Why are non-Catholic but baptized Christians not to receive the Eucharist?

This is a dilemma that I have also encountered. After a recent funeral I was downstairs in our social hall, eating our excellent scalloped potatoes and visiting with the guests. One of the ladies from the local Lutheran church mentioned that it was her first time at a Catholic funeral. She wondered about the instructions I had given concerning Communion. In her church everyone is invited to come forward and participate; here only those who are practicing Catholics.

It is a very good question. Many Protestants have a deep faith in God, so why wouldn’t Catholics allow other baptized followers of Christ to receive the Eucharist? The best direct explanation I can give, and the one I tried to give to the lady who asked me, goes something like this:

“When you say Amen and receive Communion at Mass, you are publicly declaring that you believe all that the Catholic Church teaches and believes. Further, you are acknowledging that you are trying to live as the Catholic Church expects. So if you don’t believe all that the Catholic Church believes or aren’t living according to her standards, when you receive Communion, it would be like you are publicly saying a lie, which of course you wouldn’t want to do.”

Now it is my experience this very brief explanation is often found satisfactory, both in the case mentioned above, and concerning questions about those married outside of the Church. If someone responds by saying, “But I want to receive!” that would open another discussion about changing the circumstances of their lives. The Church takes very seriously the connection between a person’s desires and concrete actions. If you want to be Christian and aren’t baptized, you need to be instructed and be baptized. If you wish to receive the Eucharist and don’t profess the Catholic faith, be instructed and make a profession of Faith. “The Eucharist is properly the sacrament of those who are in full communion with the Church” ( Catechism of the Catholic Church 1395). If you don’t profess the Catholic faith, then it isn’t appropriate to act as if you do.

(Technical point: in very rare circumstances and only with the Bishop’s permission, a Protestant who believes the teachings and requests Communion can receive the Eucharist [ CCC 1401]. Normally the interested Protestant would become Catholic first.)

Further, it is important to know the Catholic Church has carefully examined and taken very literally the scriptural references to the Holy Eucharist both in the Gospels and in 1 Corinthians. When Christ says, “This is my Body... this is my Blood,” the Church has consistently taught that this is exactly what the Eucharist is: truly the Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity of Jesus Christ. The bread and wine which are prayed over by the priest become Jesus’ Body and Blood through the power of the Holy Spirit acting through the grace of Holy Orders. The outward form or appearance remain, but the underlying reality has changed to become supernatural food. Jesus told us “Take and eat,” and what we are eating is the incarnate Son of God himself.

This differs from the protestant view. Most Protestants believe communion bread is merely symbolic, or perhaps bread and Jesus’ body (which I understand is the position of the Lutherans), but not actually only Jesus’ body (which is our belief). Because protestant churches deliberately broke the apostolic succession of their ministers, they lost the sacrament of Holy Orders, and their ministers cannot in fact change the bread and wine into the Body and Blood of Christ. Only those Churches whose bishops were ordained in an unbroken historical line back to the apostles can claim to have the valid sacrament of Orders, with its three levels of bishop, priest, and deacon. Therefore, only those Churches (i.e. Catholic and Orthodox) have the valid Eucharist as Christ intended. And that is why, for our part, we don’t receive communion at protestant churches. We do not believe what they believe concerning this crucial doctrine.

In 1 Corinthians 11:27-30, St. Paul reminds his readers: “Whoever, therefore eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of profaning the body and the blood of the Lord. Let a man examine himself, and so eat of the bread and drink of the cup.” He goes on to say that he who doesn’t discern the Body of the Lord brings judgment on himself: “That is why many of you are weak and ill, and some have died.” That should cause us to sit up and notice. The Eucharist is a food of blessing and strength to the soul in a state of grace. St. Paul teaches that it may harm the soul who receives it in an unsuitable way.

The Eucharist is a great gift of Christ to his Church. Protestants believe differently than us, and so sadly we are not able to share Communion. We hope and pray that one day the damage done by the separation of our Christian brothers and sisters may be repaired. And then together we can say Amen and all receive the Lord’s Body and Blood.