Protestants at Mass

[Lydia Banales]

As my dear pastor says here, "There are teaching moments and bonding
moments." You experienced each. Normally, anyone can attend and
participate in a Catholic Mass. But reception of the Eucharist is
reserved for those who are in "full communion" with the Catholic faith.
In some places "non-communicants" are invited to come forward for a
blessing; in some places they are not. It depends on local tradition.
There are some exceptions such as you experienced at the funeral where
the closeness of the community takes priority. The Pilgrim blessing we
received in Roncesvalle was given at the end of the Mass. All pilgrims
were invited to approach the altar and a blessing in many languages was
prayed over all of us. One's formal religious affilliation was
irrelevant. All that was required was a desire to receive the blessing.
By the way, Catholics do not "intincturate" the host into the wine. If
both species are presented, they are received separately. You receive
the host, then you drink from the cup. Lydia

David planning Le Chemin de St Jacques/El Camino de Santiago wrote:

>I have a question about religious practices in rural France and Spain -
>I expect to be spending Holy Week in various stages before and after Le Puy,
>and arriving in Santiago on June 14.
>
>What's the expectation these days when Protestants attend Catholic Mass along
>the Camino?   When I attended a (Catholic) Marriage Encounter about ten
>years ago in Menlo Park, the priest told us that only those who accepted all
>the teachings of the Catholic Church could take communion, but everybody
>else could come up for a blessing, as I did.    Then last year when I attended a
>funeral in Palo Alto (adjacent to Menlo Park!)
>for a man who had converted to Catholicism during his final illness,
>the priest said he didn't care about "postal zip codes," meaning denominations,
>and all were welcome to participate in communion.   I was surprised but
>I took a wafer and held it expecting to intinct it in the cup of wine, and
>was even more surprised when there was no wine offered to anybody, and so
>consumed the wafer without wine.
>
>So clearly everything I know is wrong.    I expect higher than average
>ecumenicality along the Camino, but it's mostly passing through conservative
>rural areas.    So what's the correct expectation these days?   I'd rather
>not be part of any misunderstandings, but neither would I like to miss
>the traditional pilgrim services and blessings.
>
>
>
>
>My plan so far is at http://camino.oakapple.net
>I guess it's about time to buy airplane tickets.
>It looks like SJC->STL->LON->SJC might be about $1050
>and a combination LON->LYS and SCQ->LON about $150 (!).
>SJC=San José, STL=St Louis, LON=London,
>LYS=Lyon, SCQ=Santiago.
>STL is to attend the pilgrim gathering in Missouri.
>
>
>