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An example
of the empathy of Benedict XVI
PRAISED BE JESUS
CHRIST!
(Now and Forever)
On my recent retreat with the bishops of Episcopal Region VII (Illinois,
Indiana, Wisconsin), table talk one day gravitated to Pope Benedict XVI
and the sessions we, as bishops, have experienced with him on our ad
limina visits when he was Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger. The ad
limina (“to the threshold of the Apostles Peter and Paul”) is
required every five years. The bishops of the United States go to Rome
by regions. There are 14 regions in all. I have been privileged to make
four such official trips, each time meeting with Cardinal Ratzinger, who
at the time was prefect of the Sacred Congregation for the Doctrine of
the Faith.
Numerous incidents shared at retreat underscored consensus that visits
to the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith surpassed those made
to all other Roman dicasteries (departments). The cardinal on all
occasions was personable, an excellent listener, quick to capture the
points being made, humble and insightful. He invited dialogue. He came
across as a faith-filled compassionate man.
That compassion has been manifested with even more brilliance since
Cardinal Ratzinger became Benedict XVI. One example of that is to be
found in a two-hour meeting the Holy Father had with priests, religious
and deacons while he was “vacationing” in northern Italy last July. His
basic topic was the vocation of the ordained during a time in history
when many people have concluded they don’t need the Church.
After his talk, the Holy Father responded to questions, one of which was
from a priest who raised the topic of giving holy Communion to those who
have divorced and remarried.
More than once I have read that perhaps as many as 50 percent of those
who cohabit today do so without benefit of marriage and that among those
who do marry upwards of 50 percent experience a failed marriage. Because
those who cohabit without marriage live a lifestyle inconsistent with
the teachings of the Church on chastity, they are not eligible to
receive holy Communion. Likewise, those who remarry after a civil
divorce also embrace a lifestyle inconsistent with the Church’s
teaching, specifically on the indissolubility of marriage.
The Holy Father acknowledged that many divorced and civilly remarried
Catholics suffer because they are not free to receive holy Communion.
His words: “We all know that this is a particularly painful problem for
people who live in situations in which they are excluded from
Eucharistic Communion and naturally for the priests who desire to help
these people love the Church and love Christ.” He added, “None of us has
a ready-made formula, because situations are always different.”
The pope then made special note of people, who at the time they were
married in the Church, were not truly believers. Then, the marriage
failed. As often as not, such folks remarry and then, perhaps through
the example and dedication of the second spouse, experience genuine
conversion. Yet, they are excluded from holy Communion. The Holy Father
acknowledged that this is an ongoing source of pain not only for the
persons involved, but to the faith community as well.
Benedict XVI revealed that he himself has struggled with this issue and
thought studies should be focused on whether a Church marriage might be
invalid because the couples celebrating the sacrament lacked faith. Of
course he did what any priest must do to be faithful to the teachings of
the Church. He said that divorced and civilly remarried Catholics are
not to receive holy Communion. But, he added what many people never
hear. Such folks, he said, are part of the Church and loved by Christ.
Their suffering out of love of God and in fidelity to the teachings of
the Church is “a noble suffering.”
The pope made it clear that for divorced and civilly remarried
Catholics, participation at Mass must not include holy Communion. But,
note how it was said. His words: “Even if these people cannot go to
sacramental Communion, they are not excluded from the love of the Church
or from the love of Christ. A Eucharist without immediate sacramental
Communion is not of course complete; it lacks an essential dimension.
Nonetheless it is also true that taking part in the Eucharist without
Eucharistic Communion is not the same as nothing; it still means being
involved in the mystery of the cross and resurrection of Christ … and
since it is the sacrament of Christ’s passion, the suffering Christ
embraces these people in a special way and communicates with them in a
different way so that they may feel embraced by the crucified Lord who
fell to the ground and died and suffered with them and for them.”
During the early years of my priesthood, I became aware of a man who was
a divorced Catholic civilly remarried. He accepted the discipline of the
Church which held him ineligible to receive holy Communion. Yet, he was
present for Mass daily.
I often asked myself if I would be faithful to Mass even on Sundays if I
were in his shoes, much less every day of the week. I marveled that he
was there, rain or shine, day after day, even though he did not consider
himself free (rightly) to take Communion. Faced with those
circumstances, I am confident I would not have committed myself to daily
Mass. The difference, as I now see it, was the depth of the man’s faith
and the shallowness of my own.
It was easy for me to be faithful. It could not have been easy for him.
Yet, his suffering united him with the crucified Christ who communicated
with him in a different, but, I am sure, loving way. What had I done to
unite myself with the same crucified Christ? Very little.
He did not consider himself “free” to receive holy Communion. It would
have been, according to his conscience, a mortal sin, a sacrilege
(misuse of a sacrament). Yet, in spite of the sinful situation in which
he found himself, he was, in my estimation, a far better man than me. He
found a cross in his life. He did not reject it. He did not pick up his
bags and walk away. The good of the community and the integrity of the
sacraments were respected. Whether he would have articulated it or not,
he lived the formula spelled out by Christ who taught that those who
lose themselves find themselves; those who spare themselves are lost (Mk
8:35; Lk 9:24; Jn 12:25; Matt 10:39).
All that came back into my consciousness as I read Benedict XVI’s
comments about those in anguish because their marital situation makes
them ineligible to receive holy Communion and who do not rationalize
that restriction away.
As the Holy Father told the priests, religious and deacons last July in
northern Italy, “Without suffering, nothing is transformed.” The lack of
suffering, he noted, can be a sign of a lack of faith, of true
commitment.
I would say the Holy Father has thought a great deal about those whose
cross is separation from holy Communion and that he has profound respect
for people in that situation who remain faithful to the discipline of
the Church. |
