Sacred Heart of Jesus Catholic Church
Hot Springs Village, Arkansas
Those of you who have attended Masses of Resurrection for our parishioners who have passed into the hands of our loving and merciful Lord, know that I always welcome the congregants who are not of our Catholic faith. I then indicate to them that I will try to make them as comfortable thorughout the Mass with  our way of worship, especially our variuos changes in posture, including, of course, the time that we take the prayer posture of kneeling. At Communion time I usually speak after consuming the Body and Blood of Christ with a little statement that the Holy ucharist is our opportunity as Catholics not only to come into personal union with Jesus in his "Real Presence", but, also, our receiving the Eucharist speaks of our unity of belief that this is truly Jesus in the forms of bread and wine. I then address specifically our visitors of other faiths and invite them during this "Communion rite" to either stay in their pews and be in communion with the Lord in their own way, or, if it would be meaningful to the to come up in the procession, cross their arms and I invoke God's blessing on them individually. While some do come up and receive a blessing, most stay in their pews while the Catholics who wish to do so, come forward for Holy Communion. Over the years of my doing all this at funeral Masses, I have received compliments from people that are positive about taking the time to "especially welcome" people of other faith traditions into the worship congregation who have gathered for such a meaningful liturgy. I have also received some criticism about not including others in receiving Holy Communion our "Catholics Only" Communion Rite. Some have at least questioned "what I say" right before people come up to receive Communion or a blessing. While I'm always open to revising what I say (and welcome input from anyone on the best words to use at that time), I firmly believe in saying something, because if I don't it can be awkward and unfair to have people come up during Communion Time unaware that we do not offer "open Communion" to everyone who is there as Protestant churches often do. Among other things, it does remind us to pray that all Christians will be more united in their love for the Lord, in following his example and command of love, and of spreading his Good News of salvation to people who don't know and/or believe in him! Our gathering on such occasions and at least praying th Lord's Prayer together, and maybe aslo some common songs, celebrates the reality that we believe in the same Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, who is our Resurrection and our Life, who calls us to union with him now, and forever in the life to come!