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Sick and Dying

American bishops, of course, disagree. Several point out what Jesus inspired St. Paul to write down — anyone who eats and drinks Jesus’ Body and Blood without first discerning his own sins and being forgiven for them eats and drinks judgement on himself. “That is why many of you are sick, and some are dying,” says St. Paul (1 Cor 11: 27-32).

For the sake of the souls in their care, to protect them from divine judgment, some American bishops forbid the distribution of the Eucharist to any Catholic who scandalously promotes abortion. After all, a politician who simultaneously promotes abortion and receives Eucharist might well be damning himself to hell. That’s not good.

For other bishops, the damnation of politicians is not the most serious issue. Rather, they are concerned about another problem. They realize that if Catholic politicians who support abortion are not permitted to risk eternal damnation, the Church might look “partisan.” We have to wonder if they have concluded that it is better that one man be eternally damned than that the whole Church look politically partisan in an election year. What we do know is that they have so far explicitly refused to forbid the Eucharist to such politicians. One has been quoted as saying: “These people are adults.” The subtext? If these people want to risk hell in exchange for a four-year term of office, that’s their lookout.

The whole argument is proving quite a poser. Some Catholic theologians, instead of offering clarity, are further muddying that water. They note that some participants in ecumenical dialogue find the Eucharist to be equally off-putting to what they are trying to accomplish. Take the ecumenical dialogue between Lutherans and Catholics, for instance. While Martin Luther was himself an Augustinian priest and could validly consecrate Eucharist, the Lutheran Church does not have a valid priesthood. According to Jesus, that means no Lutheran can consecrate the Eucharist. This is an uncomfortable fact, but a recent article in the Milwaukee diocesan newspaper shows that not everyone is able to honestly confront this fact.

It quotes one Susan Woods, a faculty member at St. John’s University in Collegeville, MN, who said, “Ever since Vatican II, task forces have acknowledged that the Lord’s Supper has the power to engender light and grace. The idea that it is not valid without (the benefit of) orders is not true. Our ecclesial communions are in real but imperfect communion. We share baptism, Scripture, the early church, pre-division.”

Getting the Orders in Order

Now “task forces” may acknowledge all sorts of things, but Dr. Wood’s comments are sure to be confusing to many Catholics of the Milwaukee diocese who, God knows, don’t need any more confusion. Especially not confusion about the Eucharist and especially not while episcopal disagreements about administering the Sacrament are becoming regular media fare.

Let’s understand that the Lord’s Supper as celebrated by the Lutherans may well be a source of light and grace. Scripture is read, prayers are offered, and the mind and heart are turned toward the contemplation of the mystery of salvation. The persons doing this are baptized children of God who love Him and seek to please Him to the best of their understanding. How could that be anything but valid?

Because the Lutheran pastors are not priests! Priests offer sacrifice. That is their primary function. That is why Jesus is the High Priest: He sacrificed Himself for us.

When Jesus offered Himself at the Last Supper, He ordained the twelve Apostles to be priests: He told them to “do this in memory of Me.” He gave this command to no one but Apostles. An “apostle” is someone who occupies a specific office in the Church. Peter recognized this in Acts, when he pointed out that Judas’ office was empty (Acts 1: 15-26). Paul recognized this when he pointed out that apostles are first in the Church, only after them come prophets, teachers and the rest (Eph 4: 11-14).

The Last Supper participated in the sacrifice of the Crucifixion, the one Sacrifice God made for man. Those who hold the office of the Apostles are commanded to make this one Sacrifice present to every generation. Malachi prophesied it, the Son of Man fulfilled the prophecy: “For from the rising of the sun, even to its setting, My name is great among the nations; And everywhere they bring sacrifice to my name, and a pure offering; For great is my name among the nations, says the LORD of hosts” (Mal 1:11). That fulfilled prophecy is quoted in the liturgy of the Mass, for the Mass is the fulfillment of that prophecy.

Now the office of apostle is something that is passed on through the laying on of hands, as Paul tells us in his epistles and as Acts describes. You can’t give what you don’t have. Since only apostles occupy the office of apostle, only an apostle, that is, an episkopos, a bishop, can pass on the office. Only an apostle, or someone who participates in the office of apostle via the laying on of hands, only such a person, can offer the sacrifice, because Jesus gave this command only to these men. They have the office. They are first in the Church. No one else.

Bishops: Guardians of the Eucharist

Martin Luther was an Augustinian priest, but he was not a bishop. He could not pass on the gift of apostolic priesthood because he did not occupy the office of apostle. Only someone consecrated to the fullness of priesthood can pass on the gift. Unless Christ anoints through the laying on of a bishop’s hands, no one can offer the sacrifice Christ gave the Apostles alone to guard.

And it is precisely in their role as guardians of this sacrifice that bishops act when they forbid the distribution of the Eucharist to any Catholic who scandalously promotes abortion.

When a Catholic, theologian or not, speaks about the validity of the Lord’s Supper, these should be the presuppositions out of which he or she speaks. To speak otherwise is not loving toward fellow Catholics who will either be incensed or confused about obfuscation of these points. Nor is it loving toward Lutherans to attempt to affirm anything beyond what Church teaching does affirm about their communion.

What we can affirm to them may not satisfy them because they want to claim that Christ is present in their communion “in, with and under” the bread and wine, and they want to say that their communion gives them everything that Christ intended them to have when “on the night before He was betrayed He took bread in His sacred hands.” They want us to say that their communion is “valid” apart from the priesthood instituted by Christ, but we cannot say that without denying that Jesus really is present Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity in the Eucharist, or that Christ established the office of apostle, the office whose exercise allows us to participate in the one Sacrifice of the Cross, fulfilling God’s prophecy in Malachi.

Dr. Woods may find it useful for “dialogue” to deny the sacrament of Eucharist or deny the sacrament of Holy Orders or both. Since Lutherans don’t have either, we simply divest ourselves of both and that solves the ecumenical problem. We can all sit down at tea and agree. It sounds wonderful, but it will not work because it is not based upon truth.

It is amazing isn’t it, how so many of the debates swirling around us come back to the truth about the Eucharist? But then that is exactly what one would expect of “the source and summit of the Christian life” (Lumen gentium, no. 11; cf. Catechism of the Catholic Church, no. 1324).

Theologians like Dr. Wood provide cover for politicians like Senator Kerry, who has taken communion in an American Methodist Episcopalian (AME) church recently. They fail to demonstrate the kind of love that speaks the truth to our separated brethren for whose coming to the real Lord’s Table our hearts should yearn. When their words are published in a diocesan newspaper to the confusion of their fellow Catholics, clear explanation and correction by the bishop is needed. From those who hold the fullness of the priesthood, the successors of the Apostles, the need for clear direction has never been greater.

How we children must pray for our fathers.

© Copyright 2004 Catholic Exchange

Steve Kellmeyer is a nationally known author and lecturer, specializing in apologetics and catechetics. His new books Sex and the Sacred City: Meditations on the Theology of the Body and Fact and Fiction in The Da Vinci Code are now available on-line and by phone through Bridegroom Press as are his other books, audio recordings and teaching tools. If you would like to comment on his columns or other writings, please visit www.skellmeyer.blogspot.com .

Mary Kochan, Lead Content Editor and contributing author to Catholic Exchange, was raised as a third-generation Jehovah’s Witness. Before converting to Roman Catholicism, she worked in Evangelical Protestant ministry, speaking and teaching in many settings. She is a member of St. Theresa parish in Douglasville, GA. Her tapes are available from Saint Joseph Communications.