www.byzcath.org Forums Faith & Christian Life The Christian East & West Infant Communion

Hello, all! I'm new here, obviously, and if you would like or prefer for me to more properly introduce myself and why I am here, I'd be happy to. (just let me know and where, lol)

First off, I think I should say that I am a Catholic (Latin-rite) convert of 6 years. I couldn't even begin to tell you how much my life has changed, and how eternally thankful I am to have come home.

I have several questions, but for this post I am focusing on one that has come to mean a great deal to me and is, in some ways, what has prompted me to want to learn more about Byzantine Catholicism and the Christian East.

I am not married or engaged (I'm 22), but I do care intensely about children and as one who has discerned a vocation to marriage, I think quite often about what things I would like to do or incorporate into my family life someday, God willing, and other matters related to motherhood, children, education, etc.

Anyway, this past March, I was made aware of the practice of infant communion/paedocommunion for I think the second time in my life, this time after reading about a diocese in the US that has returned to the correct ordering of the Sacraments of Initiation (Confirmation *before* First Communion), which received the approval of the Holy Father. In the comments on this article, I read some enormously enlightening things about the true nature of Confirmation/Chrismation, and also infant communion. In reading these things, I learned that infant communion is in fact part of our Latin patrimony, and it was also impressed deeply on my heart how important this is, and the profound loss it has proven to millions of Catholic children for roughly 800 years with its removal. I really don't have words to describe it, but God really and truly broke my heart over this, and my heart hurts so much when I see little ones at church who "can't" receive Communion. I want so badly to cry foul! Jesus was explicitly clear when He commanded to "Let the little children come unto Me, and do not hinder them....", and here we are, for 800 years, doing just that, preventing the truly sinless among us -- baptized children in the age of innocence -- from receiving Him in Holy Communion. The Church never condemned the practice, even saying at Trent "That infants and children not yet come to the use of reason may not only validly but even fruitfully receive the Blessed Eucharist is now the universally received opinion." My heart bleeds to think of all the graces upon graces millions of children could have received, but were and are denied, for no good reason other than their age.

I desire earnestly for the practice of infant communion to be restored to the entire Church, East and West, without exception, and pray for this end almost daily. I am 100% decided that when I do have children someday, that I want them to be *fully* initiated into the Church at once, Baptism, followed immediately by Chrismation and First Communion.

Here is where my questions come in (sorry for taking so long to get here).

As a Latin-rite Catholic who would rather stay Latin-rite, what can I do? I have read of Latin-rite parents who were able to have their children be initiated through the Byzantine rite, and their children received Communion at each Mass henceforth, no problem.

1. Since the Church has not banned infant communion for the Latin-rite, and even acknowledges it as genuine Latin patrimony, and since the practice of having First Communion at around age 7 is a discipline or practice only, and not doctrine, is it at all possible for a baby to receive all 3 First Sacraments at once in the Latin rite? (I'm thinking mostly of the EF form, I suppose).

2. If that is for some reason not possible, how can Latin-rite parents have their children baptized, chrismated, and given First Communion in an Eastern rite parish? How does one go about doing this?

3. If that happens, what Rite would the children be, canonically? This part confuses me so much. Would the children thus initiated be Latin rite, due to their parents, or would they be canonically Eastern, due to what they were baptized and chrismated in?

I have a few other little questions surrounding these, but they can wait. :P I apologize for the lengthiness of my post, and I am also sorry if I used terminology incorrectly. I'm still very new to all this.

Yeah, I get that. I remember that in the Latin Rite nowadays, it's baptism as an infant, First Communion in first grade, First Reconciliation in Second Grade, Confirmation in Eighth Grade, then on and on and on. Although the Eastern Rite is correct in terms of giving these sacraments almost instantaneously with infants (except Reconciliation, of course, which is really only administered when the child is old enough to know right from wrong, and knows how to speak before the priest and the holy icons, etc...)

1. I'd check individual parishes. I think, whether East, or West, smaller parishes have a sense of little, to no, red tape.

2. If you want to go Eastward for your children, I'd recommend you go eastward, too. I'm not sure a Byzantine parish priest would want to baptize, chrismate, and communion an infant, to expedite the fullness of membership into the church. It just wouldn't be honest, as I think about it. A lot of canonically Latin members at St. Irene Byzantine Catholic Church, just simply go. In time, their kids would then be baptized, therein. But the key is going back to point 1. St. Irene itself is a really small parish, who's blessed with a kind, and giving man, who's a retired priest with bi-ritual faculties.

3. On paper, they'd still be Latin rite because of your registration. But, I think, going back to smaller parishes, if the parish sees the commitment to the tradition, then they'll be taken as Byzantine, or Eastern in spirit. However, on paper, because you're canonically Latin, by Canon Law, the children would be Latin. It's a tricky deal. I think brother ConstantineTG had something similar since he was canonically Latin (not sure if he still is or not. I just know he's been active at a UGCC, for years); and had his child baptized, confirmed, and communed.

I went through that pecking order, growing up, too. I still bummed how my patron saint via Confirmation is just given lip service. Technically, I could have changed my name to it, when I had the option. It just didn't dawn on me. My guess is the patron Saint being chosen was supposed to be for infant baptism, confirmation, and communion. I think, it strengthens the significance of choosing a patron saint. Unless, I'm wrong on the matter, of course.

LOL, yeah, I only wish I could have chosen one of the founding saints instead of what I did. Dumb of me to be confirmed under St. John Bosco, which is entirely a Latin/Western Saint, which is NOT recognized in the East. Now considering the name John, I could have went with St. John the Baptist, John the Evangelist, or St. John Chrysostom, and it would have been perfectly recognized in both Rites of the faith. However, I can't hit the rewind button back to 1994 to try it all over again, now can I?

I would be very surprised if you could just show up at a Byzantine Rite church and ask for your child to be Baptized. If you are an established member of an Eastern parish, however, I would imagine that the priest would simply baptize the child of his parishioner. That is how it happened with me, when I was a child, and that is how it has happened with my own children.

Although I was raised in a Byzantine Rite church, my husband was only introduced to it through me and he didn't much care for it. I have always considered myself Byzantine and didn't even know that I was technically not until about 12 years ago. We used to split our time between my Byzantine parish and his parish, but he was very moved by infant communion, so we made a commitment to the Byzantine parish when it came time to have our children Baptized. It has been 10 years now, and I see how his way of thinking and spirituality have changed over time. The same could happen to you. I know you would like to remain Latin-rite, but I think you should give the East a chance if you are so attracted to infant communion.

Elizabeth

First, I’d like to say that it is wonderful that you are thinking so carefully about how you will incorporate the faith into your future vocation to marriage and parenthood. I wish I had done more of that myself, because ultimately, the faith is taught and learned at home. In our Roman Catholic parish, many families drop their kids off for religious education and expect the church to teach their kids everything in one hour a week! Parents set the most important example; they are the models. If the parent’s don’t live the faith, their children probably won’t either. They might understand the faith intellectually, but they won’t know it deeply, intimately, and personally.

My family currently does now as Babochka used to do – we spit our time between our local Roman Catholic parish and a Byzantine parish nearby. My children have not yet received First Communion, so they are the only children who do not receive the Eucharist when we are at the Byzantine church. I struggled with the decision myself, should we stay Roman Catholic or make the decision to go eastward? Ultimately, we choose to stay Roman Catholic, and in doing so we chose to accept and follow all of the traditions of that particular church, even though we sometimes know another way is possible, or at least not impossible.

The most important lesson for me during my time of discernment was the importance of both parents in making the decision. Who will you marry? Will you marry a Roman Catholic or an Eastern Catholic? These are rhetorical questions. These decisions regarding baptism must be made by both parents together. Even seemingly little things, such as when to pray at home, what prayers to pray at home, which icons to hang or which statuary to put in the garden – these little daily decisions are best made when they are made together as a family. I commend you for so carefully discerning how you will fulfill your future role as a parent! I wish I had done that more myself and it’s great to see you doing so, but remember that these are decisions that must be made jointly. Your future spouse will surely have something to say about this as well.

The way I see it is this, and this is true, I have to think...

In the Latin Church, you have age gaps between the times you can receive the sacraments. It's not done all at once like in the Eastern traditions. However, even though infants do receive all sacraments except confession in the Byzantine Church. If you try bringing that infant into a Latin Church, he/she would be denied Communion until they were "of age" in that Rite. Interesting how that works, but there are reasons for that.

That's not necessarily true. Byzantine Catholic children who have received the mysteries can receive the Eucharist in a Roman parish, even if they are not at the "age of reason." I think it would be wise to speak to the local Latin priest and after that there should be no problem.

Now, how this works in all places may be different but I have seen my friends kids receive the Eucharist during a Roman mass. The priest asked if they had received communion, my friend said yes and they received.

This should not be the case. Eastern Catholic children who have been fully initiated into the Church should be permitted to receive Holy Communion at a Roman Catholic Mass.

FYI in my Lutheran parish the standard has been "all Baptized persons who believe that Jesus is present...." for the past two decades...no age stipulation.

This became the idealized practice of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) in 1997, although there are still some parishes which legalistically deny the Eucharist until the 2nd grade, 5th grade, or (rarely) Confirmation in early adolescence.

Kecharitomene,

The only "right" answer is to talk to your pastor.

That being said, while I'm sympathetic to what you're saying, this just isn't happening in the Latin Church anytime soon, and you have to live with a Church (or for that matter a parish!) as it is, not the way you want it to be. I doubt any Latin parish would give all the sacraments of initiation at once to an infant, and no Eastern parish ought to give these sacraments to non-parishoners.

I would also not recommend you move to an Eastern Church unless you really feel, after years of attendance, that this is really where you want to be (and not just the individual parish - but the whole ecclesial life).

Sorry to be a wet blanket.

Well, during the time between when I made First Communion and made my Confirmation, I never had problems in the Eastern Rite coming from a Roman background. In fact, you could go unconfirmed and still take full part in the Eastern Rite while still making your sacraments in the Latin Church in the order prescribed by that Rite. Just so long as you made First Communion and were Baptized in any Rite of the Catholic Church, this will entitle you to Communion in both Rites. In fact, I was surprised when I was called to be an altar boy in the Eastern Rite given this bit of history, since I wasn't even confirmed in either Rite of the Church...but I think having received that about three years later in the Latin Church, perhaps any sacraments could carry over, but if you attend an Eastern Rite Liturgy, they will certainly know whether you're a Latin convert, or a pure Eastern Catholic by which traditions you followed.

I echo the trending sentiment, here. I say pray over what matters most, for you. Right now, I wouldn't sweat the particulars, just yet. If you desire to remain Latin, pray these traditions be restored. If you desire to have a family, pray you'll be pointed in the right direction.

Ahh, searching through YouTube, I ran across the video that answers the question related to this thread, and he answers is almost spot-on... Presenting the link: