So... It's been a while since I posted to this blog, a lot has happened in that time. Most significant, as far as the topic of this post is concerned, is that I have received a declaration of nullity in regards to my legal, but not sacramental marriage and have a wonderful new woman in my life. But, that is where the question that serves as title for those post comes from. You see, my girlfriend is Methodist and so we frequently discuss the differences in our faiths. And, one sentiment she has repeatedly expressed is that she sees the Catholic Church as an exclusionary religion, not Christian behavior.
The crux of her feeling on this matter centers on the Eucharist, or in her faith perspective Communion. She notes that while her church will allow me to receive Communion alongside her without becoming a Methodist, my church will not allow her to receive Communion unless she converts.
We've discussed how the Methodist Lord's Supper and what the bread and wine in their Communion is compared to what we believe takes place at the Mass and what the bread and wine becomes prior to distribution in our Communion. Here I think we may both slightly fail to understand or communicate the subtle differences between Catholic belief in the Real Presence and Methodist belief in a spiritual change taking place in the bread and wine. But, within our discussions, for the sake of making her point she has said, "While this is not true, let's just say that my my church believes it is just bread and wine and yours does believe it is truly Jesus fully present." (She believes her Communion is more than bread and wine...)
From there is where I have a hard time making sense of what my faith teaches and why it does only allow Catholics to receive because she goes on to argue, "So, your church says that I am not worthy to receive Jesus?" My answer to that is to cite or paraphrase the Church's words on the issue of interfaith Communion, that receiving the Eucharist is a declaration of unity and that we share a completely common faith, not partial agreement, but total. Through the belief in transubstantiation we believe that it is something more than what she and non-Catholics believe it to be and the Church does not want someone that does not recognize it for what it is to receive unworthily (1 Cor 11:27).
On one occasion she then asked, "So, if I accept that it is actually the body and blood of Jesus, not just spiritually, but totally and completely, then I could receive?" I said, "Well, no you have to be in full unity with all of Catholic beliefs."
To which she retorted, "So you can only receive Jesus if you believe everything the Catholic Church teaches?" "You have to accept all the teachings of the Church, be in full union."
"But, Jesus called those that were separated from Him. He died on the cross for all of us, not just that small handful that was at the foot of the cross fully believing in Him. If He's really and truly present, why doesn't your church invite everyone to receive Him? Do you think He is incapable of handling a sinner touching Him?"
On another occasion she wanted to pursue the way we interpret 1 Cor 11:27 to say that one should not receive the Eucharist unworthily. She wanted to know if we thought anyone was worthy to receive Jesus, she set aside the broad question and got more specific and asked, "Have you ever been worthy of Jesus?" Initially, she wouldn't allow me to answer the question she was asking with our beliefs on absolution, grace, and being made worthy through His forgiveness, she very pointedly asked me if at any point, without God's grace, without Christ's sacrifice, without His mercy, forgiveness and love, if I was ever the pure tabernacle worthy of Him. Of course, I had to say "No."
She then allowed me to add to my answer and explain how while I can never be worthy on my own, that by seeking and receiving absolution, recognizing my need for Him, and accepting His grace and love makes me worthy. But, she knows my faith history well enough to have a powerful follow-up question: "So, you've never received Communion in your church while in need of absolution?"
She full well knew my answer: "You know that in my past my understanding of what the Church teaches was incomplete and that I received many times while in need of absolution."
"So, why is my flawed understanding grounds for your Church to exclude me?"
"Because you consciously choose to reject the Church's authority."
"How do you know?"
Here I really started to get flummoxed. She asked a question that none of us could ever answer, "How many Catholics receive Communion while in a state of mortal sin?" She added in rhetorical questions wondering how many of them were consciously rejecting dogma versus those that were unwittingly in a state of sin and not seeking absolution prior to Communion. Which really got me started thinking...
There's the obvious situations where a politician rejects Church teaching on abortion, publicly funding or working to protect abortion rights, yet, receiving Communion. There are the less obvious situations where a divorced man or woman, dating, engaged, or otherwise behaving sinfully without an annulment or any intent of pursuing one yet receiving Communion. And, in my conversations with other Catholics regarding Church teaching on sin, absolution and the worth reception of Communion it is very obvious that many Catholics receive Communion unworthily. "Cafeteria" Catholics or Catholics that wish to be better but still struggle with sin all seem to be receiving Communion.
I won't deny, much of this may be due to the ignorance of the Catholic receiving unworthily, but some is not. Regardless, if it is just to give a Catholic the benefit of the doubt and say "they don't know any better" so it's acceptable for them to receive Communion, then why can't the same be said about a non-Catholic that truly is a good Christian, only rejecting or ignorant of some Church teaching?
What makes it even harder for me to understand so that I can explain and defend it, is when my girlfriend then uses my own belief in the Eucharist against me. After confirming my deeply held belief that the Eucharist is Jesus she will cite Matthew 19:14, Mark 10:14, or Luke 18:16 and ask why I feel it is OK to keep children from Jesus in this circumstance? She will point out Luke 5:32 and many other passages where Jesus clearly calls sinners, puts himself in the midst of sinners, makes it clear that He came to save the sick not the righteous, then she'll ask how I can justify restricting access to Jesus to only those that I would view as being less in need of His mercy, love and presence than those who don't know Him nearly well enough yet.
I don't know how to respond. It's rare that I find myself unable to defend Church teaching, but she has found a challenge for which I have no response.
Certainly, I know 1 Corinthians 11:27 and how it declares receiving the Eucharist unworthily is sin, I know that a few verses later it says that anyone that eats without discerning the body brings judgment upon himself. But, if it is truly Jesus, body, blood, soul and divinity, then how can I accept that it is OK to keep someone away from Him for any reason? If they feel called to receive Communion in the Church, must I not believe that they feel that Jesus is calling them to Him and no one should stand between Him and one He calls, right?
If I say to my girlfriend, "No you cannot receive Communion because you do not accept the Pope. You do not accept apostolic succession. You do not accept an all male priesthood. You do not accept that God created marriage to be the bond of one man and one woman. While she is desirous of receiving Communion in my church, with me, am I not, is the Church not, being exclusive in a manner inconsistent with Jesus' mission?
Certainly, accepting everything the Catholic Church teaches, the best possible thing I could do is to bring her around to becoming Catholic and accepting our faith. But, after this ongoing discussion with her I am left thinking maybe she is right that the Church is exclusionary in a way worth questioning.
It seems that I should be able to have a conversation and relationship with her that goes more along these lines:
She asks why she cannot receive Communion in my church. I explain that we hold that Communion is not a symbol, it's not just a spiritual reality, that the bread and wine is the Real Presence of Jesus, body, blood, soul and divinity. Before receiving Communion you must first recognize that reality, how insulting, demeaning and sacrilegious would it be if you were to meet Jesus on the street, but instead of knowing and understanding that you were meeting God incarnate you were to think you were just touching a cardboard cutout that was intended to remind you of Him?
But, if she were to say that she could approach the Eucharist with that understanding, shouldn't that be enough for me, for the Church, to invite her to meet Jesus in the most intimate way we can in this life? Shouldn't we want to bring her into that close contact with Him so that she can fully receive His love and grace, opening her just a bit more to receiving the fullness of Truth that the Church offers. Plenty of Catholics receive Communion without understanding or accepting all Church teachings, even the most public and unrepentant of sinners is not excluded if they just say they were baptised, Confirmed or raised Catholic and present themselves for Communion. Sin is sin. Rejection of one aspect of Church teaching is rejection of the Church. But, if they are "Catholic" we make the case that our duty is to teach the truth in love, and let Jesus and the Holy Spirit do His work. That the Sacraments work in us and provide graces to us whether we cooperate and understand or not, they are efficacious because of Him, and have little to do with the strength of our faith or understanding.
Shouldn't we have the same mindset when it comes to non-Catholic Christians? Or anyone else that wishes to receive Communion?
I'm not even sure that they need to accept our belief about the Eucharist being the Real Presence... The more I think about it, the more I question that. Certainly, I think it would be sad for someone to touch Jesus and not be aware of what had just occurred. But, at the same time, the fact that it is Jesus should render that moot. Yes, it does seem that the Gospel informs us that Jesus was unable to perform miracles for people that lacked belief. But, it's not that He is suddenly rendered powerless, He is still omnipotent. No, it's more a matter that when someone has completely shut God out of their lives, they can't receive His grace because they are obstinate. But, certainly He can take a seed of imperfect faith and work with that.
My girlfriend has a great deal of faith. She just doesn't agree with some points of Catholic teaching and she is particularly turned away by the fact that she is told that her faith is not good enough to entitle her to meet Jesus in the Eucharist. As a result, she questions our entire belief system, because she believes that if we truly believed the Eucharist was Jesus and we truly believed what He said about coming for the sinners and that we should never stand in between Him and one that wishes to approach Him, then we ought to not say she can't receive Communion.
