SEVERAL years ago, on a trip to Rome, I timed my visit to St Peter’s so I could attend the late afternoon Mass in the basilica. I am an active Catholic, so it was a highlight of the trip.
There was a small congregation of about 100 people, obviously from many countries, all kneeling close to the altar in a roped-off enclave. The Mass was said in Italian by a priest who was presumably one of the basilica staff.
As a tourist, I was watching everything closely. During communion, as the priest was distributing hosts, I noticed an obviously foreign young man reach the head of the queue, and then step forward with only one hand out to receive the host.
The priest put the host in his hand, the young man looked at the host uncertainly, gave it back to the priest, and then wandered away, looking very confused. The priest, also bewildered, instinctively gave the host to the next person in line – who happened to be an equally foreign-looking nun. She looked at the host, blanched, and – in what seemed a great act of faith in a hepatitis-prone world – put it in her mouth, as I thought: ‘Boy, I’m glad I wasn’t behind that bloke in the queue’.
Obviously, the young man didn’t understand the significance of the occasion. He had just joined the queue without knowing where it led.
Recently, I was at lunchtime Mass at St Stephen’s Cathedral in Brisbane on another special occasion. It was my late father’s birthday – the first since he died last year after a lifetime of regularly attending Mass. I was at the cathedral because my sister – who is not a churchgoer – had suggested that we go to Mass together to commemorate Dad’s birthday.
At communion, I asked if she was coming up with me.
‘No, I can’t,’ she said quietly, presumably because she knows from her school days that non-churchgoers can’t go to communion. (The young man at St Peter’s obviously hadn’t been to a Catholic school in Queensland.)
But I can’t understand why these situations need to occur. Why can’t everyone who attends Mass go to communion? What difference does it make if the person is a non-Catholic, a non-Christian, a non-believer, or even someone who does not comprehend the spiritual significance of the occasion? By being there, they have all participated in the celebration, so why not complete it by sharing in the Eucharist?
I know the Church has very good reasons why not. But I also know that at the Last Supper, Jesus shared the bread and wine with Judas (who was not at his spiritual best at the time), with Jewish people (who were not Catholic) and with people who did not yet comprehend the significance of the Eucharist. Would Jesus’ friends qualify to share communion with us Catholics today?
I look forward to a day when a Catholic celebrant can say, in English in Brisbane and also in Italian at St Peter’s: ‘I ask you all to come forward and share with me in the Bread of Life and the Cup of Eternal Salvation – and so make our celebration together complete’.
I think the synod should consider bringing forward that day. It would give real substance to our ecumenical journey with everyone of good will – Christian or otherwise.
CHRIS DAVIDSON
