Replies

There seems to be some glitch in the website because #162 is missing and when you click on "View Replies" for #161 you go back to #161.

However, the links before #161 seem to be okay. And following those, it seems to me that murphE's response to the question from Romulus ("If a conciliar Catholic presented himself for Holy Communion at a trad chapel, would he be allowed to receive? If yes, WHY?") was an honest attempt to answer the question.

The matter of interior disposition is the key, and is not "equivocation." A priest might accidentally give a host to someone who does not meet the qualifications to recieve based on Church law. I heard of one case where a child went up, as usual, to kneel with his parents at the railing and his parents expected him to get a blessing, as usual. They forgot to put one hand on his head to remind the priest he had not yet recieved his First Holy Communion. The little boy had been watching how everyone behaved at the rail, and this time he immitated them without drawing any attention from his parents or the priest. What did everyone say about that: that something terrible had happened? Well, no, what they said was that the boy got his First Holy Communion a little early.

It was a mistake and nobody was apparently attempting to deceive. The priest could not have known the interior disposition of the boy. He was evidently doing a good job of looking ready, and perhaps he was ready.

A conciliar Catholic, presenting himself this way and having the proper interior disposition would be given Communion by a traditional priest, in answer to your question. Someone who frequents the Novus Ordo Missae should not be refused Communion at a "trad chapel." It is not his fault that there are apparently two sets of rubrics, etc., going on these days. If more intercommunion like that took place, it might do a lot of good.

One thing's for sure: it would give the "trads" an opportunity to exercise charity by keeping their comments less abrasive. Very few of us understand things as well as St. Athanasius or St. Catherine did. We should be very careful in what we say and consider how it will be received.