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Hi, Rudy —
Thank you for your question:
Non-Catholic Christians that are
affiliated with Churches that have
retained Apostolic Succession, are
free to receive Holy Communion in
the Catholic Church if their Bishop
allows them to. Obviously, they
must be in a state of grace
These Churches are mostly Eastern
Orthodox, but there are some Western
Churches like the Polish National
Church and the Old Catholic Church
that have also retained Apostolic
Succession and have valid Sacraments.
There are no Protestant churches
that fall into this category. Every
single Protestant church has invalidated
Holy Orders and therefore no longer
has valid priests or bishops. Therefore,
they have no valid Eucharist; that
includes the Anglicans (some of whom
mistakenly think they have retained Apostolic Succession.) Therefore,
members of those churches may not
receive Communion in a Catholic Church.
As a rule, Catholics may not receive Communion
in a non-Catholic Church however, in the eventuality that
no Catholic Church is accessible
for an extended period of time, or
in the case of a grave circumstance
(near death), a Catholic may seek
Holy Communion in any Church which
has retained Apostolic Succession.
This doesn't mean that Church will
give them Communion, but from a Catholic
perspective, he is free to receive there.
Catholics may not receive communion
in a Protestant Church, under any
circumstances.
John
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