Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!cs.utexas.edu!samsung!usc!apple!rutgers!aramis.rutgers.edu!athos.rutgers.edu!christian From: mmh@cs.qmw.ac.uk (Matthew Huntbach) Newsgroups: soc.religion.christian Subject: Re: open communion Message-ID: Date: 7 Feb 90 08:43:29 GMT Sender: hedrick@athos.rutgers.edu Reply-To: mmh@cs.qmc.ac.uk (Matthew Huntbach) Organization: Computer Science Dept, Queen Mary and Westfield College, U of London, UK. Lines: 31 Approved: christian@aramis.rutgers.edu In article ejalbert@phoenix.princeton.edu (Edmund Jason Albert) writes: >I fail to see why the Catholic Church does not permit members of other >denominations who have been baptized in the name of the Father, Son, and >Holy Ghost to receive communion. The meaning of communion in the Catholic churches (I believe intercommunion is allowed between Orthodox and RC) is different from the meaning of communion in Protestant churches. Therefore to compare one with the other is not to compare like with like. A somewhat crude analogy, but an effective one: to a Protestant communion is something like shaking hands: the first part of a relationship. To a Catholic it is like making love: the final and deepest part of a relationship. For a Protestant to ask to receive Catholic communion on the grounds that Catholics are free to receive his communion is rather like someone asking to make love with his friend's wife on the grounds that his friend is free to shake hands with his wife. Matthew Huntbach [I think you're underestinating the meaning of communion to many Protestants. I have it on good authority (someone who works for our Presbytery, and previously taught in a Catholic seminary) that Catholic and Presbyterian seminaries in the U.S. are now teaching pretty much the same concepts. (This is of course regarded as a problem by some of our more conservative Catholic readers.) Lutherans have as "high" a view, though there are theoretical differences. There's a spectrum of views among Protestants. You're probably thinking of Zwinglian views, which are held by Baptists and other groups from the "low church" tradition. --clh]