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We Deny Communion to Dissenters on Church Teachings? Hello again. I am Fr. Tom Euteneuer, President of Human Life International, and welcome to this final segment of the Spirit and Life mini-series on contraception. Today we address the issue of whether to deny Communion to those who dissent on Church teaching. While I won’t attempt to say everything that could be said on the subject—I’ve posted more resources on this matter on the sidebar of this email—the basic answer is “Yes.” And the reason is very simple: Those who are not in communion should not receive Communion. That is fundamentally the position of our Church. In order to receive Communion in the Catholic Church you have to manifest three types of union with the Church: the first is social union which means that you have to actually be a member of the Church. There are some provisions of canon law that allow the reception of Communion for the Orthodox, but by and large, membership in the Catholic Church is required. The second type of union is spiritual union: namely, you must both be in a state of grace and must actually believe that what you receive is the Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity of Jesus. This is why Protestants are not free to receive Communion because they do not have this Eucharistic faith. The third type of union is doctrinal union. That is, if you do not believe all that the Catholic Church professes to be “true and worthy of belief,” then you are not in full union with the Church and should not receive Communion. We are not free to believe only part of Church doctrine or only those things that happen to be fashionable or convenient. Church teaching is one comprehensive package of truth which must be accepted in its entirety. What happens if someone in a high profile position dissents on clearly-defined teaching of the Church? Well, in a 2004 letter to the American bishops entitled appropriately “Worthiness to Receive Communion,” then-Cardinal Ratzinger said that even a Eucharistic minister can deny Communion to someone in a situation of “obstinate persistence in manifest grave sin.” He cites canon 915 and other church documents to support this position. As Jesus, he exhorts the priests of the Church to first address these situations in private, but if such people continue to obstinately reject Church teachings, they must be denied Communion. This is a call to basic honesty. If it is question of a private person whose dissent or lifestyle is mortally sinful and causing scandal, then the same duty of confronting the person in private remains. Charity requires us to give the benefit of the doubt to the individual when there is ambiguity about a sinful life or practice; yet, some situations of mortal sin are very clear and can be verified externally such as:
We cannot be neutral about the profanation of the Eucharist if we have certain knowledge of clear violations or scandal. Priests and bishops have the very first responsibility of guarding the Eucharist from abuse, but I believe that we all have the obligation to call people to basic honesty and accountability for their Faith. Again, those who are not in communion should not receive Communion. It really is that simple. My friends, in a few weeks I intend to publish the whole Spirit and Life mini-series on contraception in audio and DVD format, and I hope you will order it and use it for the ongoing work of evangelizing our culture. Thanks again for forwarding this video message to those who may need to hear it. Church Militant—Keep up the good fight for the soul of our nation—and our Church! God bless you! Copyright
2007. Human Life International. Permission
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Human
Life International 4 Family Life Lane – Front Royal, VA 22630
U.S.A. Phone: 800/549-LIFE Fax: 540-622-6247 E-Mail: hli@hli.org
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