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Friday 21 October 2011

Inter-Communion and Lex Cantandi

Would it be unkind to call the reasoning in this essay and some of the posted responses "sophistry"?
I've never been certain just how pejorative that word is...does it imply deliberate misdirects? ( I have no reason to question the original author's goodwill and sincerity.)
You are at the wedding of a beloved family member or friend, which is taking place at a Lutheran church. You gladly accepted the invitation to celebrate this happy day with the bride and groom. But then there is a call to come to the table of the Lord’s Supper, to receive communion. This is the awkward moment you knew was coming. Can you, and should you, 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 canon 844, “Catholic ministers may licitly administer the sacraments to Catholic members of the Christian faithful only and, likewise, the latter may licitly receive the sacraments only from Catholic ministers.” The key term here is licit. If a Catholic receives communion from a Protestant minister, it is generally considered “illicit” or unlawful.

The reason for the Catholic Church’s general rule against sharing in the Eucharist with other churches is that a person can only be in full communion with one church.

Lutheranism isn't another"church" in the sense it should be used here, is it?

The kicker for me was that a respondent reminds us that not permitting inter-communion violates one of the most profoundly embraced tenets of our Catholic theology, you know, as he tells us is spelled out in the CCC.

Oh, wait.... I mean he tells us it's spelled out in the song lyrics of, um... someone who, unhappily, does not hold to all that the Catholic Church believes and teaches.

Because isn't that where we get our most authoritative doctrinal citations?

Lex cantandi, lex credendi...

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