A shared Eucharist

by Editor · June 8, 2005

When in late May Pope Benedict and Cardinal Walter Kasper spoke about the Eucharist, they outlined why they believed sharing Communion with other churches remains inappropriate.

In essence, they said, sharing the Eucharist with members of other denominations cannot be adopted as a default position because some churches regard the Eucharist as the symbolic sharing of the last meal, while the Catholic and Orthodox churches believe in the real presence of Christ in the Communion host and cup.

Cardinal Kasper put it elegantly when he tied our belief in the real presence to the “Amen” by which we consent to receive the sacrament.

According to Cardinal Kasper, who is the Vatican’s head of ecumenism, full unity of churches will ultimately find its expression in the shared Eucharist. Before then, however, routine intercommunion is not possible.

Some say such sharing might even undermine the prospects of unity as the visible separation in the Eucharist would be diminished, thereby reducing the urgency with which the churches might work towards it.

Either way, the Church holds that intercommunion is not possible unless a real union between those who receive the Body and Blood of Christ exists.

Catholics must ask themselves whether there is enough unity within their own Church. Most who receive the Eucharist agree that the host they consume is indeed the Body and Blood of Christ but not all do, and many more do not understand the “real presence”. Their consent to receiving Communion, signified by their “Amen”, is thereby compromised.

At the same time, many who yearn to receive the Body and Blood of Christ are barred from doing so. These include those who are divorced and remarried, and who have not secured an annulment of their previous marriage.

The imperfect solution for many such Catholics is to attend Mass in parishes were their circumstances are not known.

Rumour has it that the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, under the leadership of Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, now Pope Benedict, had been preparing a draft document which might offer a pastoral solution to this problem.

While even the rumour of such a document is a source of hope for those barred from receiving the Eucharist, and those who have a pastoral concern for such couples, many documents drafted in the Vatican never see the light of day.

Such a document would likely echo the approach taken by the then Cardinal Ratzinger in a 1994 letter to the world’s bishops.

In it, he stressed that the general admission to the Eucharist of divorced and remarried Catholics is impossible.

However, he acknowledged that there are times when such people could authorise themselves in conscience to present themselves for Communion.

“This would be the case, for example, when they had been abandoned completely unjustly, although they sincerely tried to save the previous marriage, or when they are convinced of the nullity of their previous marriage, although unable to demonstrate it in the external forum or when they have gone through a long period of reflection and penance, or also when for morally valid reasons they cannot satisfy the obligation to separate.”

While the Church reflects on why it is not possible for members of other churches to receive Catholic Communion, it should make known its pastoral concern for Catholics who are also barred from the Lord’s Table.