Catholic mother giving her child the host?

[kreecherlivesupstairs]

Just asking, not judging. My DD is a RC so is her Dad. I am a confirmed atheist.
I was talking to a mum at DDs school last week, she said DD had mentioned going to church wiht her dad every sunday and asked where it was. I said I'd find out and tell her.
DD was a bit upset because it seems the mother takes her DD to a Belgian church, goes for communion then takes the bread out of her mouth and gives it to her DD to eat.
I asked DH why that would be a bad thing, he began talking about black masses and such things which DD overheard and became scared by.
We haven't spoken of it again.
Please satisfy my curiosity, what is so wrong with this? I know my DD had to go to a year long once a week after school class before her first communion.

The mother takes the bread out of her mouth and then gives it to her DD? How odd. To me (as as once serious but now very lapsed Catholic) this implies that the mother is not really receiving the communion and is not treating it with respect. Does she do it because she thinks her DD ought to receive communion but is not old enough to yet? it certainly sounds very odd, like someone who doesn't know/care about the sanctity of the communion and thinks of it like a nice snack. But certainly doesn't ring any bells of black masses or anything "evil" - just odd and misguided.

I think your DH is probably going a bit overboard there

I think that RC churches give you the wafer directly into your mouth so that you can't take it away with you for some terrible purpose. Whereas Anglican churches give you the option, and will usually put it in your hand if you put that out rather than opening your mouth at them.

But, from a theological point of view, I reckon if God can get into the wafer, He can also get back out of it if need be! So, there would be no way anyone could use a consecrated wafer to do evil, no matter what they tried.

If she's giving it direct to her child, its being consumed straight away anyway, even if not by the mum, so it's not like anyone could do anything with it.

Different Christian churches have different teachings about children and communion, so it might be that this mum comes from a tradition where small children are allowed to take communion much earlier and with less preparation. DS started taking communion when he was 3, as our church teaches that baptism is sufficient. And I've known people give toddlers a share of the bread/wafer so as not to leave them out of the sharing even younger than that. It comes from the idea that everyone baptised is part of the family of God, so shouldn't be excluded just because they haven't learned specific things yet. And also that some churches don't have "admission to communion" or "confirmation" as stages in their church life, but people can start taking communion when they feel they want to - so those people would be allowed to take communion in our churches just from having been baptised.

You can take the host in your hand or directly into your mouth.

What she did was very disrespectful. The host is no longer 'bread' it is literally the body of Christ.

A bit gross as well, the wafer gets soggy as soon as it hits your tongue.

Depends on the RC church, actually. Old school is certainly to post it straight into the mouth, but nowadays most priests are happy to place the host into the hand.

This mum, however, is taking it out of her mouth! So bizarre. Does she not want the communion herself? Why go up to receive it then? If the child is old enough, she would receive her own wafer, so I'm guessing the girl is not yet old enough. Does the mum want her dd to receive the grace of communion? Is the girl pestering to know what it tastes like? Either way, the mum is behaving improperly, though again i wouldn't call it evil, just showing a lack of understanding.

No, there is the option to have it in your hand.

But more to the point, communion is a sacred sacrament and there is quite a bit of preparation before a child is able to make their first communion. The theory being that they have to decide to be a Catholic and understand the basic tenets of the faith. So while the mum is doing it with the best of intentions, she really should be reminded that it's not like giving your child a biscuit. Maybe a quiet word to the priest?

In Catholic churches the priest is happy to bless the child if they are too young to receive communion.

At our church ds2 was v curious to know what the host tasted like- he asked the priest!

Our lovely priest game him an unblessed piece.

Ds wasnt too enthused.

Your DH is a little confused. One of the reasons for needing to consume the host before the altar is so that nobody takes it out of the church for unsavoury purposes, not necessarily black masses- I once found a host outside the church on the pavement, trodden on . And, yes, I brought the host back inside and the priest consumed it.

The Catholic Church teaches that once a host has been consecrated, it becomes the flesh of Christ until such time it no longer retains the qualities of bread, ie it's been digested or, in rare cases, dissolved in pure water.

There are two reasons this mother may be doing this. One, her daughter cannot approach the altar for a physical/mental reason. In this case, she should let the priest know and he should happily arrange that someone bring DD the Host in the pew. Two, her DD may not be allowed to recieve commuinion because of an impediment (too young, not baptised, not mentally capable of understanding the nature of the True Presence- this last fairly rare).
In this case, she should respect the teachings of her church. If she thinks there's a mistake she needs to talk it out with her priest, or find a different parish.

Thanks for the responses. Her DD is the same age as mine with no physical or mental disabilties.
According to DD, she is catholic but hasn't had her first holy communion. I don't know the reason (and frankly am not bothered), I was just really curious about why she would do such a thing.
Thanks for the responses.

In Belgium children usually make their first communion in the tweede leerjaar, usually aged 8.

DD is nearly 10 and the friend is around the same age.
It is, as I said, only curiosity that made me ask.
She did hers aged 7 in Switzerland [advanced for her age]

I'd love to know what a tweede leerjaar is, conjures up a mental image of child wearing harris tweed in a jar being leered at!

dutch is a strange language.

You would never guess was slagroom is.

Tweede leerjaar means second learning/study year; the second year of formal education.

what the devil is a slagroom?

You can get as a topping for your coffee

whipped cream nickschick . I live in Holland! Heel lekker

We've got a slagerij on the corner of our road.
Totally off topic now. Sorry.

Kreecher you don't have to apologise for going off topic on your own thread! It should be me apologising to you.