Ecumenism and the Eucharist

Q: I recently attended a funeral held in the Anglican church. There was a note in the program that went something like this: 'If you are presently receiving the Eucharist in another Christian church, please feel free to come forward and receive it.' Where does the Church stand on Catholics receiving the Eucharist while attending functions in other Christian churches?




For Christians who celebrate the Lord’s Supper, or Holy Communion, receiving the Eucharist is both a sign of faith and of unity. 

Of faith, it is a testimony, a visible witness of one’s personal commitment to Christ. Receiving the Eucharist is an “altar call”: a public act of dedication to Christ and one’s community, and a public display of one’s profound need for God. 

Sharing the Eucharist with the congregation is also a sign of communion, or of intimate unity with one’s peers and fellow Christians around the world. However, for the Catholic, sharing in the Eucharistic Meal is not only a profession of faith and unity, it is also a partaking in the very essence of Jesus Christ and an act of adherence to our Catholic faith.

Pope John Paul II, in his 2003 encyclical letter Ecclesia de Eucharistia, reminds us that “The celebration of the Eucharist … cannot be the starting point for communion; it presupposes that communion already exists.” He goes on to assert that this profession of unity is both invisible and visible. 
Our profession is invisible in the sense that it conveys union with God, with our immediate community, with Catholics throughout the world, and with the saints and angels in heaven. 
Likewise, our profession is also visible “which entails communion in the teaching of the Apostles, in the sacraments, and in the Church’s hierarchical order” (Ecclesia de Eucharistia 35). 
In other words, in receiving the Eucharist, we not only enter into a profound union with God and his Church, but we profess openly our understanding of the real presence of Jesus in the Eucharistic Meal and our conviction that the Catholic Church has been instituted by Christ and sustained by the grace of the Holy Spirit for the glory of God the Father and the salvation of humanity (see “Catholic Catechism” art. 748-776). Without this invisible and visible profession of faith, “it is not possible to celebrate the same Eucharistic liturgy [with non-Catholic Churches and communities] until those bonds are fully reestablished” (Ecclesia de Eucharistia 44). 

Although we yearn with Christ that “all may be one” (John 17:21), until the bonds are reestablished, interfaith communion would be not only invalid, but it also might become “an obstacle to the attainment of full communion … by introducing or exacerbating ambiguities” about the truths of our faith (Ecclesia de Eucharistia 44). However, under special circumstances the Eucharist can be administered to an individual who belongs to a Church or Ecclesial Community, provided that such an action would “meet a grave spiritual need for the eternal salvation of an individual believer” (45).

The question of interfaith communion is a difficult one, not because of a lack of information, but because it makes apparent the reality of the divisions among Christ’s faithful. Nonetheless, we continue to pray, with Christ, that all Christians may approach the Eucharist in full communion--both visible and invisible--and proclaim with St. Paul: 

The bread we break, is it not a participation in the body of Christ? Because the loaf of bread is one, we, though many, are one body, for we all partake of the one loaf

1 Corinthians 10:16, 17 

Who can serve as a eucharistic minister?

“The person who has been appointed to be an extraordinary minister of Holy Communion is necessarily to be duly instructed and should distinguish himself by his Christian life, faith, and morals. Let him strive to be worthy of this great office; let him cultivate devotion to the Holy Eucharist and show himself as an example to the other faithful by his piety and reverence for this most holy Sacrament of the altar.”

Instruction on Facilitating Sacramental Eucharistic Communion in Particular Circumstances, Sacred Congregation for the Discipline of the Sacraments, 25 January, 1973.

The above document is from discussions began about our Sacred Liturgy, or the mass, at the Second Vatican Council. These discussions outlined how the new method of celebrating our Catholic Liturgy--also called the Novus Ordo Missae, or the “New Ordinary of the Mass”--ought to function in the various Dioceses throughout the world. This particular document deals with, among other things, extraordinary ministers of Holy Communion.

An extraordinary minister is “out of the ordinary” or an exception to the norm. The Priest or Deacon assigned to a local parish is the Ordinary Minister of Holy Communion. That is, when it is at all possible, the priest or deacon should distribute communion.

However, due to time constraints, it isn’t practical for one priest to distribute communion to approximately 5,000 people, so the priest can appoint someone to help him (see Luke 9:10-17)--this person would be called an extraordinary minister of Holy Communion, or what we commonly call a “Eucharistic minister.”

This person (or persons) could be a lector, a seminarian, a male or female religious, a catechist, or a Catholic male or female. The judgement of whom to select rests upon the priest or someone appointed by him. There is, however, one stipulation: “an extraordinary minister of Holy Communion is necessarily to be duly instructed and should distinguish himself by his Christian life, faith, and morals.”

The reason for such a stipulation is because what we receive at mass is not merely a symbolic representation of Christ, nor is it merely a symbol of Christian unity. To quote the late Pope John Paul II, “through the changing of the bread and wine into the body and blood of the Lord” we rejoice in the real and actual presence of Jesus Christ (Ecclesia de Eucharistia 1), fully present in each species--that is, fully present in the consecrated bread and fully present in the consecrated wine. In the Eucharist, Jesus Christ “makes himself wholly and entirely present”: body, blood, soul, and divinity--everything about who Jesus is (fully God, fully human), is really present in the gift of the Eucharist (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1374). 

Therefore, the knowledge and devotion expected from an Extraordinary Minister is intended to highlight the precious gift of the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist.

Why do Catholics Make the Sign of the Cross?

As social beings, we often use signs and symbols to communicate with each other. For example, a simple hand shake can imply trust, friendship, and gratitude. Additionally, the "thumbs up" can convey both sarcasm and/or approval. Even sports like Baseball, Rugby, and Football use symbols that convey strategies and suggestions. However, symbols and gestures are also important for our relationship with God.

You see, God speaks to us through what we can see, touch, taste, and hear. As St. Thomas Aquinas wrote in the thirteenth century, “grace builds on nature.” That is, the action and presence of God often has a very practical way of communicating to and blessing us. The Catechism of the Catholic Church teaches us that “perceptible realities can become means of expressing the action of God” who makes us holy, and we, in turn, offer worship and praise to God through our actions and gestures (“Catechism,” art. #1148).

The Sign of the Cross as we know it today is both a symbol and a form of prayer that has been used as early as the seventh century. Through it we bless God, adore him, and ask for his assistance. The Catechism of the Catholic Church teaches us that the Sign of the Cross should be made frequently and reverently by beginning each day, each prayer, and each activity “with the Sign of the Cross: ‘in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen’” (art. #2157).

As Baptized persons, we have been marked with the “imprint of Christ,” who has redeemed us by his suffering and death (art. #1235). We are called to be holy, and his cross gives us the grace--the strength--to overcome the many temptations we face. The grace won for us by Christ’s cross enables us to be what we are called to be: saints. We are called to transform the world; we are called to “set the world ablaze with Christ’s love” (St. Catherine of Sienna), and the Sign of the Cross reminds us of this.

That is why we make the Sign of the Cross: it reminds of our Redemption, our Sanctification, and our Mission as baptized Christians. When we make the Sign of the Cross we are reminded of Christ’s death and resurrection; we pray that he would continue to strengthen us against temptation; and we proclaim with our gestures the healing power of God’s love. The Sign of the Cross is a means through which God chooses to speak to us, and through which we choose to speak to others about our Catholic faith.