Non-Catholics and Communion

 

What do you do if you are a Buddhist or Baptist(or non-practicing Catholic for that matter) attending a Catholic Mass during Communion? You can sit tight and pray (or try to figure out what is going on) OR you can approach the altar and receive a blessing from the priest. You should cross your arms over your chest so the priest gets the message (see President and Mrs. Bush in the photo). Little kids who have not received their First Communion can do so, too.

I attended a Mass on The Feast of the Holy Family in another place where there were three extraordinary ministers of the Eucharist - all of them women. There were lots of little kids going up to them, and the women put their hands on the kids' heads and "blessed" them.

No problem, right? Uh...no. Problem:

From the Vatican:

"1. The liturgical blessing of the Holy Mass is properly given to each and to all at the conclusion of the Mass, just a few moments subsequent to the distribution of Holy Communion.
2. Lay people, within the context of Holy Mass, are unable to confer blessings. These blessings, rather, are the competence of the priest (cf. Ecclesia de Mysterio, Notitiae 34 (15 Aug. 1997), art. 6, § 2; can. 1169, § 2; and Roman Ritual De Benedictionibus (1985), n. 18).
3. Furthermore, the laying on of a hand or hands—which has its own sacramental significance, inappropriate here—by those distributing Holy Communion, in substitution for its reception, is to be explicitly discouraged.