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From: wfi@unc.UUCP (William F. Ingogly)
Newsgroups: net.religion,net.flame,net.religion.christian
Subject: Re: WChurches saying they are the ONE TRUE CHURCH
Message-ID: <86@unc.UUCP>
Date: Sat, 16-Feb-85 17:00:53 EST
Article-I.D.: unc.86
Posted: Sat Feb 16 17:00:53 1985
Date-Received: Mon, 18-Feb-85 05:16:27 EST
References: <319@gargoyle.UChicago.UUCP> <469@ptsfa.UUCP>, <562@topaz.ARPA>
Organization: CS Dept., U. of N. Carolina at Chapel Hill
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Xref: watmath net.religion:5651 net.flame:8409 net.religion.christian:234

> The Roman Catholics are a special problem.  But even they consider other 
> churches to be part of the true church.  I will leave it to a Catholic 
> to explain why they do not practice open Communion.

It's because of the doctrine of transubstantiation, which states that
the consecrated bread or wine represents the body and blood of the
living Christ, eternally giving his life for our salvation. Hence the
powerful taboos in the past against non-priests touching the host,
special rituals for decontaminating the floor or other objects where
the host/wine has fallen, etc. If another Christian denomination
believes the same thing about communion, the Catholic Church
recognizes its communion as a valid sacrament for Catholics as well as
other Christians. As I recall, the Anglican church's sacraments were
recognized as valid by the Roman church until sometime well into the
nineteenth century.