[trebb]

Knowingly providing a parody of Communing to a person "obstinately" "persevering" in "manifest" "grave" sin, can damn both the souls of the recipient and of the person who wrongly ministered the Sacrament to them..

I appreciate the patience and thoroughness of your responses. I keep coming up with questions though. How is the one administering communion to know whether or not the person receiving it has recently confessed and whether it was sincere? It seems harsh that a priest could be damned forever due to a (excuse the pun) clerical error. I thought that under the New Covenant, each was responsible for his own soul and relationship with God because Jesus made it a personal relationship.

I also wonder about the need for public atonement - what keeps the Evil One from using that as an opportunity to lie and then turn around and mock the Church?

Please be patient with me - I was raised Catholic in my early years but never got the message. I am now non-denominational and find what I need in the Bible and Jesus is Lord and Savior in my heart. I'm one of His kids that finds most religion to be unnecessarily confusing and diverting from the real issue of carrying the Word. It seems odd that religious doctrine would dwarf the Bible in words. At any rate, I hope you use my diversions as learning/teaching opportunities because it never hurts to concentrate on Him and His love for us. God Bless

[Mrs. Don-o]

As you know, there are three conditions for a sin to be a mortal one:

• grave matter (something that is objectively seriously wrong
• adequate knowledge: (the person knew what he was doing, and knew it was wrong)
• actual consent (the person's act was free and deliberate)

With the sacrilegious giving or receiving of the Blessed Sacrament,

• The "matter" is grave: it is objectively seriously wrong.
• The "knowledge" may be adequate, or not: it might be the person thinks they are doing something trivial, a social convention, a political photo-op, a "little white lie".
• Consent of the will may be deliberate, or not: it might be the person is drunk, on drugs, hallucinating, crazy, acting in panic or under threat --- anything that truly nullifies "deliberateness".

  In every case,though, the sacrilege is grave matter. It always objectively brings dishonor to Almighty God and negatively impacts anybody who sees it, hears about it, is confused or morally compromised by it, etc.

So while we cannot judge the interior disposition of the soul, we can --- and must --- judge the act. Every Catholic (lay people, priests, bishops, popes!) should be taught and reminded --- supplied with the knowledge --- that this is a damnable desecration. And we should make sure that nobody approaches Communion in a state of obvious impairment (drunk, on drugs, or crazy!)

I want to thank you for the sincerity of your questions. And may your example rub off on others --- courtesy is seriously needed in this antagonistic, FReepy domain!

It is a pleasure to volley an idea back and forth with a person who asks, as you do, intelligently and with an open mind. May God bless you abundantly.