That's exactly what you're supposed to do - not go to the altar to receive. However, in the past, when the priest was saying prayers at the funeral home the night before the mass, he would also offer a group absolution to those in attendance so that everyone could receive Communion at the mass the next day. I guess they don't do that anymore??

It's a little awkward when the pew empties and he's still there .....

SB, is there an age barrier for getting baptized in Catholic Church?

Thanks Kly.

And nothing for nothing DT your always posting like your the smartest guy in the room with this self perceived great insight and critical thinking.

DT is one of the most respected (and smartest if not the smartest) contributors to this Board and I as well as many other Board members appreciate and look forward to his posts.

It's important for posters to keep in mind that just as their posts about law and order should acknowledge statutes and due process, their posts about the Catholic religion should acknowledge the Church's laws (which are called the Canon) and their historical interpretation. Babe's and Kly's recent posts in this thread are an example of such acknowledgement.

I should add that adults, wishing to become Roman Catholic, have to go through months of instruction, before they can be baptized or confirmed.

My father-in-law was Italian, but raised as a Presbyterian. As long as I had known him, he didn't go to church. When he was dying of cancer, he asked if I'd take him to mass at the Catholic Church, to which I belonged. He wanted to receive Communion, but bad Catholic that I am, I didn't stop him. He was worried that the priest would say something, but I told him that while the priest was a pretty bright guy, he can't tell a Protestant from a catholic just by looking at them.

After he died, a funeral mass was held for him at my brother-in-law's catholic church in his hometown. The priest there had known my father-in-law casually through my brother-in-law and also by the fact that my father-in-law operated a popular restaurant in town. father Rick scheduled the mass, thinking the deceased was just a non practicing Catholic. When he asked my brother-in-law after the service where my father-in-law last attended church, he was surprised that it was the local Presbyterian church. My BIL asked if this was a problem, the priest said, "Not really, but now I have to explain it to them and the bishop."

[quote=EastHarlemItal]

And nothing for nothing DT your always posting like your the smartest guy in the room with this self perceived great insight and critical thinking.

So do you believe that any Catholic who isn't in the "state of grace" should be denied communion, or just gays?

I'll tell you why religion doesn't work nowdays, there are two reasons:
1) The times have changed drastically from the times when Christianity was started.

2) There's this shitload of idiots who don't understand the rules of the religion and manipulate them for their own gain.

For example sex before marriage. It's more or less there to have the children to have both parents and so their father doesn't bail out as without marriage he would have no responsibility or any relation towards the woman.

That's just one example. You obsessed people with religion do not really understand those regulations the church has made. You have just taken in mind the literal sentence that is written and memorized and praised it over and over again. Which is quite dumb.

Religion shouldn't change, it should accept the time it's at. Nowdays a very different life out there. As you see couples are having sex before marriage, there are a lot of homosexuals nowdays we do not cut off the thief's right hand for stealing candy from the local shop and there's many more other stuff. It's common sense. Such as cops years ago would more concentrate on bank robbers, nowdays their concentration is more on the drugs.

Another thing is the celibate, the main intention was to get the priest to be more dedicated to religion. All it has resulted is thousands of victims who have suffered molestation from these "god's workers" who are often helped by other priests.

And I'll tell you why there's all these problems. Just because religion wasn't adjusted to nowdays, it is stuck in those 2000 years back when it was started and that's a difference.

You're contradicting yourself. You're saying religion shouldn't change but then you say it should accept the time it's in; inferring that it should indeed change with the times.

Generally speaking, true principles remain true, regardless of what time period we're in. Homosexuality is a good example. Just because it's become more acceptable in society today, that hasn't changed how it's seen in God's eyes. Something being common, socially acceptable, or legal doesn't make it inherently right.

Homosexuality is a good example. Just because it's become more acceptable in society today, that hasn't changed how it's seen in God's eyes.

DT is one of the most respected (and smartest if not the smartest) contributors to this Board and I as well as many other Board members appreciate and look forward to his posts.

All this anger toward priests must come from somewhere? And as I said above your always accusing the "new members" of immature and conversations above thier heads! To talk down about an entire group of men when a small portion of that group has made them look bad is about as classless as it gets!

And nothing for nothing DT your always posting like your the smartest guy in the room with this self perceived great insight and critical thinking. And that's all well and good, however a post like this shows your deep hypocritical thinking and like I said it must come from something? To give all these other vagrants a pass and to dump on priests with your cheap shots every chance you get is telling!

Satire is something other than making personal attacks on other posters.

For the record, in the LDS church, gays are able to take the Sacrament as long as they are not engaging in homosexual behavior. I don't know if the Catholic church makes that distinction or not.

Okay, how do you know that God doesn't accept homosexuals? You'll say it's put like that by the church, priest or whoever the fuck. How do they know what God likes and what he doesn't like? I'll say it straight, they don't. No-one of us knows.

Just because some people are not tolerant against homosexuals that's how the concept of "God not loving homosexuals" was born. You're being manipulated right from the core.

Another mistake you're making is, you assume because YOU don't know what God wants or likes, that must mean NOBODY does.

You're also assuming religious people must have been "manipulated" while you're the independent, free-thinker.