Posted on 12/15/2016 5:36:20 PM PST by marshmallow
A senior Catholic cardinal has said he hopes the next encyclical from Pope Francis allows "shared eucharistic communion in special cases".
At present only Catholics are allowed to take communion in Catholic churches and this presents difficulties for couples where one is Catholic and the other not. However, conservatives have fiercely resisted any relaxation of the rule because they see it as compromising the position that communion expresses unity with the Catholic Church, the only body to have preserved in its entirety the faith of the apostles.
However, in an interview with Italian newspaper Avvenire, senior ecumenical statesman Cardinal Walter Kasper, President Emeritus of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, expressed his desire for ecumenical "progress" on the issue in the wake of the Pope's visit to Lund in Sweden to commemorate the beginning of the Reformation. Kasper said the Lund visit had given a "new push" to ecumenical cooperation because of the face-to-face meetings between Francis and Lutheran leaders.
While he acknowledged there were theological problems about which there could "not yet be full agreement" regarding shared communion, he said he hoped a document prepared by US bishops could be used as a "non-official" solution.
(Excerpt) Read more at christiantoday.com ...
If the non-Catholic spouses believe in Catholic doctrine and Catholic sacraments, the door of welcome is open wide indeed: they are whole-heartedly invited to become Catholics.
Wasn’t a difficulty for my Catholic father and Presbyterian mother.
If she wanted to participate in a communion service, she went to her church and did so.
NO!
Let the non-Catholic spouse go through the RCIA program and become a Catholic.
Otherwise, the answer is “NO.”
I went through RCIA and married my wife. 23 years this month.
Congratulations!
“Let the non-Catholic spouse go through the RCIA program and become a Catholic.”
==
Not Catholic, but I agree.
Has the Catholic Church given up on absolutes now? That old comeback, “Is the Pope Catholic?” doesn’t say what it used to say, I think.
The non-Catholic spouses would sure be as welcome as the flowers in May in my RCIA class!
Why?
My husband is not a member of my church. He attends and is active and helpful but is not a baptized member.
He would not take communion if it was offered to him because he understands that some things you don't take lightly.
Why would you want your spouse to take lightly things that are deadly serious?
In the rare occasions where I have been in a catholic church, I don’t take communion there because I am not a catholic.
Nobody would know I wasn’t.
It’s a matter of respect for the church, and their believers.
Good thing Peter didn't have Cornelius go through all of that to follow Christ...or anyone else in the NT for that matter.
“At present only Catholics are allowed to take communion in Catholic churches and this presents difficulties for couples where one is Catholic and the other not.”
Grow up. Problem solved.
I see you are still using electricity, in contravention of Scripture!
Before you answer that, remember that people who desire black and white answers are mentally ill.
You've posted dumb stuff before but this is one of your dumber ones.
Thank you.
I see what you did there.
Scripture nowhere tells us we can use electricity.
You appeal to the same principle frequently—If it isn’t in Scripture, it’s illegitimate.
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