Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton Parish, Simpsonville, SC
Visitors
Visitors are always welcome to worship with us. However, the Catholic Church does not offer open Holy Communion - the Sacraments of the Catholic Church are reserved exclusively for Catholics who are properly disposed to receive them. This is not a lack of Christian hospitality, but merely recognition of real divisions of faith and practice, which unfortunately separate rather than unite Christians in a real Communion of Truth and Life.
Catholic Faith is an expression of the Revealed Word of God communicated as the Deposit of Catholic Faith and Morals, while Holy Communion is the mysterious, yet real, true and substantial Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of our Lord Jesus Christ communicated sacramentally. Jesus is The Way, The Truth and The Life, and in Him Truth and Life are inseparably One. Therefore in His Mystical Body, the Church, Catholic Faith and Sacrament are morally inseparable.
Non-Catholics and those Catholics who should not receive Holy Communion (including those Catholics married outside the Church and those in need of the Sacrament of Confession) are asked to pray for a spiritual communion with the Lord Jesus and for the unity of His Church.