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BELIEF & PRACTICE:
First Communion
May 16, 2003 Episode no. 638
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BOB ABERNETHY, anchor: This week, a belief and practice segment. May is the time of year when Catholic second-graders -- seven-year-olds -- make their first communion. In Catholic practice, receiving the Eucharist means children can now participate fully in the Mass. First Communion is a milestone in the life of a Catholic child.
Recently, at St. John Fisher Parish in Chicago, there were 84 first-time communicants. Elena Chermak, director of religious education, describes the service.
ELENA CHERMAK (Director of Religious Education, St. John Fisher Parish, Chicago): Years ago, when I received my first communion, we knew it was a sacred event. We learned it was a sacrament. A sacrament was an outward sign instituted by Christ to give grace.
At age seven children have reached the age of reason. They understand the idea that they are responsible for their actions.
hey are invited to come to church, to join everyone at the most significant part, which is actually receiving the Eucharist. And so they feel more grown up and they feel, now we can really see what it means to be Catholic and Christian.
Unidentified Girl: Help our families become one big family around this table with You and Jesus and the Holy Spirit.
Ms. CHERMAK: We allow them to taste the Host ahead of time -- it's flour and water.
The word "Eucharist" actually means "thanksgiving." Jesus had, at the end of his life, a meal with his friends.
Unidentified Priest: He broke the bread, and gave it to his friends, saying, "Take this, all of you, and eat it. This is my body, which will be given up for you." In the same way, he took a cup of wine. Again he gave thanks. He handed the cup to his disciples, saying, "Take this, all of you, and drink from it. This is the cup of my blood."
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Ms. CHERMAK: It's the prayer of the priest -- the prayer of the entire congregation. And the intervention of God that allows this flour and water, and this wine, to become the sacred meal: the body and blood of Jesus. Then they proclaim the mystery of our faith: "Christ has died, Christ is risen."
Congregation: Christ will come again.
Ms. CHERMAK: Children, 30 years ago or so, received by opening their mouths because they felt they were not worthy to touch the Host and that only the consecrated hands of the priest were deemed to distribute this Host, and that understanding has changed.
 Children receive the Eucharist in their hands today because they have a notion that they are feeding themselves. When they receive the Eucharist, we're saying, "You have one of the most powerful forces in the universe within you. So now, with this powerful food, go out and serve other people."
Will the children receive wine today? Yes, they will receive the wine. They should receive both forms, the body and blood of Jesus: bread and wine. To prepare them, we give them just a little sip of wine in their classrooms. We say, "Just take a little sip," so they aren't surprised with the taste of it.
Now they know that when they come to church that they sing, say the responses, they listen to the readings, and they go to communion. So we're teaching them to take a more active role in the Catholic Church.
The families are very excited about this day. They baptized their children seven or eight years ago and now they are so very proud to see that that little child they brought so long ago has grown up to be someone who can stand on their own and proudly sing and pray and proclaim that they are part of God's family now, too. On their own.
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Related Reading:
SIGNATURES OF GRACE: CATHOLIC WRITERS ON THE SACRAMENTS edited by Thomas Grady and Paula Huston
RESURRECTING GRACE: REMEMBERING CATHOLIC CHILDHOODS edited by Marilyn Sewell
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