The Maltese church yesterday sent out one of its most vocal declarations yet on cohabiting couples and separated spouses living with new partners: reminding them they were not eligible for Holy Communion.The statement comes in the wake of recent declarations from both members of the clergy, and politicians, signalling a consensus over the need to regulate cohabitation as well as remarriage after separation, or divorce.
In a joint statement, the bishops of Malta and Gozo said couples who lived together without being married “should not receive Holy Communion” but instead “accept the Eucharist in their heart” as an alternative.
The bishops added that such couples “did not reflect the disposition one should have to receive the Eucharist. It’s the Church’s teaching that when one receives the Eucharist, they are in complete union with God and the Church.”
The bishops also said that many spouses are who separated “paid a high price in not entering a relationship with another person outside their marriage” so as to be able to partake in the holy sacraments of confession and communion.
They said they were extending an invitation to unmarried partners to “take the road to conversion”.
The bishops said the Church loved such couples in the same way as it loved all its members and would continue to offer them spiritual help.
The statement is expected to create a divided opinion amongst many Maltese Catholics, who are also separated and live with unmarried or separated partners, but who are still devotees, and attend mass on Sunday and participate in holy sacraments.
A MaltaToday survey had found that around 25% of the population had one family member whose marriage had broken down.
Couples wedded by the Catholic Church and whose marriage breaks down cannot remarry, unless they obtain an annulment from the Vatican: an arduous process which is only conceded on specific grounds.
Those who get married in a civil ceremony are more likely to obtain a court-mandated annulment.
For those who can afford a domicile abroad, a foreign divorce will be recognised in Malta.
But for the majority who are unable to afford the proceedings of a foreign divorce, the only option available is to set up a new home with another partner, even though they are separated from their spouse – still married, in the eyes of the Catholic Church.
The Maltese church is aware that legislators are now moving closer to regulate cohabitation for unmarried couples.
Last week, addressing a conference on marriage by the Church group Progett Impenn, Gozo bishop Mario Grech said among the symptoms of the “moral relativism… rapidly invading society” were cohabitation, separation and ultimately divorce.
But some clergymen, most notably the philosopher Fr Peter Serracino Inglott, have taken a different viewpoint: that government’s decision to legislate for divorce must be dictated purely by social considerations like the increase in the number of children born out of wedlock and cohabitations.
“In this sense, practising Catholic believers can perfectly agree with divorce.”
Yesterday, Nationalist MP Edwin Vassallo – who chairs the parliamentary Social Affairs Committee – echoed this sentiment when asked for a reaction to the bishops’ statement.
“Regulating the legal position of cohabiting couples, does not mean that legislators morally approve cohabitation,” Vassallo said, who is leading a consultation process to draw a report on cohabitation.
A law is being planned to be in place by the end of the year. Proposals include a register that would allow couples to enter a legal union, which would then make them eligible for some benefits so far reserved to married couples.
Vassallo said the bishops’ statement had not surprised him, insofar as this was part of the church’s teaching.
“It doesn’t place any pressure on our work… We are collecting information from everyone, and we are looking at it with an open mind to get a good picture of the situation… what annoys me is having such a complex matter getting the Xarabank treatment. It confuses people.”
Pledges for a law governing cohabitation have featured in the Nationalist Party’s electoral programmes since 1998.
SIC: MT