Why intercommunion is impossible

by Letters Editor · October 11, 2012

Siphiwe Felix Mkhize, Pretoria – Referring Michael Shackleton’s Open Door article Can Catholics receive Anglican Communion? (September 13), it is also frequently asked whether non-Catholics can receive Communion at a Catholic Mass.

Quite often questions of intercommunion come up in the context of family events – weddings, baptisms, funerals. These situations put a great deal of pressure on families and Eucharistic ministers, Ordinary and Extraordinary.

As a result Eucharistic ministers believe themselves authorised to extend Eucharistic hospitality, either for the sake of kindness or a genuine sense of unity among the members of the congregation.

While such motives are admirable, the result nonetheless falsifies the sacramental meaning of the Eucharist as both a sign of communion with Christ and communion with the Catholic Church.

Because the Eucharist is the official worship of the Catholic Church, participation in it in general and in Holy Communion in particular, is governed by very strict rules and regulation which are meant to preserve its true meaning. According to those rules and regulations not even a priest is permitted to give Holy Communion to anyone who does not enjoy true union with the Catholic Church.

The Catholic Church has enacted certain norms for determining the specific occasions when intercommunion is legitimate.

Since attendance at a funeral does not fall within the ambit of the conditions for intercommunion, the Eucharistic minister would be right to refuse Holy Communion to a non-Catholic.