[starfish923]

A few years ago Rome put out an instruction regarding communion and the faithful of the Orthodox Churches, the Polish National Church and perhaps a couple of others. It said it was OK to give them communion but that it should only be done where there was consultation with the local Orthodox hierarch. Where those consultations have taken place, there is no inter-communion. Unfortunately, a number of those consultations only occured after several of the Orthodox hierarchs in this country complained to Rome. The position of the Latin Church is that there is no impediment to inter-communion but it urges Orthodox faithful to obey their own hierarchs. Our hierarchs say no, though the issue was reviewed in the early 90s when, surprisingly, it was the Russian Church which was for it by an exercise of economia and the Ecumenical Patriarchate, Alexandria and Antioch who were against it.
Your news is a "few years" old, is it not?

Our priests can and do turn people away, though not with any great show about it. Usually this is because someone is known to the priest to be living a lifestyle incompatible with the teachings of The Church for example, politicians who support abortion or people living together and having a sexual relationship outside of marriage or in some Churches, people whom they know haven't been to confession for some period of time. Priests will also often inquire of someone whom they don't know if they are Orthodox before they give them communion. The past couple of years, many priests have taken to making an anouncement before communion that the Eucharist is reserved to Orthodox Christians who are properly prepared by fasting and confession and are living their lives in accordance with Church teaching. This became necessary because we have seen a large number of Protestant inquirers coming to our Liturgies and innocently assuming, as is true in many Protestant churches apparently, that intercommunion is OK.

Wow, the priest can tell who is who, I guess. That is amazing....turning people away from the Lord's table. Amazing.
I wonder how the priest "inquires" about someone if that person shows up, for the first time, for Mass and communion. Very interesting. Closed shop, I guess.

[Kolokotronis]

"I wonder how the priest "inquires" about someone if that person shows up, for the first time, for Mass and communion."

He simply asks them when they appraoch for communion. But after the announcement, people don't come up by mistake much. Generally what happens is that someone living in manifest sin approahes thinking, apparently, that the rules don't apply to him or her. Within the past couple of years I observed a young fellow parade into church with his very pregnant girlfriend with whom he was living under his parents' roof. All smiles when the time came he presented himself to the priest for communion. The priest of course quietly refused him and blessed him with the chalice. The kid and his mother hit the roof. "This is America, Father. This isn't the old country! This is the 20th century. We're going to the bishop!" etc. etc. In a few weeks they got over it and apologized to the priest.

"Closed shop, I guess."

That's certainly one way to put it.