FAQ
Frequently Asked Questions About the Catholic Faith
Firstly, it must be said that God loves everyone, not just those persons who engage in virtuous and moral behavior. If the Church did not show love and mercy to sinners, there would be no reason for the Church to exist, as Christianity is founded on thanksgiving for, and the praise and glorification of the sacrifice our Lord Jesus Christ, who was crucified and died an agonizing death for the forgiveness of our sins. However, the most important thing to realize about Church doctrine is that it cannot be changed. It can only be clarified. The Church understands through scripture, divine revelation, the wisdom of the early Church fathers, and the wisdom of countless other Saints and great theologians who have come since them, that sexuality is a static, unchanging aspect of our human nature. As such, there are certain expressions of that sexuality that can be deemed objectively good, and congruent with our God-given human nature. There are also expressions of sexuality that are inherently disordered and incongruent with our nature.
The term disordered is proper nomenclature in this context, but, used as a descriptive term to express the moral nature of homosexual acts, its intent is often interpreted erroneously. Many assume that the Church’s intent, by employing this terminology, is to denigrate the dignity of persons who experience sexual attraction to members of their same sex – dignity that is inherent to every human person. The use of the word disordered to refer to homosexuality as it relates to our human nature is not in fact equal to its grammatical utilization in referring to deeply mentally disturbed people, as it is often used. Disordered, in this context, simply refers to homosexuality’s congruency (or, rather, lack thereof) with the biological and God-given design of both the sexual act and the concept of romantic attraction.
All human proclivities exist as utilities for our survival and self-preservation (mental, emotional, and physical). Sexuality is designed specifically – by virtue of its typical, natural result – for human reproduction. Thus, acts of mere sexual pleasure – brazen misuse of one’ genital organs – are incompatible with this design. This incompatibility can take many forms. Acts of sodomy, masturbation, and sexual intercourse that is intentionally inhibited from producing its natural result via contraceptive measures (i.e. condoms, birth control, and chemical or surgical abortion) are examples of how one might illicitly subvert the natural function of sexuality. When one does this, he or she not only acts unnaturally, but also denigrates their own God-given dignity.
Homosexual acts are not, strictly speaking, particularly more heinous than other forms of genital misuse. Why, one might ask, are the acts themselves are considered inherently sinful and incapable of being reconciled with God? Simply put, it is impossible for one to engage in them in the proper context of the marital union. Marriage, as defined by the Church from antiquity through the modern age, is the union of two people – one man and one woman – as a covenant freely entered into, in which both will the good of the other and produce biological offspring by the grace of God’s love for them being unified with their love for each other. Because of this definition, it becomes clear that a prerequisite for the sacrament of marriage is sexual difference. Man and woman are created for one another and have complementary qualities (both physical and spiritual) that are conducive to the conception of children through the marital act. Because there is no sexual difference present in the context of a homosexual relationship, the key aspect of marriage’s definition is lost, and such a union ceases to be marriage at all. Therefore, because marriage cannot exist between two people of the same sex by virtue of their lack of sexual difference, sexual union in the proper context of the marital act cannot be achieved, thus meaning that sexual acts between two members of the same sex are always gravely sinful.
All this said, it does not answer the question of why the Church often appears to be hostile to those individuals who experience romantic and sexual attraction to members of their same sex. This is a loaded question, and one that the Church continues to grapple with. Being an institution governed by human beings and therefore being imperfect in its pastoral response to many issues (despite it being divinely instituted), the way in which ecclesiastical authority chooses to respond to the phenomenon of homosexuality, as well as those who experience it, will always be a haughtily-debated issue. However, the Church’s official stance on how one ought to respond to homosexuality and persons with homosexual proclivities is one of great nuance and relative complexity. The common perception is that the Church fundamentally condemns homosexuals and views them as anathema due to the temptations they experience. This perception is gravely misaligned with the Church’s actual teaching on the default state of a homosexually-oriented person’s soul. The true position of the Church is that no one person is intrinsically more sinful than another. Rather, one’s actions dictate their level of virtuousness or sinfulness. By extension, the teaching of the Church is that a person who experiences homosexual temptations should be treated with love, mercy, and recognition of their inherent human dignity.
To answer the second question first (as the answer explains the reasoning for the first), no. Not all Catholics can receive Communion. However, ineligible Catholics are much closer to becoming eligible than non-Catholics. To receive Communion, one must meet the following requirements (from the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops):
As Catholics, we fully participate in the celebration of the Eucharist when we receive Holy Communion. We are encouraged to receive Communion devoutly and frequently. In order to be properly disposed to receive Communion, participants should not be conscious of grave sin and normally should have fasted for one hour. A person who is conscious of grave sin is not to receive the Body and Blood of the Lord without prior sacramental confession except for a grave reason where there is no opportunity for confession. In this case, the person is to be mindful of the obligation to make an act of perfect contrition, including the intention of confessing as soon as possible (canon 916).1
The answer to the question of why non-Catholics cannot receive Communion in the Catholic Church is also laid out in Canon Law, but it can be summarized as follows: Non-Catholics, not having accepted the inherent truth of the Catholic Church (and said truth’s exclusion of all other belief systems by virtue of religious exclusivism2), are ineligible for one or both of two primary reasons, one being that they do not believe in the true presence of Christ in the Eucharist. The other primary reason why a non-Catholic would be ineligible to receive Communion may be that they do not accept all doctrinal assertions and moral guidelines set by the Church, set in place to dictate what is virtuous and right behavior. Even those who profess the claims of the Catholic Church but who do not meet other requirements (not conscious of grave sin, or not having fasted for an hour before Holy Mass) are not eligible to receive Communion, according to Canon Law. To fulfill these requirements, one must be able to enter into state of grace through the sacrament of penance, receiving absolution for any grave sins an individual has committed (one of the main requirements for eligibility to receive Communion). To receive this sacrament, one must have been formally received into the Church. (The process for formal reception into the Church can occur during childhood if one is born into the faith, or during adulthood for converts, through RICA – the Rite of Christian Initiation for Adults.) One must be catechized (educated in the faith and Her doctrines) to receive absolution through the sacrament of penance. The reasoning for this requirement is that one must understand what actions are considered sinful, as well as accept the Church’s teachings in all aspects of morality and right behavior before they can make a confession.
Any person who unrepentantly lives in a way that is not congruent with the Church’s teachings is ineligible to receive Communion. For example, if a person openly rejects the Church’s teaching on abortion and participates, even tangentially, in the act of infanticide (driving someone to a clinic to receive an abortion, for example), they are guilty of grave sin and are thus not eligible to receive Holy Communion, lest they commit another grave sin by receiving Communion illicitly. If a person publicly engages in promoting or condoning grave sin while occupying a position of authority in civil society (such as a politician supporting a pro-abortion policy), they may even be barred from receiving Communion by their local Bishop as a penalty for publicly rebuking Church teaching.
1Guidelines for the Reception of Communion | USCCB. (1996, November 4). Www.usccb.org; United States
Conference of Catholic Bishops. https://www.usccb.org/prayer-and-worship/the-mass/order-of-mass/liturgy-of-the-eucharist/guidelines-for-the-reception-of-communion
2The concept of religious exclusivism refers to the idea that a religion, by virtue of one fully believing in it, is the only true belief system in the opinion of its adherents. Therefore, according to this concept, the assertions of one’s religion take precedent over all other ideological and spiritual claims, and all claims made by other faiths that contradict it are inherently false.
The doctrine that explains Catholics’ belief in the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist is known as transubstantiation (Latin: transubstantiatio). This is the notion that the bread and wine consecrated by the celebrating/concelebrating priest(s) assumes the full, literal substance of Christ’s body and blood, while retaining the material and sensory accidents or species of bread and wine. Accidents and species are likely unfamiliar words to most non-Catholics, but they are essentially synonyms – from a philosophical and metaphysical academic standpoint – of “characteristics” or “qualities.” When the bread and wine assume these spiritual qualities, Catholics in good standing may receive Holy Communion – the practice of consuming the consecrated host (and sometimes the precious blood, depending on local practices and liturgical preferences). We do this as an act of intimacy with Christ; receiving His body into our own unites us with Him, as well as with our brothers and sisters in Christ.