Refuse to take communion from sinful priests: I turned the tables on one

“Sixty-nine percent of all American Catholics do not believe that the host and wine that they receive is actually the body and blood of Jesus Christ” 

How do Catholics know which priests are in the state of grace?

If a priest or bishop is in a state of sin, should he be dispensing the body of Christ?

This is a story about why I refused communion from a sinful priest.

How could I know if a priest is sinful? 

No one actually knows this but God himself. 

However, I can know about a sinful priest in the same way that they they make the judgment about us, postulating that some of us are unworthy of receiving communion. 

Important: I am in a state of grace with God, but not with the church. However, my guess is that many of those who take communion at a Catholic mass is in a state of sin. 

Which is as Jesus would have wanted it.

Still, how would a priest or bishop or cardinal know if someone is in a state of sin? Only God knows what is in our hearts and souls.

And what would give that priest the right to deny communion to anyone when Jesus allowed Judas to participate in the Last Supper?

That action of withholding communion violates the basis premise of Jesus Christ, one of the two greatest commandments: Love thy neighbor as thyself. 

So many priests and bishops and cardinals violate this basic commandment, which makes them sinful.

Priests are shepherds, not God

When a person presents himself or herself for communion, it is not up to the priest to determine whether or not the person is in a state of grace. 

That is up to the communicant.

I used to attend mass at a church in which practically everyone stood up at communion time and received the eucharist. That is the way it should be. 

However, you cannot tell me that all of those people are in a state of grace with the Catholic Church. 

How many of them attend mass every Sunday? How many have been to confession regularly? How many of them are divorced and remarried.

If these supposed sinners confess to God, and then do penance, which is a key, then they should be forgiven.

I have written previously of a Franciscan, a Catholic priest who encouraged people who are not in a state of grace to take the eucharist -- because that is the best way for them back to God.

He is in heaven. Many of the priests, bishops -- and popes -- may not be with him.

Only God knows whether that person is in a state of grace — and the only state of grace that we must have is with Him -- not with any church of any denomination.

Why did I do so?

In the same way, we should not make a judgment about whether or not the priest is in a state of grace. 

Yet, I did so. 

I happened to know that this priest is a bigoted, un-Christian man because he has expressed himself publicly in that way. The truth is that I will never again take communion in the American Catholic Church, but it felt good to refuse communion from a sinful priest. 

If I go to Ireland this year, I will not hesitate to take communion there. I would take communion from Pope Francis every day of the year if that were possible because he most epitomizes Jesus Christ better than any pope in my lifetime. 

Could I take communion from one of the hundreds of thousands of clerical child abusers and those who have covered up their criminal activities who have roamed the churches in America? 

Should I take communion from those priests and bishops who raise money to protect these sexual abusers and pedophiles?

We should not be forced to make that decision. 

Use a piece of bread

I now take communion in the same way that I confess my sins: I go directly to God, take a piece of bread and ask God directly to bless it as he did at the Last Supper. 

I then take place it in my mouth and feel the strength of Jesus Christ in my life. 

I do not need a Catholic priest to do that for me. 

Catholics do not believe in Transubstantiation

What makes this so important is that few Catholics now believe in what the priest does at Mass.

One of the saddest examples of how the Catholic clergy have failed to communicate with their followers is this revelation from the Pew Forum about belief in Transubstantiation. 

Sixty-nine percent of all American Catholics do not believe that the host and wine that they receive is actually the body and blood of Jesus Christ, something that we were taught as children was vital,

[A] new Pew Research Center survey finds that most self-described Catholics don’t believe this core teaching. In fact, nearly seven-in-ten Catholics (69%) say they personally believe that during Catholic Mass, the bread and wine used in Communion “are symbols of the body and blood of Jesus Christ.” Just one-third of U.S. Catholics (31%) say they believe that “during Catholic Mass, the bread and wine actually become the body and blood of Jesus.”

Gregory A. Smith, “Just one-third of U.S. Catholics agree with their church that Eucharist is 

body, blood of Christ,” Pew Research Center, August 5, 2019

This was taken in 2019, but if anything, it is probably worse today. 

When the clerics weaponize the Eucharist, people are wise enough to know that it is more a political statement than a moral one. 

Jesus Christ wants all of us to have the Eucharist, not just those in a state of grace. 

Although some try to refute this, Jesus gave Judas the traitor the opportunity to enjoy in the meal in which he changed the water and wine into his body and blood — knowing beforehand that the apostle was going to betray him. 

The church is what has politicized the Eucharist, and that has resulted in the loss of belief by people in the body and blood of Christ. 

So, I do not have to take the Eucharist from a priest who is sinful, who does not follow the words of Jesus Christ in the New Testament. 

The Catholics used to make fun of the “Holy Rollers” in previous years, but they have become closer to those people than to the teachings of Jesus Christ in the New Testament. 

Not a personal confrontation

I did not personally confront this priest, but I really wanted to do so. However, making a scene would not have changed his sinful mind. 

I simply sat in the pew and thought of how Jesus Christ would feel about this.

When these Catholic bishops and their ilk spout their hatred publicly, such as condemning their leader, Pope Francis, I know that they are filled with sin. 

When priests and bishops condemn homosexuals for their “sin” of being born that way, I know that God will reject them for heaven because of that hatred.

And I know that I have no desire to associate with them.

My piece of bread is as sacred as their hosts.