Communion, why do only half of church-goers in Poland take it?

Ireland32 is absolutely right. The Lord Jesus instituted the holy Eucharist on Covenant Thursday and according to the RC church teaching you can only partake in the holy communion if you're in the state of grace in the eyes of God ( You are without a Cardinal Sin or sin depends on an individual) and you can only partake in it once a day. Since your body is a vessel which receives the body of Christ (God himself) it's up to an individual to judge for himself if he/she is worthy to receive Him. For some the criteria will be very strict while others will have more relaxed view of whether one is worthy or not. For some a lie will be a sin while others might dismiss it. It's an individual choice. As a RC you are required to partake in this sacrament on certain occasions only because the requirement of confession have been met and one is truly in the state of grace, otherwise it's up to the individual to judge the worthiness to receive this sacrament for himself. One is required to partake in this sacrament at the time of your First Holy Communion, immediately after the sacrament of baptism if you received this sacrament when you are older initiate to the faith, at the time of receiving the sacrament of marriage or if you take the religious route and become a priest at your ordination, after you have repented and confessed your sins and of course for the rest of us at least once a year because you are required to attend mass at least once a year. As you can see it's an individual choice not an requirement to participate at every single mass and in my opinion people are exercising better judgement despite what people of other faiths might think. But of course since the Eucharist is viewed as a spiritual nourishment of one's soul and a sign of reaffirming your faith, as a RC the more you partake in communion with God, the better.

i hardly go to church, (only weddings, funerals, baptisms, etc) and i dont go up for communion when i do go for the aforementioned.

In America they look at you like you're from another planet if you don't go to communion, in Poland they look at you like you're from another planet if you do go.

It's not cool in your 20's.. but wait until they hit the 30's , 40's.. then the thoughts come of their own mortality. The church has a hold on them you will see. The British will never really comprehend this. No offence. It's very psychological and not necessarily without merit. The Poles have endured quite a bit you see.

Oh, there could be lots of reasons. One reason is they haven't confessed. They might have sinned and feel unworthy to take it that particular mass. Maybe they haven't been confirmed.

Poles are probably observing the strict Catholic doctrine. If you missed mass the prior week you can't have the Communion, etc. Lots of restrictions with Communion.

Confession on Saturday is generally what happens...less chance of being with sin on a Sunday that way.

Just a qucki Seanus, why does it bother you so much? it doesnt make someone a bad Catholic just because they dont receive communion every Sunday, I have a friend who whilst he goes to church every Sunday, he doesnt feel comfortable going to his priest here (he does when he back in Poland) for confession, so he does not take communion whilst he is in the UK.


That has nothing to do with it, we take our first holy communion before we are confirmed:

First Confession.
First Holy Communion.
Confirmation.


Hmmm...we used to be a big church going nation, also if you remember we WERE a Roman Catholic country, I went to a Roman Catholic school...we understand a little bit more than you give us credit for sweety.

But those are now few in Europe. Catholicism is dying.


Many do many dont, The mormons for example, take it every sunday unless they have sinned badly during the week. Same with evangelists.


Yeah, that's why we see in this forum, the lovely way that you communicate with others, from different opinions or different races. We see the love that you spread.

haha Hipocrite.

Good, cos it's sick.

Fine even praying in a different language is forbidden

"Help my thy lord to not see any of theese comments no more in the future"
I am not good at praying in English that's why!
Really..
Could atleast not deleted really!

Shelley, it doesn't bother me as they can do as they wish. I'm a liberal guy. I just feel that the symbolic importance of the ceremony almost demands participation. Ah well, live and let live.