Communion and The Developmentally Disabled - History

History

The history of administering the sacraments to the mentally retarded is difficult to establish. Many forms of developmental disability were only identified comparatively recently, and cases of mental retardation may often have been mistaken for demonic possession or the particularly dramatic consequence of original sin. In these cases, the Eucharist may have been withheld simply by virtue of a misunderstanding of the nature of the condition.

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