Open communion is the practice of some Protestant Churches of allowing members and non-members to receive the Eucharist (also called Holy Communion or the Lord's Supper). Many but not all churches that practice open communion require that the person receiving communion be a baptized Christian, and other requirements may apply as well. In Methodism, open communion is referred to as the open table,[1][2] meaning that all may approach the Communion table.
Open communion is the opposite of closed communion, where the sacrament is reserved for members of the particular church or others with which it is in a relationship of full communion or fellowship, or has otherwise recognized for that purpose. Closed communion may refer to either a particular denomination or an individual congregation serving Communion only to its own members.
Affirmation
Generally, churches that offer open communion to other Christians do not require an explicit affirmation of Christianity from the communicant before distributing the elements; the act of receiving is an implicit affirmation. Some churches make an announcement before communion begins such as "We invite all who have professed a faith in Christ to join us at the table."
Open communion is generally practiced in churches where the elements are passed through the congregation (also called self-communication). However, it is also practiced in some churches that have a communion procession, where the congregation comes forward to receive communion in front of the altar; such is the case in the United Methodist Church, the Episcopal Church, most Anglican churches, and some Lutheran churches.
Supporting belief
Those practising open communion generally believe that the invitation to receive communion is an invitation to Christ's table, and that it is not the province of human beings to interfere between an individual and Christ. Some traditions maintain that there are certain circumstances under which individuals should not present themselves for (and should voluntarily refrain from receiving) communion. However, if those individuals were to present themselves for communion, they would not be denied. In other traditions, the concept of being "unfit to receive" is unknown, and the actual refusal to distribute the elements to an individual would be considered scandalous.
Most churches in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America practise their own form of open communion, offering the Eucharist to adults without receiving catechetical instruction, provided they are baptized and believe in the Real Presence.[11] The Christian churches and the Calvary Chapel[12] as well as other nondenominational churches also practise open communion. The Uniting Church in Australia practises open communion, inviting all attending to participate.[13]
Churches of Christ, though holding to a closed communion view, in practice do not prohibit visitors from taking communion, on the view that per 1 Corinthians 11:28 the visitor must "examine himself" and decide to partake or decline (i.e. it is not for the minister, elders/deacons, or members to decide who may or may not partake); thus, the practice is more akin to open communion.
Assemblies of God, Baptist and other churches that practise congregational polity, due to their autonomous nature, may (depending on the individual congregation) practise open or closed communion.
Within the Latter Day Saint movement, the Community of Christ practices open communion. The LDS Church, on the other hand, views its corresponding ceremony (known as the Sacrament) as having meaning only for church members (though without actually forbidding others from participating).
In the Anglican Communion, as well as in many other traditional Christian denominations, those who are not baptized may come forward in the communion line with their arms crossed over their chest, in order to receive a blessing from the priest, in lieu of Holy Communion.[20] This practice is also used in the Roman Catholic church at funeral masses, where attendees frequently include non-Catholics.
The Catholic Church does not practise or recognise open communion.[22] In general it permits access to its Eucharistic communion only to baptized Catholics.[23] Catholics can only receive Holy Communion if they are in a state of grace, this is without any mortal sin: "A person who is conscious of grave sin (mortal sin) is not to celebrate Mass or receive the body of the Lord without previous sacramental confession unless there is a grave reason and there is no opportunity to confess; in this case the person is to remember the obligation to make an act of perfect contrition which includes the resolution of confessing as soon as possible."[24]
In lieu of Holy Communion, some parishes invite non-Catholics to come forward in the line, with their arms crossed over their chest, and receive a blessing from the priest.[25][26] However, Canon 844 of the 1983 Code of Canon Law of the Latin Church and the parallel canon 671 of the Code of Canons of the Eastern Churches also recognizes that in certain circumstances, by way of exception, and under certain conditions, access to these sacraments may be permitted, or even commended, for Christians of other Churches and ecclesial Communities.
Thus it permits Eastern Christians who are not in full communion with the Catholic Church (Eastern Orthodox Church, Oriental Orthodoxy and Assyrian Church of the East) to receive Communion from Catholic ministers, if they request it of their own accord and are properly disposed, and it applies the same rule also to some Western Churches that the Holy See judges to be in a situation similar to that of Eastern Christians with regard to the sacraments.[27]
On 15 November 2015, while at Christuskirche in Rome Pope Francis answered a Lutheran woman wishing to be able to participate in Holy Communion with her Catholic husband: "It is a question that each person must answer for themselves … there is one baptism, one faith, one Lord, so talk to the Lord and move forward".[28][29][30] In the following year at Lund Cathedral, in a joint Lutheran-Catholic service commemorating the Reformation, Pope Francis and Bishop Munib Younan (the head of the Lutheran World Federation) "jointly pledged to remove the obstacles to full unity between their Churches, leading eventually to shared Eucharist."[31]
Recognizing that "that everyone in a marriage that binds denominations," the Catholic Church in Germany in 2018 produced a pastoral handout allowing Lutheran spouses of Catholics to receive Communion from Catholic ministers in certain cases, 'provided they "affirm the Catholic faith in the Eucharist".'[32][33][34][35] Thus far, Archbishop Hans-Josef Becker (Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Paderborn), Archbishop Stefan Heße (Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Hamburg), Archbishop Ludwig Schick (Roman Catholic Diocese of Fulda), and Bishop Franz Jung (Roman Catholic Diocese of Würzburg) have implemented the pastoral document, in addition to Bishops Gerhard Feige of Magdeburg and Franz-Josef Bode of Osnabrück declaring their intention to implement the pastoral document well.[36] Bishop Franz Jung, while celebrating a Jubilee Mass on 5 July 2018 at Würzburg Cathedral, called inter-denominational marriages "denomination-uniting" and thus "especially invited" couples in which one spouse is Protestant to receive the Eucharist during his sermon.[36]
For other baptized Christians (such as Anglicans, Methodists and other Protestants) under the jurisdiction of other episcopal conferences, the conditions are more severe. Only in danger of death or if, in the judgment of the local bishop, there is a grave and pressing need, may members of these Churches who cannot approach a minister of their own Church be invited to receive the Eucharist, if they spontaneously ask for it, demonstrate that they have the catholic faith in the Eucharist, and are properly disposed.[37]
Catholic priests have sometimes not observed these rules, giving Holy Communion to non-Catholics sometimes unknowingly.[38][39] Notably, Pope John Paul II gave Holy Communion to Brother Roger, a Reformed pastor and founder of the Taizé Community, several times; in addition Cardinal Ratzinger (later Pope Benedict XVI) also gave Brother Roger the Eucharist.[40][41][42] Moreover, after Brother Roger's death, at the Mass celebrated for him in France, "communion wafers were given to the faithful indiscriminately, regardless of denomination".[43]
The Catholic Church does not allow its own faithful to receive Communion from non-catholic ministers in whose Churches these sacraments are valid, apart from in extreme cases, such as danger of death, and only if it recognizes the validity of the sacraments of that Church. Other conditions are that it be physically or morally impossible for the Catholic to approach a Catholic minister, that it be a case of real need or spiritual benefit, and that the danger of error or indifferentism be avoided.[44]
Position of the Lutheran Church
The Lutheran Church has a variety of practices, depending on denominational polity. Some branches of Lutheranism, such as the Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod and the Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod, do not practice open communion; they exclude non-members and require catechetical instructions for all people before receiving the Eucharist.[45] This generally stems from an understanding that sharing communion is a sign of Christian unity; where that unity is not present, neither should Eucharistic sharing be present. Some Lutheran church bodies use the term "altar and pulpit fellowship" to refer to their specific practices.
Other parts of the Lutheran Church, including the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), The Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada, and many members of the Lutheran World Federation, practice open communion and welcome all Baptized Christians to commune while ensuring that Lutheran belief on the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist is declared orally or in writing.[46] Guests are then left to decide whether they should or should not receive the Eucharist.[46] The ELCA has specific communion sharing agreements with a number of other Christian denominations, encouraging the sharing of the sacrament across belief system boundaries.[47] The understanding that lies behind this practice is that Communion is both a foretaste of eschatological Christian unity as well as an effective means of fostering that unity.
^Jarvis, Edward (2018). God, Land & Freedom: The True Story of ICAB. Berkeley CA: Apocryphile Press. pp. 69–70.
^The Episcopal Handbook. Church Publishing, Inc. 1 September 2008. ISBN9780819223296. Retrieved 25 June 2012. Pastoral blessings are often available for children or adults who are not communing. Simply cross your arms over your chest if you wish to receive a blessing.
^Heneghan, Tom (14 January 2016). "Catholics and Lutherans to worship together at Reformation anniversary". America Magazine. Retrieved 7 January 2024. When a Lutheran woman married to a Catholic asked Pope Francis about this during his visit to her church in Rome last November, he said he couldn't decide the question but hinted strongly that he supported it. "It is a question that each person must answer for themselves … there is one baptism, one faith, one Lord, so talk to the Lord and move forward," he told the congregation, which broke out in applause.
^Magister, Sandro (1 July 2016). "Communion For All, Even For Protestants". GEDI Gruppo Editoriale. Retrieved 7 January 2024. Pope Francis is now also encouraging Protestants and Catholics to receive communion together at their respective Masses. He is doing so, as always, in a discursive, allusive way, not definitional, leaving the ultimate decision to the individual conscience. Still emblematic is the answer he gave on November 15, 2015, on a visit to the Christuskirche, the church of the Lutherans in Rome (see photo), to a Protestant who asked him if she could receive communion together with her Catholic husband. The answer from Francis was a stupefying pinwheel of yes, no, I don't know, you figure it out. ... Of course, however, by speaking in such a "liquid" form Pope Francis has brought everything into question again, concerning intercommunion between Catholics and Protestants. He has made any position thinkable, and therefore practicable. In fact, in the Lutheran camp the pope's words were immediately taken as a go-ahead for intercommunion. But now in the Catholic camp as well an analogous position statement has come, which presents itself above all as the authentic interpretation of the words Francis said at the Lutheran church of Rome. Acting as the pope's authorized interpreter is the Jesuit Giancarlo Pani, in the latest issue of "La Civiltà Cattolica," the magazine directed by Fr. Antonio Spadaro that has now become the official voice of Casa Santa Marta, meaning of Jorge Mario Bergoglio himself, who reviews and adjusts the articles that most interest him before their publication. Taking his cue from a recent joint declaration of the Catholic episcopal conference of the United States and of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, Fr. Pani dedicates the entire second part of his article to the exegesis of the words of Francis at the Christuskirche in Rome, carefully selected from among those most useful for the purpose. And he draws the conclusion from them that they marked "a change" and "a progress in pastoral practice," analogous to the one produced by "Amoris Laetitia" for the divorced and remarried. They are only "small steps forward," Pani writes in the final paragraph. But the direction is set.
^Montagna, Diane (16 November 2015). "Pope Francis Stirs Communion Controversy at Lutheran Gathering in Rome". Aleteia. Retrieved 7 January 2024. On Sunday, speaking to Evangelical Lutherans in Rome, the pope responded to a question posed to him by a non-Italian Lutheran woman married to an Italian Catholic man. The Holy Father's response suggests that while he was unprepared to pronounce with clarity on the issue, he considered the topic one that theologians such as Cardinal Walter Kasper, President Emeritus of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity (who was in attendance) might openly discuss.
^Ivereigh, Austen (26 August 2008). "Brother Roger of Taize -- Catholic, Protestant, what?". America Magazine. Retrieved 24 July 2015. Brother Roger also received communion several times from the hands of Pope John Paul II, who had become friends with him from the days of the Second Vatican Council and who was well acquainted with his personal journey with respect to the Catholic Church. In this sense, there was nothing secret or hidden in the attitude of the Catholic Church, neither at Taizé or in Rome. During the funeral of Pope John Paul II, Cardinal Ratzinger only repeated what had already been done before him in Saint Peter's Basilica, at the time of the late Pope.
^The Catholic World Report, Volume 15. Ignatius Press. 2005. During the funeral for Pope John Paul II, Brother Roger himself received Communion directly from then-Cardinal Ratzinger.
^John L. Allen Jr. (11 August 2010). "Another tribute for Taizé from the Vatican". National Catholic Reporter. Retrieved 24 July 2015. Brother Roger received communion several times from the hands of Pope John Paul II, who had become friends with him from the days of the Second Vatican Council, and who was well acquainted with his personal journey with respect to the Catholic Church.
