), and those who are not in a state of grace.  For example, politicians who support abortion are not adhering to Canon law in that they "obstinately persist to grave sin."  A Catholic must be free of mortal sin to receive the Eucharist or they commit the sin of sacrilege as does the priest who knowingly allows the sacrilege to occur.  In fact, the sin is worse for the priest because they are presumed to have a greater understanding and therefor held to a higher standard.  Catholics can take communion if in a state of venial sin but not grave or mortal sin.  In addition, due to the presence of Christ in the Eucharist, Catholics must refrain from food or drink for a specified period time before communion.

Close communion is a way of protecting the sanctity of the Eucharist as viewed by the Catholics.  For Catholic, receiving the Eucharist is not symbolic.  It isn not something that we do once a month or quarterly as many Protestant faiths do.  The  purpose of Mass is to receive the Eucharist and receive the Lord.

Very simplistic analysis (it is more complicated than this), but there are real and valid reasons for a closed communion based upon fundamental difference in beliefs.

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