I’m posting this in a separate post because it is a horse of a different color.

The legislation that a Catholic must make his or her “Easter Duty” or go to confession and receive communion at least once a year during the Easter Season is due to the practice that developed (Primarily in the West) where people would put off confession and communion until they where on their deathbeds. The Church enforced legislation so people would not deprive themselves of the graces in both Sacraments.

I mentioned “Primarily in the West” because Eastern Catholics are not obliged by the same laws as Western, or Latin Rite Catholics. There was never an issue of denial of the Real Presence in the Blessed Sacrament, nor did people stay away from the Sacraments for great lengths of time in the East. The heretical teachings that rose in the East where different than those of the Protestant Reformation, therefore the Eastern Catholics, (and Orthodox) do not have the obligation to attend Mass (or the Divine Liturgy) on Sunday, nor the Easter Duty.

Pope St. Pius X encouraged frequent and even daily communion. He also relaxed Church legislation allowing younger children to receive communion. The age for first communion was older before his papacy.