Pro-LGBT priest is wrong: Holy Communion is only for the faithful in a state of grace
The Catholic Church's strict rules for the reception of Holy Communion are out of respect for the person of Christ, as well as the immortal soul of the recipient.
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Holy Communion Win McNamee/Getty Images
Michael
Haynes,
Snr.
Vatican
Correspondent
Thu Apr 17, 2025 - 9:30 am EDT
(LifeSiteNews) — In an op-ed published by a pro-LGBT group, a Chicago Catholic priest has argued against Catholic teaching on the reception of Holy Communion saying it is “not a reward for the righteous.”
Writing for Father James Martin’s LGBT group Outreach, a Catholic priest from the Archdiocese of Chicago urged, “LGBTQ Catholics, you are welcome at Holy Week liturgies.”
Urging LGBT individuals to attend and participate in the Sacred Triduum, Father Michael Trail outlined specific manners in which they could do so at each of the liturgies in Holy Week.
This included the advice to receive Holy Communion, which Trail described as being something for all to receive without qualifying the right disposition:
The Mass of the Lord’s Supper is an invitation to remember that God is not afraid of your story. The Eucharist is not a reward for the righteous – it is food for the journey, nourishment for the weary. You belong at the table. Not as a guest, but as family.
In recent years such arguments have become widespread, with many proposing that receiving Holy Communion not be seen as something reserved to a select few who qualify. This argument has notably been made regarding the admission of pro-abortion politicians to the Holy Eucharist.
Indeed, such themes have been used by Pope Francis on a number of occasions. “The Eucharist is not the reward of saints, but the Bread of sinners. This is why he [Christ] exhorts us: ‘Do not be afraid! Take and eat,’” Francis said in 2021 in remarks described as contradicting the Council of Trent.
He also described a “hypothesis” in a 2021 interview by which priests may give the Eucharist to pro-abortion politicians, suggesting that priests might be “close, tender, and give Communion.” At the same time Francis condemned clerics whom he said “go beyond the pastoral dimension” and “become a politician” by denying Communion to opponents of the Catholic faith.
A right for all or a treasure for some?
In contrast, the Catholic Church teaches that receiving the Eucharist is not some kind of inviolable right to which anyone can lay claim, but rather is something reserved for those members of the Church who do not knowingly have the stain of unabsolved mortal sin on their soul.
This is because the Holy Eucharist is not just bread or wine but – after the moment of consecration – the body, blood, soul, and divinity of Jesus Christ.
As such, strict rules for the reception of Holy Communion are out of respect for the person of Christ, as well as the immortal soul of the recipient.
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The very word “communion” denotes that the recipient is in fact in communion with Christ – a union which is impossible with the presence of mortal sin on one’s soul.
The conditions for a worthy reception of the Eucharist are two: being in a state of grace – meaning not approaching the altar conscious of having unforgiven mortal sins on one’s conscience – along with having made suitable preparation and keeping the stipulated time of fasting.
The Council of Trent makes clear that worthy preparation for reception of the Eucharist is vital, condemning the notion that faith alone is acceptable preparation:
If anyone says that faith alone is sufficient preparation for receiving the sacrament of the most Holy Eucharist: let him be anathema. And that so great a Sacrament may not be unworthily received, and therefore unto death and condemnation, this holy Council ordains and declares that sacramental confession must necessarily be made beforehand by those whose conscience is burdened by mortal sin, however contrite they may consider themselves. If anyone moreover teaches the contrary or preaches or obstinately asserts, or even publicly by disputation shall presume to defend the contrary, by that fact itself he is excommunicated. (Council of Trent, Session XIII, Canon 11; Denz. 893)
The Church thus teaches that it is “de fide” – i.e., of the faith – that a state of grace is required for the reception of Holy Communion.
Aware of the fallen nature of man and his tendency toward sin, Holy Mother Church does not stipulate that one be free from venial sins when receiving Holy Communion.
But it forbids receiving in a state of mortal sin. Canon 915 of the Church’s law notes: “Those who have been excommunicated or interdicted after the imposition or declaration of the penalty and others obstinately persevering in manifest grave sin are not to be admitted to holy communion.”
So also does the Council of Trent, drawing from St. Paul in doing so:
He that eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketh judgment to himself. Wherefore, he who would communicate, ought to recall to mind the precept of the Apostle; Let a man prove himself. Now ecclesiastical usage declares that necessary proof to be, that no one, conscious to himself of mortal sin, how contrite soever he may seem to himself, ought to approach to the sacred Eucharist without previous sacramental confession.
Commenting on the Church’s laws, Cardinal Raymond Burke explained that “the denial of Holy Communion is not an ecclesiastical penalty but the recognition of the objectively unworthy state of a person to approach to receive Holy Communion.”
Denial of Holy Communion “is plainly a judgement regarding the right disposition to receive Holy Communion. It’s not a penalty: it’s simply a recognition that one is not prepared to approach to receive Our Lord in Holy Communion,” he reiterated last year.
The Church’s great Tradition preciously guards the Holy Eucharist as a prized treasure, and such is evident also by the descriptive terms used for it, though the phrase “bread of sinners” is notably not part of this Tradition.
Many titles exist for the sacramental body and blood of Christ: the Eucharist, the Blessed Sacrament, the Most Holy Sacrament of the Altar, Holy Communion, the Real Presence, the Bread of Life, the Bread of Angels, the Bread of Heaven, and Living Bread. Perhaps coming closest to “bread of sinners” is St. Thomas Aquinas’ title “Bread of men,” (as written in the hymn Panis Angelicus). But St. Thomas does not suggest in any of his writings that public figures in an objective state of grave sin should be permitted to receive the Blessed Sacrament.
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