On August 8, 1910, Pope Pius X issued Quam Singulari Christus Amore ("How Special Christ's Love") to address the question of when children should first be admitted to Holy Communion.
Instead, the Holy Father decreed, the age for First Communion should be returned to the "age of discretion" (commonly called today the "age of reason"), which is "about the seventh year, more or less." And for the past century in the Western Church, that practice has prevailed—more or less.
Now, on the 100th anniversary of Quam Singulari, Antonio Cardinal Cañizares Llovera, the head of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Sacraments, has suggested that the age of First Communion should be lowered even further.
Cardinal Cañizares's argument, which was made in the Vatican newspaper L'Osservatore Romano, was summarized in English by Britain's leading Catholic newspaper, the Catholic Herald. Cardinal Cañizares follows the logic of Pope Pius, who argued that
children in their innocence were forced away from the embrace of Christ and deprived of the food of their interior life; and from this it also happened that in their youth, destitute of this strong help, surrounded by so many temptations, they lost their innocence and fell into vicious habits even before tasting of the Sacred Mysteries. . . . the loss of first innocence is always to be deplored and might have been avoided by reception of the Eucharist in more tender years.
If such dangers lay in wait for children in 1910, today, Cardinal Cañizares argues, "children live immersed in a thousand difficulties, surrounded by a difficult environment that does not encourage them to be what God wants them to be."
Cardinal Cañizares is not calling for a return to the ancient (and current Eastern) practice, but simply moving the age of First Communion up to the time when children have "the use of reason, which today seems to be even sooner" than when Pope Pius issued Quam Singulari.
Having spent two years in a Byzantine Catholic church, where children were chrismated (confirmed) and received Communion on the day of their baptism, I've long been a strong proponent of lowering the age of First Communion. In practice, it seems that Pope Pius is exactly right: The frequent reception of Holy Communion from a young age strengthens a child's faith and protects him from the evils of the modern world.
What do you think? Should the age of First Communion be lowered in the Western Church? Take our poll, and then leave a comment explaining why you do or do not think the age of First Communion should be changed.
My gut instinct is to favor lowering the age, but I don’t know about the procedure for giving Communion to very young children, so for that reason I polled uncertain. I once attended an Eastern rite Baptism, so I know how it was done there, but how is it done at normal Sunday Eucharistic liturgies in the Eastern rite?
Kirt, for the first few years of the child’s life, Communion is given only as a very small amount of the Precious Blood in Eastern Rite churches. Once the child reaches a certain age (and this may vary from rite to rite), he begins to receive the Body as well as the Blood.
Am I right to assume this is done with a tiny spoon? If so, I see no problem with the western rite adopting the eastern rite practice. Let the little children come to our Lord.
I think it wouldn’t be a bad idea to lower the age at which a child receives First Communion, but what age does the Cardinal suggest? Also, I don’t think it can be ignored that the child’s upbringing and understanding factor into the matter. If a child isn’t brought up in a home where the importance of the Sacraments is stressed, it is unlikely that he or she would value recieving Communion. And if a child is much younger than six, how much would he or she really understand the Sacrament at all? It would just be another thing they did at church on Sunday, rather than being able to receive the Body and Blood of Christ. Please understand that I don’t mean this as an attack, I just see these as details that deserve further consideration.
am not sure how we would give the communion to the children but i suppose they are young and innocent such that in their state if they receive Christ in the form of bread he is also able to recognise them even if the children can not reason or make the same prayers deeply after communion ,christ understands and that sacrament would do miracles inn them.i support they should receive even young
I wholeheartedly disagree with lowering the age for First Communion. Having taught second graders in Faith Formation classes preparing them for First Communion and Reconciliation, I have seen first hand that these children do not have a total concept of or respect for what the sacraments are all about. They see them more as a reason for a party than for how receiving the Body and Blood of Christ can help them in their daily lives. I’m not saying this is all the children but a good majority of them and I also know it comes from what they see and get at home. Also a lot of these children don’t attend Sunday Mass regularly. I know it’s not their fault, but lacking a respect for going to Mass regularly doesn’t help them understand the importance of receiving the Body and Blood of Christ.
I was born 10/27/30 while in Kdgn. in a Catholic School I received the Sacrament of Holy Eucharist in May of 1935 at the age of 4 years , 7 months.
I have always felt privileged to have enjoyed this experience. Thank you
In purely theological terms, the age of receiving Eucharist could certainly be relaxed so that any Baptized child could receive the Lord in the Sacrament. However, from a purely practical standpoint, REQUIRING that the child has better training and understanding prior to First Communion means that more parents will take their kids to be trained. First Communion is used as an incentive for parents to insure that their children are catechized. In a better world, this would not be an issue. In America it is.
I am the communion coordinator at my church. I would love to say that children receive communion as soon as they ready (which is how I feel about confirmation as well), rather than forcing them to wait for a certain age.
However, having spent quite a few years dealing with these parents in our family-centered program, I can see that many of these children would not be prepared in any way. So many of these parents do not believe in the Real Presence. They do not have any understanding or respect for Church teachings. As Joan said, it is all about having a party. If we could not reach them when they are JUST old enough to understand, we may not have another chance. I fear that respect for the Eucharist would suffer.
I received my first communion at the age of 6; I do remember staring the images at the altar and looking at everybody to follow them at whatever they were doing because I had no clue at what to do -and I attended catechism- today I know I was not ready for it. Now I’m a mom of two gorgeous kids that are attending their second year at catechism and I would love for them to understand the sacrament, obviously this based in my own experience.
Very many catholic parents today are highly irresponsible especially concerning the faith development of their children. Lowering the age for First Communion is certainly plausible at first sight, but looked at from the parental point of view (and that includes godparents as well) I think we should a re-think.
“The age of reason” is a critical criteria. someon should be able to search the mistakes, confess and repent. I vote for No
Don’t lower it! As a eucharistic minister, I see many 7-8-9 year old children receiving communion who — unfortunately — do not seem to understand or respect what they are receiving. Younger children, on the whole, would NOT have a better understanding.
Is this the fault of the training received before First Communion? A downfall of parental encouragement? Do these children simply receive because everyone else is doing it?
It is a no-brainier to lower First Holy Communion down to age zero. There is no legitimate reason to be out of sync with Catholic Tradition and the rest of the Catholic Church. That said, there is a far greater need for children to receive Confirmation before First Communion. It is a serious sacrilege for an un-Confirmed person to receive the Holy Eucharist!
Our Parish Priest says few of the children that receive first Holy Communion return the following Sunday to Mass. Will the practice of receiving Holy Communion earlier change this pattern? I doubt it.
My personal feeling is that the traditions surrounding First Confession, First Communion and Confirmation when I was a child had a major impact on my commitment to the Church. We made our First Confession in 2nd grade, First Communion in 3rd grade and were Confirmed in 4th grade. The traditions and ceremonies surrounding these steps in my religious education have stayed with me all my life. I don’t know how I feel about infants receiving “Communion”. I believe that the child has to be old enough to realize the significance.
I wonder though how well children under the age of 7 will truly understand confession. Receiving Holy Eucharist is such a privilege and one to be entered into with reverence. Then I think, young children are probably much more reverent than we know!
If Sr. Laura Longo was principal at Holy Family in Lakewood, a big hello from the Seidel family!
If the Western Rite is going to continue to reserve the Eucharist to those at or over the age of reason, seven is a good age. I’m not sure a child of five would understand transubstantiation.
However, there is a strong argument in favor of Eastern Rite and Orthodox practices of baptism, confirmation and communion. There is no expectation the baby understand what’s happening, but they are receiving God’s unmerited grace.
“However, there is a strong argument in favor of Eastern Rite and Orthodox practices of baptism, confirmation and communion. There is no expectation the baby understand what’s happening, but they are receiving God’s unmerited grace.”
I have been an eastern rite Catholic all my long life. We are returning to the old ways and at first it was strange but now I find it to be the right way. Baptism, confirmation, holy communion, and at an age of reasonable reason, confession.
PS, by the way, Lent, The Great Fast, starts on a Monday.
The heart of the Mass is the receiving of the Holy Eucharist. Children experience attending Holy Mass with parents whose intention is to instil in them the habit of devotion. Allowing them to receive Holy Communion completes this holy experience which they will take into adulthood as I believe the actual grace of the Holy Spirit will work on them.
Sixty years ago I received my first Communion. In our family it was considered a right of passage. I understood the process and believe all Catholic families discuss the Eucharist and the joy of receiving Communion. If a child is younger than seven, it is doubtful that it would be understood. The Church needs to stop changing the rules. I for one miss the Latin Mass of which I attended until age 14 when the church attempted to conform to Protestantism. I love my God, my Faith and the Catholic Church. I owe 50% of my good character to the way I was taught by my parents and the other
50% I proudly owe to the strong teachings of the
Catholic church.
I would not advise modifying anything that has proven to work so adequately.
no the age should not be lowered because i have seen even those below 14 years do not understand about our faith very well. we should stregthen the teaching of our faith
Am of the opinion that it should not be lowered. This is because at the age of seven, you see kids who receive but are not convinced of what they are receiving evident in their actions, before, during and after reception. Therefore, the role of parents and family upbringing has to be considered in the ongoning pastoral care of the child.
Since the current trend is to treat Communion like a mini wedding for the little girls may be it should be lowered.Then hopefully can dress like children and see it as a spiritual event rather then a money maker.The boys currentky look the same as usual both sexes are very concerned with how much money they made that day.