Question
Our pastor will not bless children or those who are not Catholic during the Communion procession. He said it was theological. What does this mean?--Bugged in Braindenbourg
Answer
There is no provision for blessing people who are not able to receive Holy Communion in the Eucharistic liturgy- in fact, in a few short minutes they will be blessed during the closing rites of the Mass. This makes the blessing repetitious, a concept that was removed with the renewed liturgy of Paul VI. (The Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy removed all useless repetition from the liturgy, which included multiple "signing of the cross," blessings, etc.).
The communion procession is very specific, representing that sign of the pilgrim people being nourished for the journey of faith. To come up for something that will not be received, or to join in something that one will not be participating further shows division and the feeling of being unnourished. A blessing and the reception of Holy Communion are not the same and are of different importance. Reception of Holy Communion means full membership and communion with the Church. This is a reason why people from non-Catholic churches are not able to receive - they are not a member of the Catholic Church.
Another reason, of late, why it is not helpful to have children blessed is the protection of them. Many who were abused as children, now as parents, frown on the practice of having strangers or Communion Ministers touching their children without their permission at church. The appropriate place for blessing objects or people is after the Mass. Children should want to be blessed and not forced to be touched by any one.
On the Federation for Diocesan Liturgical Commission website (fdlc.org) there is a recent text of a talk by Abbot Cuthbert Johnson in his plenary address in Orlando, Florida, October 2004. His full address is available to members of FDLC:
A procession is a community action, you can't queue by yourself! By joining a procession we associate ourselves with others, we manifest and declare our adhesion and unity with others. Many civil demonstrations take the form of a procession. In a procession we demonstrate and bear witness to our Faith. In this context I should like to consider those who although not receiving Holy Communion join the communion procession and ask for a blessing. Liturgically, the communion procession is not just an orderly line up, in order to receive the Eucharist, it is a sign of the pilgrim people of God being nourished on their journey, just as the pilgrim People of Israel were nourished with the Manna from heaven. To join that procession and to come away without having received the Eucharist does not make sense other than to show publicly that the individual is not in full communion. Furthermore what is the significance and meaning of the "Blessing" and how does it relate to the Blessing that will follow in a few moments before the dismissal? Two blessings within five minutes.
One of the principles that the Council laid down for the renewal of rites was that they should be "unencumbered by useless repetitions". Now there are some who will give all kinds of reasons why it is a good custom, and to them I say I accept that there can be desirable pastoral need to integrate the non-communicants, but let us study the issue liturgically and theologically in order to arrive at a correct enhancement of pastoral practice. Is it not rather a strange thing to join the procession of the pilgrim people who are about to be fed and then come away unnourished? So many similar attempts to make the liturgy meaningful fail because they are not liturgical and by this and similar accretions we are building up the material which will cause future generations to call for at least a simplification if not another liturgical reform.