Msg Base:  AREA 5  - ASK FATHER            CIN ECHO   AMDG
  Msg No: 132.  Tue  9-03-91 14:40
    From: Father Mateo
      To: Jeff Stevens
 Subject: Eucharist

³ Thank you, Father, for your response and appropriate references.  Now I
³ must ask the REASON why non-Catholics are strictly forbidden. I do not
³ question the wisdom, only I want to know )as all young people like me seem
³ to( why.
³ .
³ >Let us pray together for her.
³ Amen, as she is very close to me.  Thank you, again, Father, for a
³ wonderful ministry, and may God richly bless you.
 
Dear Jeff,
 
You ask why non-Catholics are generally (not "strictly," but
"generally") forbidden to receive the Eucharist from Catholic
ministers.
 
"Though it is spiritual food whose effect is to unite the Christian
to Jesus Christ, the Eucharist is far from being simply a means of
satisfying exclusively personal aspirations, however lofty these may
be....  Spiritual need of the Eucharist is not therefore merely a
matter of personal spiritual growth:  simultaneously, and
inseparably, it concerns our entering more deeply into Christ's
Church."  These words are from the Instruction on Cases When Other
Christians may be Admitted to Eucharistic Communion in the Catholic
Church.  (You may order a 15 cent copy of this from Daughters of St.
Paul, 50 St. Paul's Avenue, Jamaica Plain, Boston, MA 02130.  Include
some postage, too.)
 
St. Paul (1 Cor 10:17) writes:  "Because there is one loaf, we who
are many are one body, for we all partake of the same loaf."  The
Eucharist then is a sign and symbol of our unity.  It would be wrong
to use this symbol unless it is backed up by real unity.
 
In a pluralistic society, religious indifferentism is an ever present
danger.  We can do nothing to obscure the fact that there is "One
Lord, One Faith, One Baptism," of which unity the Catholic Church is
the visible sign.
 
Once again, I do urge you to talk to your sister about learning more
of the Catholic Faith and coming home.
 
                                       Sincerely in Christ,
                                       Father Mateo