Posted on 02/24/2005 7:06:21 PM PST by wagglebee
An episode of the NBC sitcom "Committed,” featuring two characters who flush a Communion wafer down a toilet, has created a firestorm of protest among Catholics.
During the February 22 broadcast, two non-Catholics are mistakenly given Holy Communion at a Catholic funeral Mass. As recounted by the Catholic League:
"Nate, who is Jewish, and Bowie, a Protestant, don’t know what to do with the Eucharist, so they make several failed attempts to get rid of it. For example, they try slipping it into the pocket of a priest, dropping it on a tray of cheese and crackers, etc.
"At one point, the priest, who is portrayed as not knowing the difference between the Host and a cracker, goes to grab the 'cracker' from a tray of appetizers; he initially balks when he discovers that it is the last one. Then he changes his mind, saying, "Oh, what the hell.”
"By far the most offensive scene occurs when Nate and Bowie accidentally flush what they think is the Host down the toilet."
Catholic League President William Donahue is demanding that NBC apologize.
"To say that Catholics are angry about this show would be an understatement - the outrage is visceral and intense," he said Thursday.
"NBC has made a direct frontal assault on Roman Catholicism, choosing to mock, trivialize and ridicule the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ," Donahue added. "More than an apology is needed. This episode should be retired for good, and that is what we will demand.”
I don't find it offensive since I don't exalt Communion wafers.
again with your transubstantiation voodoo and the capitalization of host, again watch for idolatry.
You my friend are mistakon or confused. William Donohue is very often the lone voice crying out from the culture of death about affronts to the Catholic Church and her teachings.
Read all about it here:
http://www.catholicleague.org/
And you didn't know what you were doing. So it's one of those "slap the forehead - OMG what was I thinking?" moments, sort of like the guy who went to eat dinner at the Friends (Quakers) house and said, "there was this awkward silence before the meal, so I just told a joke . . ." Kinda makes you squirm, but it IS funny - a sort of sympathetic groan funny, not laugh out loud funny.
The Host is Christ Himself, that's on quite a different level. I can't imagine that anyone would NOT know that you don't do anything that might be construed as profanation of the Sacrament, whether you believe in the Real Presence or you are an evangelical Protestant who takes communion once a month or once a quarter as a merely symbolic act of fellowship. Everybody knows it's important and should be treated with respect.
(I once jostled a holy water font with my elbow and spilled holy water ALL over myself and the floor - I was SO embarassed, but I didn't mean to . . . :-o )
I'm just saying that the Church where I go, I know that they get them from a Monastary.
The Church I used to go to and was an Altar Boy also got theirs from a Monastary.
The Catholic store near me which sells books and supplies for priests sells ones from a Monastary.
I have read all the posts on this thread, including your post #14.
Why you would carry a lit cigarette into a church is beyond me, to say nothing of putting the butt into a container with no sand or other cigarettes in it.
Somehow your story sounds fishy to me but then maybe southerners smoke in their churches.
All Christendom up until the time of the Reformation and then some would disagree, including St. Paul.
It isn't idolatry to worship Christ's Body and Blood. Quite the contrary.
But I guess we'll see someday who was right, won't we?
You question reads like that of a liberal journalist at a press conference.
But, no Protestants believe in the Catholic doctrine regarding Communion. Not even the Lutherans.
We all view it as symbolically.
We can't stand the idea that we would be literally eating the body; that is something called cannibalism and is sin.
Scripture says to do this in remembrance etc. Just because it says "this is my body" does not mean it is literally his body.
When you have something represent you, you can hold it up, say what it is, and it does not mean you are literally saying it transforms into that object. There was no need for Jesus to say "this is the representation of my body." If it was actually his body, Jesus would have clearly defined that in Scripture, not just use the vague term which the Catholic church we Prots believe is taking much too literally (why don't you guys go cut off your arms and gouge our your eyes if they cause you to sin as well?). Plus, at the end, he commands it to be done in remembrance. It is clear it is just remembering Christ's death.
Christ is not physically present in the host.
We don't remember to get redeemed. We remember because we have been redeemed.
We believe that it IS God, Christ truly present, Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity. So it's not just "a cracker" as you rudely put it.
Sorry, but there is no miraculous transformation at all that occurs during Communion.
Your authority for this comprehensive statement is . . . Your Own Personal Interpretation Of Scripture (YOPIOS)? How is that (or the teachings of recent Protestant thought - NOT Luther more authoritative than the interpretation and teaching of the Church Fathers (who after all assembled the Scripture and declared it authoritative)? Or Our Lord himself, who declared, "My flesh is REALLY food, and my blood is REALLY drink" . . . "This IS my body"?
The Lutherans do not believe Christ is in the elements, but around them etc.
You are trying to drag Prots in with you, but you are in fact all alone in the Christian community regarding this doctrine except for the Orthodox.
Again, ever heard of figurative language, bud?
Do you gouge your eyes out when you lust after a woman?
After all, that is what Jesus tells you to do if you read everything literally.
Man, sometimes some Christians REALLY need to get an education so they can learn about the difference between literal and figurative language.
I wouldn't call 1 billion Christians "all alone" on this matter :-)
I didn't know Moses spoke English.
"Or the "Stan should be given the right to bear children bit" :-)"
That's my personal favorite.
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