An American bishop says the current Church practice of denying Communion to divorced and civilly remarried Catholics is unacceptable. Bishop Thomas Tobin of Providence, Rhode Island, said the challenge for the Church is to maintain and proclaim Jesus’ teaching about the indissolubility of marriage, while providing spiritual care for those who fall short of the Read more
Cardinal George Pell says allowing Communion for Catholics who are divorced and remarried outside the Church is impossible. The cardinal said doing so would make pastoral practice incompatible with doctrine. The former Archbishop of Sydney wrote this in a foreword to a book titled “The Gospel of the Family” by Professor Stephan Kampowski and Fr Read more
A Belgian bishop has urged the synod on the family to have the courage to bring the Church’s moral teachings more in line with the lived experience of the laity. In a letter reported by The Tablet, Bishop Johan Bonny of Antwerp said there is a gap between the moral teachings of the Church and Read more
Five cardinals have joint-authored a book that finds current Church doctrine regarding divorced and remarried Catholics is the most merciful approach. “Remaining in the Truth of Christ: Marriage and Communion in the Catholic Church” has been written by Cardinals Gerhard Müller, Raymond Burke, Walter Brandmüller, Carlo Caffarra, and Velasio De Paolis. Four theologians and professors Read more
The Church should do more to welcome “unconventional couples”, instead of making them targets of “de facto discrimination”, a leading Italian bishop says. The secretary-general of the Italian bishops’ conference, Bishop Nunzio Galantino, said couples in “irregular matrimonial situations” are still Christians. Speaking at a national liturgical gathering in Italy on August 27, Bishop Galantino Read more
A Church of England parish has had its request to serve refreshments from the altar in its church knocked back. Worshippers at St Michael and All Angels Church in Uffington, Lincolnshire, wanted their oak altar to double up as a place to “serve refreshments”. But Mark Bishop, chancellor for Lincoln, and a judge of the Read more
Catholic dioceses in Nigeria have advised priests to skip the Sign of Peace at Mass as one of several measures against the spread of the deadly Ebola virus. West Africa is faces a worsening crisis from the disease. Nigerian priests in some dioceses have also been advised to refrain from giving Communion on the tongue, unless Read more
The prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith has again strongly defended the Church’s teaching on Communion for the divorced and remarried. In a book length interview published on July 29, Cardinal Gerhard Müller discussed “mercy” and its connection with justice. He also dwelt on the image of the Church as a Read more
A new working document for the upcoming synod on the family has hinted at initiatives to help divorced and remarried Catholics. The 85-page “Instrumentum Laboris” was released by the Vatican on June 26. It was drafted after consultation last year, when a questionnaire about family life was sent to bishops’ conferences. The working document stresses the truth of Church teaching, Read more
Jesuit theologian Professor Ladislas Orsy has proposed a way once promoted by Joseph Ratzinger for divorced and remarried Catholics to receive Communion. In 1972, Professor Ratzinger, later Pope Benedict XVI, put forward an argument based on “oikonomia” – good spiritual housekeeping – a part of Eastern Church tradition. He argued that Communion could be given Read more