Well since pretty much every Catholic blog has already linked to the Crescat’s post Denied Communion on the Tongue at My Grandmother’s Funeral… I might as well join in. What happened to her is just totally inexcusable. While you sometimes hear stories of this kind, fortunately they seem to have become fewer except I guess in this Spirit of Vatican II parish locked in a 1970’s stasis.
This scenario has been in the back of my mind when I receive Communion. Since I receive on the tongue while kneeling there is always the possibility of some reaction to this (oddly). Thankfully the only thing that as ever happened was a dumbfounded EMHC who didn’t’ seem to know what to do as if nobody had ever received on the tongue before. Still the mental scenario regarding what I would do has been partially thought out. That is I hope I just wait until after to deal with the situation in the manner spelled out in Matthew 15 after Mass.
Another aspect to the story was the fact that Pita bread was used. While it is possible that the use of Pita bread could be licit it almost certainly was not in this case. It was actually Pita bread from Trader Joe’s which contains honey and sea salt along with a chemical used as a dough conditioner.
As Jimmy Akin summarizes:
In the Latin Rite of the Church the bread is to be made with wheat and water only. Nothing may be added to the recipe, and the introduction of materials such as baking powder, salt, and honey render the bread that is used illicit. In the Eastern Rites, leaven may be added to the bread
See his post for references to Inaestimabile Donum. and Canon Law
So it is one thing to be such a jerk in forcing the way for someone to receive Communion it goes beyond mere jerkdom to deprive people of the Eucharist. Jesus asked the rhetorical question “Which of you fathers, if your son asks for a fish, will give him a snake instead?” Well here is a father who would give bread instead of the Eucharist.
On a final note please pray for the Crescat’s grandmother. Most funeral Masses are instant canonizations and actually praying for the repose of the soul is left behind.
