Can I Receive Communion at a Non Catholic Service?

Sometime ago someone asked this question on our Catholic Mothers' Facebook page:

If you are going to a funeral in a Methodist church, what are the rules of a catholic person receiving communion and vice versa?


Here is a quick answer:

Canon law (The law of the Church) and the Catechism (which explains what the Church teaches and believes) are clear that as Catholics we are not allowed to take communion at Protestant services. The very name communion points to the fact that we share a common belief with those with whom we share the one bread. That is just not true in so many areas with for example Methodists: we have differing beliefs about the church, the Pope, the priesthood the Eucharist and areas of moral teaching too so to take communion is a symbolic act which wouldn't be true or coherent. Of course we can go to the funeral and pray for the living and the dead but not receive communion.