Communion services at Protestant church

Communion services at Protestant church
Question from Jennifer on 4/23/2008:

I was talking to my grown daughter and she told me that if she was to be at a service at another church, protestant, and they were giving out "communion" she would take it and anything else they had. I couldn't believe my ears. She has also stated in the past that the Eucharist is just a symbol. I have failed as a mother. I told her that if it is just bread at these other churches then why receive it. You can eat bread at home. Can you believe she teaches CCD.

Please let me know what I can tell her or where I can find some info on receiving the bread at a protestant church.

Thank God for EWTN and the great work y'all do.

God bless you, Jennifer
Answer by David Gregson on 5/13/2008:

Canon 844 §1 states, "Catholic ministers administer the sacraments licitly to Catholic members of the Christian faithful alone, who likewise receive them licitly from Catholic ministers alone..." But I suspect, if your daughter doesn't honor a doctrine as fundamental as the Real Presence, she's not likely to honor the Canons.

You might suggest to her that a teacher of CCD should be familiar with what the Church teaches, esp. in the Catechism of the Catholic Church, or more conveniently, the Compendium of the Catechism. Both are available either from our Religious Catalogue section or from any online book seller.

Perhaps if she got the whole picture of what the Church teaches on the Eucharist, she would be less inclined to dismiss one part of it. And then perhaps she would see the logic of not receiving an invalid substitute, as if she regarded it as the real thing.

If you fail to convince your daughter, you should speak to the director of religious education about ensuring the orthodoxy of CCD teachers. It's bad enough that your daughter is in error, but worse that she should pass her error on to multiple children.