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Friday, January 19, 2007

Happy are those who are called


Many of you have asked me for more information about the Roman Catholic bishop's statement about Eucharist.

A pdf. copy of the report, "Happy of those who are called to His Supper: On preparing to receive Christ worthily in Eucharist" can be found here"

http://www.usccb.org/dpp/Eucharist.pdf


While I disagree with many of their conclusion, I think the document has enormous integrity. It's a perfect example of how the logic of some theologians can be positively pristine and yet completely miss the mark of the teaching of Christ and the unconditional love of God.

6 comments:

Mystical Seeker said...

I skimmed over that document, and although there was nothing surprising about it, I still found it to be one of the most appalling bits of theology that I've ever seen. There it is, in black and white, a pure theological justification for why communion should be an exclusionary practice, the very opposite of the open commensality that Jesus practiced. Oh yes, and by the way, you can't partake of communion if you commit the sin of thinking for yourself and disagreeing with what the church hierarchy tells you. What a load of nonsense.

W said...

yeah, it's a load of crap. but, I'd bet money that there are considerable numbers of RC clergy who deliberately don't follow the instructions. and I'd bet my life savings that there are hordes of lay Catholics who think that these instructions are a bunch of crap, too. people may be in thrall to a magisterium that Doesn't Get It, but people are also not stupid.

Bateau Master said...

If you adhered to this theology in your individual preparation for and receiving of Holy Communion, would you suffer or be diminished in any way?

Here is the Roman Catholic standard, clear and unambiguous. It is worth while reading, only if it reminds us how revered the Eucharist is in the Catholic Church, and then compare and contrast how casual it has become in other sects of Christianity.

Elizabeth Kaeton said...

Umm . . .bateau master . . .?

I don't know if anyone's told you, but we're Episcopalians who are Anglican's.

We're not Roman Catholics. So, why do we care about their "unambiguous standard"?

One of the marks of Anglican Spirituality is a capacity to deal with ambiguity.

Bateau Master said...

Pastor Keaton ...

Why do I care about their unambiguous standard? I appreciate a reverence for Holy Communion and the preparatory aspect in this document appears healthy.

Why do we care enough to post it on an Episcopal/Anglican blog?

B

Elizabeth Kaeton said...

The interesting thing about those of you who sit in the pews on the right side of the church is that you love "the argument" just for the sake of the argument.

I think you all love "the argument" more than you love Jesus.

Which would be fine, if you were willing to argue about Jesus, but you won't. You don't think you have to. You have "the real" Jesus and the rest of us don't - not even the RC's who claim to have the "real presence."

You give credence to the comment made by David Anderson. When asked, on Firing Line, why he stays in TEC, he responded, "Because I love a good fight."

Apparently, so do you.

Well, you know what? I don't.

I therefore declare this thread officially over.

And, you know what? I can.

In case you hand't noticed, you're not over at T19 or SFiF anymore. The rules over there don't apply over here.

Which is why I'm over here and not over there.

Thanks be to God.