Terrafied Kestrel on Nostr: It seems to me that in the Catholic church, communion is power. Communion itself is ...

It seems to me that in the Catholic church, communion is power.

Communion itself is what's important, it is not a metaphor or reminder of what's important. It is the doing of the ritual itself that is important, that connects them to god.

And that fact is important, because you can then block people from doing the ritual, and therefore block them from being connected to god.

You can say "no, you did something we don't like, now you can't have this ritual."

And since "communion" really means "take part in community," you can separate people from their god AND their community. And you can prevent "outsiders" like me from participating—from being in your group.

I'm not a Catholic, or even remotely Christian. But Catholic communion is a very different feeling than when our old UCC pastor held communion and said "you need do nothing to come to this table, you are welcome here just by the fact that you choose to come. All are welcome, and none turned away."