From Paul Kokoski.

Bishop Albert LeGatt's new diocesan directive for Saskatoon regarding sacramental sharing between Catholics and baptized Christians of other denominations is disappointing. The instruction flagrantly misrepresents Catholic teaching and promotes a false ecumenism by intuiting that any "baptized Christian of another denomination who comes forward for Communion during a Eucharistic celebration is understood to be in a genuine spiritual need and to be requesting the Eucharist on his or her own initiative."

The Catholic Church teaches that five conditions must be verified simultaneously for non-Catholic Christians to receive Holy Communion:

1) The recipient must profess the same faith in the Eucharist (i.e., the Eucharist is really and truly the Body and Blood of Christ);

2) The recipient must demonstrate a deep spiritual need for the Sacrament;

3) The recipient must have been unable, over a prolonged period of time, to have access to Communion in his or her own church;

4) He or she must request the Sacrament of his or her own accord;

5) In each instance for each person, permission must be obtained from the local ordinary (bishop).

The operative principle here is "Lex orandi, lex credendi." All Christian churches do not believe the same things. They do not all share the same creeds. Hence, it is meaningless to express something externally that is not true internally. Most non-Catholics do not believe in the doctrine of the Real Presence.

To refuse the Sacrament to someone we love is painful. But it is a healthy pain for it helps to remind us of just how serious the issue is.

Intercommunion should not be used as a means for achieving unity among Christians, but rather, should be a goal towards which we are striving, a result of the unity that we hope to achieve--a final expression of the unity we should one day share.

Hamilton, ON