Methodists celebrate an
open communion table, meaning worshippers do not have to be Methodist to partake.
NCR publishes a variety of articles, but appeals to those Catholics and former Catholics who desire to bring change to the Roman church so that it aligns more with the Gospel message:
open Communion, women who are called to the priesthood or diaconate, acceptance of LGBT people, and each community choosing its pastor and electing bishops.
Adopting ideas from other liberal traditions--including an
open Communion table and women's ordination--Archbishop Spruit consecrated dozens of bishops from different lines of succession and presided over a period of unprecedented growth.
This, he says, was the spirit of John Bunyan and other early Baptists whose churches were committed to
open communion and open membership.
(75) In 2009 the Theology Committee of the House of Bishops of the Episcopal Church reaffirmed that "the canon with regard to baptism and communion is quite clear: 'No unbaptized person shall be eligible to receive Holy Communion.'" (76) The committee acknowledged that the concern for
open communion arises out of specific pastoral issues faced by clergy and that priests are not police who set up check points on the way to the altar.
Specific essay topics include the Holy-Spirit as a mischief-maker, queering holy communion, Bodhisattva Christianity and multiple religious belongings,
open communion and theater of the oppressed, pastoral care for transgender youth, queer hymns and hymn-writers, and same-sex marriage.
Presbyterians don't technically have an
open communion. Oh well, all baptized people in the city then.
He restated the Church's ban on women priests and warned that he would not tolerate disobedience by clerics on fundamental teachings, a direct reference to a group of some 300 Austrian priests, supported by laity, who in 2011 openly challenged Church teaching on clerical celibacy, women's ordination,
open communion, etc.
Call it what you will--open, generous or welcoming communion [The case for
open communion. May 2011.
The services of Word, Water (baptism) and Table (
open communion) will follow.
It led him to espouse passionately the principle of
open communion within churches and of political engagement on behalf of the oppressed.