Protestants & Communion

A reader writes:

Under what circumstances outside of imminent death (or equally

concerning situations) can/should a priest invite Protestants to come

to receive Communion (or, in my particular instance, to "come as the

Lord calls you")? 

The Code says the following:

Can. 844 §4. If the danger of death is present or if, in the

judgment of the diocesan bishop or conference of bishops, some other grave

necessity urges it, Catholic ministers administer these same sacraments licitly

also to other Christians not having full communion with the Catholic Church [in context, this is other than Eastern non-Catholic Christians and thus means Protestants],

who cannot approach a minister of their own community and who seek such on

their own accord, provided that they manifest Catholic faith in respect to

these sacraments and are properly disposed.

The other conditions are thus those that would involve a grave necessity in the judgment of the diocesan bishop or the conference of bishops, not the individual priest.

Also it is right out for the priest to issue a general invitation for them to come since in that case they are not "seek[ing] such on their own accord" but being prompted by the priest.

Would a Catholic silent retreat be such acceptable?

Definitely not.

Is it appropriate for me, as among the laity, to confront the priest

and hope to change his mind about such an invitation? 

Appropriate? Yes. Obligatory? Not necessarily.

Is it

appropriate for me to approach the Protestants directly to correct any

mistakes the priest has made? 

Appropriate? Yes. Obligatory? Not necessarily.

Would it be appropriate to approach the

Protestants directly only after the Priest made it clear he thought he

was right (because, regardless of Church teaching, he thinks it

wrong)?

Appropriate? Yes. Obligatory? Not necessarily.

Do I have any other obligations? 

It depends on your relationship with the parties involved (the priest and the Protestants) and on the circumstances. If you have a close relationship with any of them then you may have a stronger obligation to do something about the situation than if you have a more distant relation. (E.g., if you are married to or close friends with one of the Protestants then you have a stronger obligation to correct the person than if you don’t know him at all.)

Such obligations are also defeasible, which is where circumstance comes in. For example, if the only way you could effectively deal with the situation were to jump up during the silent retreat and yell "What that priest just said is FALSE! DO NOT LISTEN TO HIM! BEWARE! BEWARE!" then this would cause problems great enough that it would defeat any obligation you were likely to have in this regard. The act of doing something that disruptive could scandalize the audience you are trying to help and push them away from the Church.

Tell my pastor and/or bishop?  Write

the priest’s bishop or ordinary?  Continue talking with this priest?

If you’ve talked to the priest already then you might continue to talk to him if you perceive that it has a significant likelihood of bearing fruit. However, if you do not foresee that then the thing to do would be to escalate to the next higher level (the pastor, the bishop, the priest’s religious superior, etc.). If that doesn’t work, contacting the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments would be the final recourse.

This is a very serious matter that the Church takes very seriously. The CDWDS does get complaints of this nature and it does act on them (though not always in a way visible to the public; for example, I’ve seen copies of letters that were privately sent to bishops telling them to straighten a priest out on matters such as this).

My own inclination would be very strongly to pursue the matter further, but working up the chain of command one step at a time so that the problem can be solved on the lowest level possible (which might still be the priest himself).

If you do take it to the next level, be specific, giving names, dates, and exact quotations to the extent possible.