I like it that way too. Let the children receive when they are ready. Not before, pushed through with a class, and no needless delay, to wait up for the class.

Sat May 2 by 11 am I was musing about this alternative,
and after the Mass mentioned it to a parish school teacher.

What code book has Agnus Dei translated as "get ready to start talking" ?

When I was in preschool I asked my mother "if I eat the white stuff will I live forever."
I had a strong desire for --- one might say, a devotion to --- Eucharist all through my "pre-old-enough" days (which persists even today, I might add).

I did not, and do not, understand the sense in forcing me to wait until a particular age when I was deemed ready. I was not too young to understand when I was in preschool, nor am I old enough to understand it now as an adult.

Canadash,

I take it as given that First Penance should precede First Holy Communion. That doesn't really change the other idea being advanced here, that a child should receive First Holy Communion when he is properly prepared, because that very expression implies preparation for First Penance.


Adam's observation, on the other hand, demonstrates that he has spent much time in the presence of convinced Anglicans, for this is precisely the argument Anglicans make.

CGZ: Oh, I have no problem with children making their First Communion earlier than "the norm" (which around here is 7 years of age). But I think it should not be before the child understands right from wrong and can somewhat articulate their sins in confession.

With regard to the Byzantine-rite Catholics, when do they make their First Confession? Is reception of the Eucharist tied with confession? I don't think this was emphasized enough for me, and I'm hoping I've done a better job with my own children's education in this regard.

Do Anglicans go to confession in the same way RCs do?

Adam's observation, on the other hand, demonstrates that he has spent much time in the presence of convinced Anglicans, for this is precisely the argument Anglicans make.

Maybe Adam knows some Orthodox or some Eastern Catholics too.

Byzantine-rite Catholics give infants their Baptism, Chrismation (Confirmation) and first Holy Communion on the same day

While it is true I have spent much time with Anglicans (convinced or otherwise), my feelings about First Communion go all the way back to the childhood experience I mentioned, and are informed in my adulthood by Eastern practice.

If communion has to wait till [some age] because I have to understand it, then I should have been able to receive it when I was 4 or 5. I understood better than most. If understanding is not required (as the Greeks say), then I should have been able to receive it along with Baptism as an infant.

There is no sensible theology --- other than the theology of rule-following and age-cohort-grading --- that required me to wait until I was in second grade.

Frankly, I think the Byzantine way is the best way. In the mean time, I think ridding the world of SECOND GRADE FIRST COMMUNION MASS would greatly imrpove the lives of every parent, child, and religious education teacher.

"According to their capacity" has to be the teaching or else every child with a learning disability would be precluded from having their First Communion, and that would be a travesty.