Are you allowed to take communion if you are not catholic?

[mrselizabethdarcy]

My ds attends a catholic school and he has started to ask why i dont go up for communion like the other parents. ds is 5 . my h is catholic - i am not christened.

h left us which means i cant ask him but was wondering if i could - what r the 'rules'

any advice would be appreciated.

I think you have to have had your first communion - which I did at school. Children can't take communion until then. Is your DS catholic?

AFAIK you can't take communion but you can go up and get a blessing instead.

thanks for quick replies. yes ds is catholic. how does the priest know u want a blessing? do u say? would u go up at the same time as everyone else? x

Go up with your hands crossed over your chest. I am not catholic but that's what I have done at requiem masses at RC churches. It's what others were doing.

thank u sybil - i have seen others doing that but always wondered why! x

If he's catholic then he'll do his first communion through the school I think.

if not baptised most churches do not really support taking communion also unless catholic should not really take mass either just a blessing the anglican/ baptist methodist etc churches are not really that bothered which church you were baptised in some baptist churches are quite strict about being baptised as a believer rather than as a baby, i take it DS was baptised catholic

non religous person here so excuse my ignorance-but how would the priest know that you werent catholic,if say you were at a christening in a diff parish??

and you went for communion

Well, he wouldn't but the point is that you would.

There is a perfectly viable alternative - a blessing. Or stay in the pew. You don't have to receive communion to join in, or indeed fit in

You need to have made ur first communion to receive it, also only the priest will give u a blessing. Talk to ur priest about it though, he should b understanding :-)

What the others have said re first holy communion / if you watch when people go up for communion there will prob be people getting blessing only you can see what they do (arms down by side etc) and copy them.

I haven't been in a catholic church for yonks but our (high) CofE church does that and invites people up for blessing and says what to do.

On your son asking - well - why not tell him? You were born into X religion / not a religious family / not catholic and so didn't do first holy communion but that's OK everyone is different with different beliefs and so on blah etc. And you would be happy to get a blessing when other go up and will find out about that.

Just thought - in our church the adults take the DC up and they kneel and adult gets eucharist and child gets blessing. Does that happen at your church ? Maybe a bit of closer observation might help.

I think it's best to be open about religion with DCs. I am an athiest who was raised RC, DH was raised CofE and "believes" but does not like organised religion. DC go to CofE school, pretty religious. I try to explain in age appropriate way about differences and so on, and how not everyone does the same and actually that's OK.

All I know is that in non-catholic churches AFAIK ALL are welcome at Jesus table, but as a poster said upthread the Catholics believe the communion host IS the body of Christ whereas the protestant church share the bread and non-alchy wine as symbols of the last supper?

and in COE children can go up fro a blessing? enlighten me if Im ignorant plaease!