The Polish bishops’ conference is preparing a pastoral statement to address apostates, the newspaper Gazeta Wyborcza reports.A spokesman for the episcopal conference, Father Jozef Kloch, said, “A declaration to leave the Church, if it is made freely and consciously, should be made to the pastor of the parish, to which the person belongs and in which he or she was baptized.”
Apostates-- those who formally break ties with the Church-- may not be buried in a Catholic cemetery, receive the sacraments, or act as official witnesses at Catholic weddings.
They may be married in the Catholic Church, but as non-Catholics.
Father Kloch explained, “It is necessary to emphasize that an apostate does not cease to be Christian.”
A public withdrawal from the Catholic Church can be rescinded, the bishops’ spokesman said, but in that case as well the individual is considered a non-Catholic Christian.
He said: “It is possible to withdraw an act of apostasy, but it would require an act of reception to the Catholic Church.”
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