Worst Wedding You've Ever Attended

[aephi alum]

Originally Posted by christiangirl

Hmmm...the last Catholic church I attended had the following rules:

I want communion = outstretched hands
Just a blessing = folded arms
I don't want either = "reverently walk by"

Interesting. I've never heard the "reverently walk by" except for situations where both bread and wine are offered and you choose to receive bread and not wine. (You only have to get one or the other, but if both are offered, some people opt for both.)

In the Catholic parish where I grew up, the practice was as follows:

I want a Communion wafer = outstretched hands, or hands by your sides or folded in prayer, say "Amen" when the priest says "The body of Christ", and then open your mouth and stick out your tongue slightly (the priest or eucharistic minister then places the wafer on your tongue).
Just a blessing = folded arms
I don't want either = stay seated, although you may have to stand and step aside to let people farther down the pew to get out and get in line

The parish seldom offered wine. When they did, you would receive and swallow your wafer and then either queue for wine or "reverently walk by" and go back to your pew.

Non-Catholics (whether or not they belong to another Christian denomination) are ineligible to receive Communion, as is anyone conscious of having committed a mortal sin.

I've been to a Nuptial Mass once since I converted to Judaism. I just kept my butt in my chair and said a silent prayer for the couple's happiness.

[MysticCat]

Originally Posted by honeychile

Wine in a Presbyterian Church?!?!??!?

LOL. What I meant was arms folded across the chest means receiving a blessing rather than receiving the elements.

That said, yes, you will find wine in many Presbyterian churches. (The requirement is that if wine is used, non-alcoholic grape juice must also be available for those who cannot or prefer not to drink wine.) You are not likely to find wafers, though. We tend to use loaves that are cut or torn into proper-sized pieces.

Originally Posted by aephi alum

Non-Catholics (whether or not they belong to another Christian denomination) are ineligible to receive Communion . . . .

Not quite. I believe that canon law provides that Orthodox Christians may receive communion in a Catholic church. (Whether Orthodox would be allowed by their own canons to receive is a different matter.) I think canon law also provides that other Christians may, under extraordinary circumstances (including, I think, the permission of the bishop), receive communion in a Catholic church if they are unable for some reason to have access to a minister of their own church and they share the Catholic understanding of the sacrament.

That said, there is a large Catholic church nearby that openly invites Protestants to receive communion. It threw us a bit the first time we were there (for a neighbor's son's First Communion). I'm told the bishop repeatedly told them to stop. I'm also told that since the parish is run by Franciscans not directly under the bishop's authority, they would smile and nod and keep on doing it.

[SWTXBelle]

Interesting hijack! Our parish gives the Eucharist by intinction - the wafer is dipped in the wine and then placed on the tongue (my boys wield a mean paten). So those receiving usually kneel (!) with their hands held together in the traditional prayer position and open their mouths as the priest/deacon approaches. I always go up for a blessing - can't have too many blessings - as I have to get an annulment before I can be a 100 percenter. While I have finished most of my paperwork, current husband hasn't even begun on his, so I'm in an earthly limbo of sorts.

[aephi alum]

While traveling abroad, I once went to a Mass at a parish where the Eucharist was offered by intinction. You went up to the altar rail and knelt, and from there you had two choices. If you extended your hands, the priest said "The body of Christ", you answered "Amen", and the priest put the wafer in your hand. If you held your hands in the prayer position, the priest said "The body and blood of Christ", you answered "Amen" and opened your mouth, and the priest dipped the wafer in wine and placed it on your tongue. I had never seen this practice before, and after Mass I got an explanation out of my father.

So now that we've completely derailed this thread... LOL

[AlphaFrog]

Originally Posted by aephi alum

While traveling abroad, I once went to a Mass at a parish where the Eucharist was offered by intinction. You went up to the altar rail and knelt, and from there you had two choices. If you extended your hands, the priest said "The body of Christ", you answered "Amen", and the priest put the wafer in your hand. If you held your hands in the prayer position, the priest said "The body and blood of Christ", you answered "Amen" and opened your mouth, and the priest dipped the wafer in wine and placed it on your tongue. I had never seen this practice before, and after Mass I got an explanation out of my father.

So now that we've completely derailed this thread... LOL

My church does Intinction. I like it that way.

[Munchkin03]

This Communion talk is very interesting to me! I wasn't baptized and I've only been to a church for weddings or funerals. Obviously, Christianity isn't very important to my parents (take my black card away!); as a result they had no beef with my converting to Judaism (which is on hold now).

[DrPhil]

Originally Posted by Munchkin03

This Communion talk is very interesting to me! I wasn't baptized and I've only been to a church for weddings or funerals. Obviously, Christianity isn't very important to my parents (take my black card away!); as a result they had no beef with my converting to Judaism (which is on hold now).

Given the history of Christianity in the African Diaspora; the history of Judaism in the African Diaspora; and my Black Jew nuclear family dynamics, you get to keep your Black Card.

Jesus-be-a-fence regardless of whether some believe he is the Son of God or simply a good man.