What Should a Protestant Do at a Catholic Funeral Mass?

don · 07-09-09 5:19 am

What Should a Protestant Do at a Catholic Funeral Mass? <blockquote>Wafergate: Purportedly pocketed host embroils Harper in religious 'scandal' July 08, 2009 By Charles Lewis, National Post The conduct of Stephen Harper at a funeral mass has ignited a religious controversy over the intricacies of proper decorum during a Catholic Communion service -- a “scandal” that features Zapruder-like video footage, personal testimonials of witnesses and even an official statement from the Prime Minister’s Office. The controversy revolves around whether Mr. Harper, a Protestant, ate the Communion wafer or pocketed it while attending the funeral of former governor-general Romeo LeBlanc at a Catholic church in Memramcook, N.B., last week. In <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6SMp_KwmJMk" target="_blank">a 40-second video clip</a>, which is being played and replayed online, Mr. Harper seems to hesitate when a priest approaches him with the Communion wafer, but he then takes it in his hand, and it is unclear what happens next. At least one person at the service thought they saw the Prime Minister put the host in his pocket, although that cannot be verified by the video footage and is in fact refuted by the Prime Minister’s Office and by a testimonial from another political dignitary at the funeral. In the amateur video, Mr. Harper’s hand is highlighted by a yellow circle, obviously added to point out what Catholics would see as a serious faux pas by the Prime Minister. “It’s worse than a faux pas, it’s a scandal from the Catholic point of view,” Monsignor Brian Henneberry, vicar general and chancellor in the Diocese of Saint John, told the Telegraph-Journal earlier this week. And he went on to demand an explanation from Mr. Harper. “I would hope the Prime Minister’s Office would have enough respect for the Catholic Church and for faith in general to make clear whatever happened.” Wednesday, a spokesman for the Mr. Harper said that “it’s totally absurd” to think Prime Minister pocketed the wafer. “The priest offered the host to the Prime Minister, the Prime Minister accepted the host and he consumed it,” said press secretary Dimitri Soudas. The Speaker of the Senate of Canada, the Noël A. Kinsella, even issued a statement refuting the claims the Prime Minister pocketed the holy wafer: “I would like to state that I personally witnessed Prime Minister Harper consume the host that was given to him by Archbishop André Richard. Sitting only a few seats behind him I had a full view of the proceedings and clearly saw the Prime Minister accept the host after Archbishop Richard offered it. The Prime Minister consumed it.” While most Protestants see Communion as a symbol of the Last Supper, Catholics have a more literal interpretation. “It’s not a symbol of the body and blood of Christ but is in fact the body and blood of Christ,” said Neil MacCarthy, director of communications for the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Toronto. “The Communion wafer starts as a host and becomes the body of Christ. And that happens in the course of the sacrament we celebrate. “We believe we are holding Jesus in our hands so to put Jesus in your pocket or to put Jesus on the ground [is serious]. If it falls on the ground it has to be consumed. We never throw Jesus out,” Mr. MacCarthy said. “I’ve been at services where the priest has gone to someone who has walked away with host and said I want to see you consume it. In my own parish the priest stood up one day and said he found a host in the parking lot. He was really angry.” Indeed, earlier generations of Catholics were told not to chew the host because it would hurt the body of Christ. Some orthodox Catholics believe the priest should put the wafer on the person’s tongue rather than in their hand. Mr. MacCarthy said Mr. Harper likely should have been briefed that non-Catholics are not supposed to take Communion. He said at most funeral and wedding masses, when there will be a large number of non-Catholics in attendance, a priest tell the guests that only Catholics can take a Communion wafer but others can receive a blessing. He also said most Protestant services allow all baptized Christians to take part in communion, which may have led to Mr. Harper’s confusion. Mr. Kinsella, a Catholic, actually lauds the Prime Minister for taking Communion, saying it is a show of solidarity. National Post <a href="mailto:clewis@nationalpost.com">clewis@nationalpost.com</a> <a href="http://network.nationalpost.com/np/blogs/holy-post/archive/2009/07/08/wafergate-purportedly-pocketed-host-embroils-harper-in-religious-scandal.aspx" target=_top>http://network.nationalpost.com/np/blogs/holy-post/archive/2009/07/08/wafergate-purportedly-pocketed-host-embroils-harper-in-religious-scandal.aspx</a> </blockquote>_______________________________________ Harper accepted host, consumed it, PM’s office says July 08, 2009, 11:31 AM by Jeremy Barker <blockquote>OTTAWA -- The Prime Minister’s Office moved swiftly Wednesday to refute allegations that Stephen Harper pocketed a sacramental communion wafer at the funeral mass of Romeo LeBlanc instead of consuming it. “It’s totally absurd,” the prime minister’s press secretary, Dimitri Soudas, said. “The priest offered the host to the prime minister, the prime minister accepted the host and he consumed it.” Questions arose after LeBlanc’s funeral in Memramcook, N.B., last Friday. Monsignor Brian Henneberry, vicar general and chancellor in the Diocese of Saint John, says a parishioner approached him in the days following the funeral and “expressed concern” that the prime minister accepted the host during the funeral mass, but then slipped it into his pocket instead of eating it. The Catholic religion dictates that the communion bread, once consecrated by the priest, becomes the body and blood of Christ and must be consumed once accepted. “So we treat them with great respect and so we have very strict rules,” Henneberry said. “If they said he consumed it, then that’s all right.” <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6SMp_KwmJMk" target="_blank">A YouTube video</a> of the event shows Harper accepting the host from the priest and holding it in his hand. It does not show what happened to the host after he accepted it. The Speaker of the Senate, Noel Kinsella, however, came to the prime minister’s defence Wednesday and provided his own eye witness account. “I would like to state that I personally witnessed Prime Minister Harper consume the host that was given to him by Archbishop Andre Richard. Sitting only a few seats behind him, I had a full view of the proceedings and clearly saw the prime minister accept the host after Archbishop Richard offered it. The prime minister consumed it,” Kinsella said in a statement. Kinsella said that as a Catholic, he was “pleased” to see Harper “express his solidarity” and accept communion during the funeral mass. <a href="http://network.nationalpost.com/np/blogs/holy-post/archive/2009/07/08/harper-accepted-host-consumed-it-pm-s-office-says.aspx" target=_top>http://network.nationalpost.com/np/blogs/holy-post/archive/2009/07/08/harper-accepted-host-consumed-it-pm-s-office-says.aspx</a> </blockquote>_______________________________________ Harper's Christian instincts July 08, 2009 By John G. Stackhouse, Jr.<blockquote>Prime Minister Harper is in the news for apparently refusing to take communion from a Roman Catholic priest at the funeral for Roméo Leblanc. According to some videotape shot at the ceremony, the Prime Minister takes the consecrated wafer and puts it in his pocket, or perhaps in his program. Confusingly, the Prime Minister is also in the news for apparently not refusing to take communion from a Roman Catholic priest. He has been chided by the Archbishop of Moncton for accepting the wafer he was offered by the priest instead of crossing his arms across his chest and receiving a "blessing" instead, since he is supposed to know that only Roman Catholics are allowed to take communion in Catholic churches. Then the PMO has assured everyone that the Prime Minister did, indeed, ingest the communion wafer later, just not right at that moment. So let's sort this out. First, the Prime Minister has long been identified as a Protestant and a particular kind of Protestant: an evangelical Protestant who attends a church of the Christian & Missionary Alliance, a group very similar to Baptists. In such churches, anyone who professes faith in Jesus Christ is welcome to take communion. You don't have to be a member of the Alliance. You don't even have to be a Protestant. The priest who offered communion to Mr. Harper would be welcome to take communion there, as would the Catholic Archbishop of Moncton. So Mr. Harper's own tradition would tell him to take the communion offered him in any church. Indeed, the Prime Minister is paying the Roman Catholic Church the compliment of receiving communion as a genuinely Christian sacrament, a compliment many Protestants weren't willing to pay Catholics until relatively recently in Canadian history. Second, Catholics still don't return the compliment. The Archbishop is correct when he says that only Roman Catholics properly receive communion in Roman Catholic services. Therefore, however, the error is the priest's, who offers the Eucharist to a famously not-Catholic public figure. It won't do to blame the prime minister. If the Catholic Church wants to guard its sacraments, they are entitled to do so, but don't blame the poor Protestant for being true to his own convictions and receiving communion from someone he sees to be a genuine Christian. Third, what about the apparent pocketing of the communion wafer? Well, perhaps the prime minister accepted the wafer, as per his own Christian instincts, and suddenly realized that Catholics might be offended that he took it. So he made the snap decision not to ingest it, but to keep it pending consultation with someone else, perhaps the priest, as to what he should do with the consecrated host. Some time later, he somehow decided to eat it, and did, off camera. Alternatively, however, he might have done what is done in lots of Protestant churches, namely, hold on to the bread until everyone is served and then everyone partakes together in a ritual of solidarity--of communion. When he realized a few moments later, perhaps, that that ritual wasn't going to take place, he might well have ingested it on his own, as the PMO says he did. Let's be clear: Protestants rarely attend Catholic services, and vice versa, and there is enough variation in Christian services around to communion for people to be unsure of quite what to do in liturgies not their own. Everyone, however, seems to have meant well. So it's time to recall the advice of St. Peter, according to Catholic tradition the first pope: "Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins" (I Peter 4:8). And let's move on to issues much more important to Canadian Catholics and Protestants alike. John Stackhouse is the Sangwoo Youtong Chee Professor of Theology and Culture at Regent College, a graduate school of Christian studies affiliated with UBC in Vancouver. Author of seven books and editor of four more, his most recent book is Making the Best of It: Following Christ in the Real World (Oxford). <a href="http://network.nationalpost.com/np/blogs/holy-post/archive/2009/07/08/john-g-stackhouse-harper-s-christian-instincts.aspx" target=_top>http://network.nationalpost.com/np/blogs/holy-post/archive/2009/07/08/john-g-stackhouse-harper-s-christian-instincts.aspx</a> </blockquote>_______________________________________ Watch the video: <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6SMp_KwmJMk" target=_top>http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6SMp_KwmJMk</a> _______________________________________ Further Information<blockquote>Roman Catholics are very serious about the consecrated wafer. To them, it IS Jesus. Note <a href="http://www.covenantforum.com/cgi-bin/discus/show.cgi?tpc=1535&post=4683#POST4683" target="_blank">the RCC's official Catechism</a>. The consecrated wafer is not to be left alone. <a href="http://www.covenantforum.com/discus/messages/1535/2442.html?1242583024" target=_top>http://www.covenantforum.com/discus/messages/1535/2442.html?1242583024</a> Notice this official procession. <a href="http://www.covenantforum.com/discus/messages/1535/2440.html?1242582060" target=_top>http://www.covenantforum.com/discus/messages/1535/2440.html?1242582060</a> </blockquote><img src="http://www.atomorrow.net/discus/messages/87/1538.jpg" alt=""> .

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What Should a Protestant Do at a Catholic Funeral Mass?

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