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PRESS RELEASE FROM "SUPPORT FOR MARRIAGE LETTER" COORDINATOR In a dramatic turn of events, nearly 500 priests from England and Wales have written a letter in defence of the ‘traditional teaching on marriage and human sexuality’ in anticipation of the forthcoming Vatican Synod on the family. This letter comes at a time when a growing number of Catholics are concerned that the gathering of Church leaders in Rome, scheduled for October 2015, will seek to re-think Gospel teaching on marriage, sexuality, repentance and grace. Some Cardinals, particularly from Germany, have suggested that Holy Communion could be received by those in...

The Islamic State's goal of eradicating Christianity from its ancient home in northern Iraq is nearly complete, report Christian officials remaining in the area. According to one Vicar, last week marked the first time in millennia that Christians did not receive Holy Communion in Nineveh, northern Iraq.

Why We Should Go Back To the Traditional Reception of Holy CommunionThe Traditional Reception of Holy CommunionThroughout the history of the Catholic Faith specifically in the Roman Rite of the Mass, the reception of Holy Communion kneeling and on the tongue is the established tradition. This has been true for various centuries dating as far back as the Early Church. This is itself the tradition of the Church and is still the norm in the Extra-Ordinary form of the Mass. It was not until the ecclesiastical revolts and dissent during the 1960s and 1970s in which this tradition started falling...

Canon law and the ChurchÂ’s eucharistic discipline arenÂ’t exercises in authoritarian concoction but are rooted deeply in sustained reflection on divine revelation. Detail from "Communion With the Apostles" (1451-52) by Fra Angelico (Wikiart.org) The reception of Holy Communion is currently a topic of great controversy in the Catholic Church. Bishops generally permit politicians who cross Catholic teaching on grave issues in their public words and actions to continue to receive the Eucharist, and Cardinal Walter Kasper has recently proposed permitting civilly divorced and remarried Catholics to receive the Eucharist as well, an idea that will be taken up at the...

ROME, March 20, 2014 (LifeSiteNews.com) – “The priest’s refusal to give Holy Communion is a prime act of pastoral charity, helping the person in question to avoid sacrilege and safeguarding the other faithful from scandal,” said American Cardinal Raymond Burke in an interview published exclusively in English today by LifeSiteNews. Burke was responding to the question of how a priest should proceed when he encounters a Catholic politician presenting him or herself for Communion while at the same time publicly supporting abortion or homosexual “marriage.” “The exclusion of those who persist in manifest and grave sin, after having been duly...

On the Giving and Receiving of Holy Communion: Some norms to recall.By: Msgr. Charles Pope Recently here in the Archdiocese of Washington there was an issue regarding the denial of Holy Communion to a certain individual, which caused no little debate among the faithful. I am NOT going to reopen that case here, and ask all readers to please recall that, no matter what you may think, you do not have all the facts, and I do not wish to rehearse the (partial) specifics of the whole affair.That said, a number of us priests asked for a review of...

In the afterglow of the Feast of Corpus Christi we do well to reflect a bit further on the gift of Holy Communion with our Lord and the need to receive Him worthily by his grace. I celebrated with a local Latin Mass Community last Thursday, the actual day of the Feast of Corpus Christi, and in the context of that liturgy the sequence Hymn Lauda Sion was sung. In the magnificent Hymn by Aquinas, are these words of reminder and warning that we receive Christ is a worthy manner, free from mortal sin:Sumunt boni, sumunt mali: sorte tamen...

Featured Term (selected at random):BREAKING OF THE HOST The liturgical breaking of the consecrated host at Mass. Its purpose is first practical, to facilitate consuming by the priest. It is also a symbol that through the body of Christ the faithful become one with him and with one another. All items in this dictionary are from Fr. John Hardon's Modern Catholic Dictionary, © Eternal Life. Used with permission.

I would like to begin by once again sending my condolences to the Johnson family on the death of Mrs. Loetta Johnson. I also feel obliged to answer questions from my parishioners, as well as from the public, about the incident on February 25th. Here are the facts: On Saturday, February 25th I showed up to officiate at a funeral Mass for Mrs. Loetta Johnson. The arrangements for the Mass were also not my own. I wish to clarify that Ms. Barbara Johnson (the woman who has since complained to the press), has never been a parishioner of mine. In...

Fr. Marcel Guarnizo Washington D.C., Mar 14, 2012 / 01:25 pm (CNA).- In an extensive statement provided to CNA, Father Marcel Guarnizo insists that the reasons the Archdiocese of Washington placed him on leave “have everything to do” with his recent decision to withhold communion from Barbara Johnson.Fr. Guarnizo explains that he decided to issue the detailed March 14 statement because of the questions his parishioners and the public are asking about the recent incident.His response, which is published below, offers corrections to previous news reports, responds to canonical arguments and gives information about where the allegations of intimidation...

Restore Communion On The Tongue Only Most Holy Father, We are convinced of the great spiritual harm inflicted on the Catholic faithful, and the profanation of the Blessed Sacrament that often occurs, by the practice of Communion received on the hand. We implore Your Holiness to personally intervene to restore once again the normative practice of reception of Holy Communion on the tongue alone.

The story of a Eucharistic Miracle that happened in Kumasi a city in Ghana in the 1990s. A Protestant man took the picture of the Monstrance during the Corpus Christi procession and after the image was processed, an image of Jesus Christ was the result. Find the article over here Eucharistic Miracle: Face of Jesus captured by a Skeptic

What Does GIRM 160 for the USA Really Say? Posted on 24 June 2011 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf  When the new English translation of the Roman Missal is released, it will sport a new translation of the GIRM, the General Institution/Instruction of the Roman Missal.There are, of course, adaptations for the USA and other Anglophone regions.As it happens, the Congregation for Divine Worship has … tweaked some items.  I am sure this was to harmonize the language of the GIRM with the language of the rest of the Roman Missal.  However, tweaks may have been tweaked for other reasons.For example,...

Many of New Mexico's Catholics were reminded during Mass last weekend that unmarried couples who cohabitate are living in "a state of mortal sin and may not receive Holy Communion." Archbishop Michael Sheehan told priests to read the letter he wrote stating that only two lifestyles are acceptable: "a single life of chastity, or the union of a man and woman in the Sacrament of Matrimony." The message stops short of directing priests to deny communion to unmarried people who are living together. Instead, Sheehan urges those "living in cohabitation" to abstain from taking the consecrated bread and wine during...

Divine Mercy Diary Exerpts   Jesus's words are in italics.  St. Faustina's words are in regular print.   "Your task is to write down everything that I make known to you about My mercy, for the benefit of those who by reading these things will be comforted in their souls and will have the courage to approach Me." (1693)     "Mankind will not have peace until it turns with trust to My mercy." (300)     

Holy Communion 784. What did our Lord mean when He said, "He that eateth Me, the same also shall live by Me." Jn 6:58. Is not our eternal life due to the death of Christ on the Cross? It is true that our Lord merited eternal life for us by His death on the Cross. But the fruit and grace of that sacrifice are applied to our souls by the Sacraments. Now the central Sacrament of all is the Holy Eucharist. We receive the principle of supernatural life by Baptism, but the Eucharist is ordained for the preservation of that...

Have you ever attended a Mass where people who seemed unaware of what the Mass was about walked up to receive Communion?  A while ago my husband Tom and I attended a Mass for a wedding like that.  One couldn’t help but notice, by the lack of responses and the chatting away, that most of the folks at the Mass were either not Catholic or had fallen away from regularly going to Mass.  They seemed to have no way of knowing when to pray, to sit, to stand or to kneel.I was thus flabbergasted at this wedding Mass when many of...

Falling Down, We Adore Him July 27th, 2010 by Trent Beattie  Print This Article · Despite widespread appearance to the contrary, receiving Holy Communion on the tongue while kneeling is still the universal norm for the Catholic Church.  True, most of us who grew up in the 70s or 80s were told otherwise, but since when has catechesis from those years been considered accurate?For centuries Catholics had received Holy Communion on the tongue while kneeling.There was no popular uprising to change the practice, but in the 60s some dissident leaders in Europe and the United States took it upon...

“Twenty Questions, One Answer: Go to the Sacrament Frequently”Tonight we conclude our five-part series on the Sacrament of the Altar. So far we have followed the outline Luther uses for the Sacrament of the Altar in the Small Catechism: the Nature of the Sacrament, what it is; the Benefit of the Sacrament, what it gives; the Power of the Sacrament, how it can do such great things; and the Reception of the Sacrament, how to receive it worthily. But remember what I said right at the outset of this series, about the purpose of this teaching: Our purpose here in...

“How Do We Receive It Worthily? The Reception of the Sacrament of the Altar”During this series on the Sacrament of the Altar, we’ve been following the outline Luther uses in his treatment of this part of the Small Catechism. And so we began by asking, “What is the Sacrament of the Altar?” And we said that the nature of the Sacrament is that it is “the true body and blood of our Lord Jesus Christ under the bread and wine, instituted by Christ himself for us Christians to eat and to drink.” Then in week two we asked, “What is...