What to Do When Your Child is Denied Communion

Here’s the story:  Christmas morning at Mass we were doing really good, not getting fussy that the church was a tiny bit crowded, not complaining about the hymns (which were good, so that was easy), even thinking about Jesus and stuff.  I received Communion.  As I was walking back to my seat, I sensed a disturbance in the force.  I glanced back, and there’s my kid, standing before the Blessed Sacrament, and she looks like she’s about to burst into tears.  Not in a way that would impress the hagiographers.

I figured out the cause: Cuteness had trumped height + reverence, and someone mistook her for a non-communing child in need of a blessing.  She stood politely through the blessing, but was waiting for Holy Communion, and it was not forthcoming.

And I wasn’t sure what to do.

Indeed, I was so surprised, and really too tired to think straight after having done Santa work the night before, that I felt sure that what I did do was totally wrong.

Over at CatholicMom.com today, I share the results of my inquiries to the experts after the fact, in my effort to find out how you’re supposed to handle these situations.  It turns out I did more or less the right thing, other than the “being surprised” part, because this happens way more often than I knew.  If you have a child who’s preparing for First Holy Communion this year, go take a look.

Artwork by Lubiesque (Own work) [CC BY-SA 3.0], via Wikimedia Commons