Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!usc!sdd.hp.com!mips!dimacs.rutgers.edu!aramis.rutgers.edu!athos.rutgers.edu!christian From: jhpb@garage.att.com (Joseph H Buehler) Newsgroups: soc.religion.christian Subject: Re: Convert Message-ID: Date: 25 Jun 91 07:40:33 GMT Sender: hedrick@athos.rutgers.edu Organization: AT&T Bell Laboratories Lines: 36 Approved: christian@aramis.rutgers.edu In article gab@mtuxo.att.com (Gabriel Bergamo) writes: After my conversion to the Protestant faith I attended the funeral of a close friend of mine in my former Catholic church. The priest saw me before the Mass and came up to me and told me that I couldn't take Communion in his church! When I asked him why he just left with no explaination. Can anyone tell me why not? I am still a Christian and beleive in the same God. This was one of the reasons I converted, a cold indifferent church. In any Protestant church all can take Communion. Another question, why do Catholics beleive that Communion is actually the body of Christ. Such situations as you were involved in can be difficult to handle, so I hope you will make allowances. The point about closed communion is, believe it or not, charity. Charity does not mean making everyone feel good all the time, it means helping them to become better. This can involve making someone feel really rotten sometimes. In this particular case, I assume that the priest felt he had a duty to refuse you Communion, to be charitable. Since the Catholic Church believes herself to be the only one founded by Christ, she normally only administers her Sacraments to those of her fold. Were she to do otherwise, she would be acting uncharitably. Catholics believe that the Eucharist is literally Christ, Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity, because that's the traditional Catholic belief. This belief is called "Mysterium Fidei", the Mystery of Faith, because it is so inaccessible to human reason. I sympathize with your feelings about the lack of community in the Catholic Church at present. The changes in the Church over the last 30 years have caused a lot of problems. I presume that you are young enough that you never saw the Catholic Church before Vatican II, say in the 1950's, but it was quite nice. Or so I'm told. I hope it comes back soon!