Novus Ordo people don't wear coloured armbands or necessarily stand out from the crowd, so probably the priest would give them Holy Communion.
So of course they can. But I believe that they should know what they are receiving.
Do they think that the consecrated host is the Body of Our Lord Jesus Christ or do they believe it represents/symbolises it? Most would need catechesis before understanding just what they are receiving.
Besides, would a dyed-in-the-wool novus ordite want to attend the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass unless he was looking for the real thing and therefore converting from novus ordism to the Catholic Faith?
Thank you Nadir. Of course I believe that the communion is the actual blood and body of Christ, how could I not? I was taught about Holy Communion in 1963 and Novus Order or not, this is the real body and blood of our Lord; we are together on that. That is basic Catholicism catechism is it not?
In terms of your second point, I do seek communion with my brothers and sisters who are traditional catholics. In fact I found the SSPX Society website for Canada (we are under the "Province of Canada") and in fact we have a parish just about 10 miles away from me, so I am going to connect with the priest.
The SSPX priest in Calgary was lambasted by Bishop Henry who warned Novus Order Catholics not to attend (which is a good enough reason for me to go :) and the poor SSPX priest was taken off guard as he was trying to foster a good working relationship with the Bishop. Many SSPX people understand that while we do not agree with each other we have an obligation to be brothers and sisters in Jesus. Do we not?
Bruce Ferguson
I'd be interested to know if Nadir's impressions come from first-hand experience or statistics / internet postings.
If I believed only what I read online, I'd believe the NO to be a complete wasteland where anyone wishing to attend a TLM would be as good as having never attended any Mass at all, but my own experience says otherwise.
I was properly taught about the Real Presence in 1987. I taught First Communion to NO children as recently as 2005 (without any Trad background ... I just picked up the materials passed down to me and followed the lessons). Now, my own children are being taught First Communion preparation from the SSPX. I can say certainly that my NO students were expected to know
way more basic Catholicism than my own children are required to know.
Any NO parish of decent size in this area offers perpetual adoration. That's not exactly the practice of people who don't believe they're actually spending time with Our Lord.
BUT! That's not to say a NO person is likely to be prepared to receive Communion (Trad or otherwise), only that understanding the nature of the Sacrament isn't what I'd believe to be the biggest obstacle.
My concern for someone coming from the NO and wishing to receive Communion would be (1) have they been to Confession recently and (2) are they aware of the many things NO Catholicism ignores which are in fact mortal sins (marriage outside the Church, birth control, participation in non-Catholic services, etc, etc, etc).