Sign after sign after sign...

And your point is?

I try to give you benefit of doubt, Brian, but post after post makes you appear to me as one not seeking to build up the body of Christ. I'm trying to see the good in your posts but I'm struggling with it very much. Btw, our great Pope John Paul also had a fun side to him. Try it sometime Brian . Peace.
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Regardless of which priests or bishops are involved, the Lutherans should NEVER have been allowed or encouraged to receive the Eucharist. As Catholics, Jesus truly present in the Eucharist is the source and summit of our faith, not theirs.

The rules regarding who may partake in this sacrament have been put into place by the Catholic Church, not to be dogmatic, but to 1) protect those who receive "unworthily " (first and foremost non-Catholics) from "heaping condemnation upon themselves" 1 Cor 11:29, and to 2) ensure reverence and respect for Jesus' body and blood, and to PROTECT Jesus.

All Catholics are called to protect Jesus from liturgical abuse. And yes, allowing non-Catholics to partake is liturgical abuse, and actually a grievous sin.

Where is the outrage?!? I see people rushing to defend the pope, but few rushing to defend our Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament. Our Jesus needs us.

Some Catholic religious who are called to protect Him from abuse have chosen not to, but we as the laity are called as well. We must be vocal about the sacred nature of the Eucharist. We will be held accountable if we don't speak up for the sacredness of the Blessed Sacrament.

And if we let this issue slip by, and then another, then before we know it we will have no Catholic Church to defend.

"All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing."
Edmund Burke

Let us take the example of St. Tarcisius. He knew the importance of protecting Jesus. He died protecting Him.

Lastly, we are called to pray for those priests and/or bishops that allow such scandalous liturgical abuse of the Eucharist to occur. Respect and pray for men, and correct them as needed. But give honor, reverence, protection and the bulk of our affections to our precious Lord.

 

I don't disagree with you Pray4peace but under the same rationale I would venture to guess that 90% or more of Catholics are already abusing the eucharist and nothing is being done about it. I would venture to guess that maybe 1% of Catholics actually go to confession at least once a month. Without a good confession how can anyone be able to stand up in the procession line to receive? I try to go ever 2 weeks (more like monthly now) and I don't ever feel clean and worthy enough for the Lord. I am quite sure my view on this is definitely a minority view of the practicing church but not a minority view on this forum.

 

I bow to Fr Z:

http://wdtprs.com/blog/2013/10/what-did-the-pope-really-say-2-proselytism/

 

Two wrongs never make one right. If 99 per cent of the world were abusing the reception of the Eucharist it would not make it right for the other 1 per cent to do so.

 

And what makes you think that YOU are more worthy to receive Jesus in the Eucharist than the Lutherans??

 

Again Matthew 7:1-3 misused . Probably the most misapplied verse in scripture.

Sigh.

Matthew 7:1-3

7 Judge not, that ye be not judged.

2 For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again.

 

Brian K, I appreciate that you did post the link to "Pope: Do works of Mercy!" but to cut those photos out and put them on the forum like that, to me looks as if you are ready to pick on every little thing Our Holy Father does. Why not post how wonderful and inspiring his words are. There is absolutely nothing wrong with what our Holy Father is saying, it is all good and what Christ would approve of. So why not concentrate on that when you feel the need to post something??

 

Precisely, Padraig. We must not judge the worthiness of others.

 

Nope Padraig 2 wrongs don't make it right but what I posted should be addressed. There is quite a bit of pointing out all that is wrong with what the Pope is doing and I just want to point out the giant beam that is in the eye of the church before we constantly notice all the splinters.

 

Exactly. Another instance of the media manipulating the message, and leading some to jump to conclusions. There is much wrong-doing, and much more to come, I'm afraid. But Love does NOT rejoice in wrong-doing, especially the invented kind.

 

I'm curious to know how you think admitting Lutherans to Communion will cast the beam from the eye of the Church.

 

The beam is the problems within the current church like the one I mentioned and not this discussion about the Lutherans. I do not know all the facts about the Lutheran case nor do I think anyone here knows all the facts about it so I am staying out of that discussion. What I am saying is that there is a constant barrage of pointing out all the splinters in the Pope's eyes while we ignore the much larger problems (beams) within the church right now. There is never mention about the lack of respect of the Eucharist and the proper use of the sacraments that goes on every Sunday in the church on the net. Where are all the articles about Eucharist abuse by the laity? All we see now is the latest "What did Pope Francis do wrong now" all over the catholic internet. In this Lutheran case, from what I can gather and try to put together to what is fact and what is not, is that this had nothing to do with the Pope meaning he was not present when this abuse happened, but again I am not one to engage in discussion without all the facts. I tire of the hypocrisy in the world. It is very hypocritical in my opinion to discuss and attack this current Lutheran discussion without looking at the bigger problem about lack of Eucharist respect on the whole. This is picking at a splinter of the problem and not the whole beam.

 

No one should be admitted to receiving the Lord unless they go to receive under the proper guidelines set forth by the Lord and His church but the problem is how does a priest or even a Eucharistic helper ever know who to accept and who to refuse? We should be crying out to our brothers and sisters the importance of proper respect for the Eucharist for their own good and not ours. We should be worried about their own condemnation by receiving unworthily. It is not passing judgment but loving of our brothers and sisters. It is out of love for them and their soul that this issue needs to be addressed and preached on and understood fully before anyone goes to receive. Confession should be offered daily before mass but this is not an easy task given the lack of priests or further the lack of people who would show up. When I go to confession there are maybe 5 or 6 people in the line and that is it. The sad truth is that our church and our world are in a terrible state. The good news though is that God is Great and the faith of the few will hopefully help the lack of faith and lukewarm of the many.

 

Brian, Brian, Brian.....tsk tsk tsk....brother I love you in Christ....but sometimes.....I just don't understand why you post those things.

 

Seriously? Do you not know what Catholics believe?

Basic rules to receive Communion:
1) Be Catholic
2)Be baptized in a Christian religion
3)Believe in the Real Presence
4)Be in state of grace (no grave sin without Confession)
5)If married, must be blessed by the church
(If I've forgotten something, then please let me know. This is just from memory)

Focusing, on those basics, Lutherans are not Catholic and possibly not in a state of grace due to no sacrament of Reconciliation. That alone makes them unworthy. It's not a matter of me judging them and deeming them unworthy, it's lack of worthiness based on different beliefs and practices than ours as Catholics. And if Lutherans truly believe in the Real Presence and want to receive, than they will recognize the need for a valid confession beforehand, and the subsequent need to be Catholic.

Am I worthy to receive? When in a state of grace, then yes, according to the church I am because I have met the requirements put forth by holy people, much wiser than myself. That being said, there are times I have chosen not to receive because I recognized the extent of my sinfulness.

 

I understand what you're saying and I'm sorry for misunderstanding you. There is a lot of nitpicking about what the Pope does and says. I also agree that we don't know all the facts surrounding the Lutherans receiving Communion in the Vatican. What I don't understand is the "so what" and "who are you to judge" attitude of folk who would gloss over any kind of abuse of the Eucharist so long as it happens in the Vatican.

I agree with you that we need to address the problems within our Church. Adopting the attitude that there shouldn't be any rules because none of us is worthy is not the correct approach. I'm not suggesting that you have that approach but I'm getting that impression from the tone of some who portray themselves as "defenders of Francis". We should all be defenders both of Jesus in the Eucharist and Pope Francis as His Vicar. Defending the Pope shouldn't mean silence in the face of what we know to be wrong any more than defending the Eucharist should mean believing every attempt at linking the Pope to error.

 

Yes, P4P, seriously. I wonder whether you understand that you can 'tick all those boxes' and still be viewed by God as less worthy than those Lutherans? Jesus looks at the heart, he looks for humility, he looks for love. None of us can judge how God sees each of us.

 

These are basic Cathoic beliefs. Why do you have trouble upholding and defending what we believe? Why remain Catholic?

 

Because I believe every article of the Catholic faith. And that our leader on earth is the Pope who God has given us to guide us and teach us. Listen to him and try to understand him and you will be led closer to Jesus.