Dear Father - What We Believe About the Eucharist

Question: My non-Catholic friends don’t feel comfortable coming to Mass because they say they feel “excluded” during Holy Communion. What do I say to them?

Answer: A few years ago, I was asked to provide “color commentary” for a funeral that was being broadcast on two local television channels.

Initially, I wasn’t exactly sure what that request meant, but I quickly found out during my hours on-air. During the funeral, at certain points I was asked by the televi-sion anchor persons to give a little description of what was going on, knowing that many viewers were not Catholic and unfamiliar with the Mass. So, when nobody was speaking, I would insert some words about what was happening and what was to come next in the liturgy. It wasn’t long before I realized that this could be a moment of catechesis and evangelization for Catholic and non-Catholic viewers alike. I knew it wasn’t the appropriate time to advertise the faith, but perhaps I would be able to provide some teachable moments during my commentary.

The funeral attendance was so large that the distribution of communion took a long time. This provided the opportunity for the anchors and myself to fill much of that time with commentary. A good part of that time was talking about the Eucharist. There were basically two questions around which the conversation evolved. First, I was asked what Catholics believe when it comes to Holy Communion. Second, I was asked why non-Catholics were not allowed to receive communion.

Of course, there were many directions that I could go with my answers. But the distribution of holy communion wouldn’t take that long. So, I gave a quick, general answer to each question.

When talking about what we Catholics believe about the Eucharist, I explained how Catholics hold that the “source and summit”* of our faith is the Eucharist. I went on to say that Catholics believe that, during the Mass, the bread and wine that is offered becomes the actual body and blood, soul and divinity of Jesus Christ. It was a challenge because I was trying to explain the Paschal mystery in about 20-30 minutes minutes.

When I addressed the second question of why non-Catholics do not receive communion, I went on to say something that sur-prised them. In fact, they received positive phone calls about it, and I received positive, unexpected correspondence from people, too. In my commentary, I noted that we also need to consider the beliefs of other denominations. Since they do not share in our fundamental belief that the Eucharist is the body and blood of Christ, respect for another denomination would be another reason that non-Catholics are not permitted to receive holy communion. Why would we have people respond “Amen” (I believe) when they might not?

I also noted that if someone believed that the consecrated bread and wine really are the body and blood of Christ, then they might as well be Catholic, because everything we believe flows from that fundamental truth!

Every time I have said this, people seem to understand and accept it better. Perhaps that “color commentary” could be used by all of us when the question arises. That might bring people closer to the Eucharist, too.