A
German bishop is claiming that Communion for non-Catholics in mixed
marriages is a very real possibility that could happen soon.
Bishop Franz-Josef Bode of Osnabrück said in an interview with
Evangelical Press Service (Evangelischer Pressedienst, EPD) that it is
“not utopian” to think that there could be shared Communion between
Catholics and Protestants in 2017.
Within the framework of the
“ecumenical jubilee of the Reformation” of Martin Luther, who published
his 95 theses against the Church in 1517, Bishop Bode is an advocate of a
“solution on our side for marriages with partners from different
confessions.”
According to the EPD, many Protestants already receive
Communion in the Catholic Church with their partners. “We have to give a
basis to that which is already in practice,” Bode said.
“In the year of commemoration of the Reformation, it would
make sense to deal with how the Church of the future could look,”
continued Bode, envisioning a unified Catholic and Protestant Church.
“It would be too simplistic if both confessions see in ecumenism only
the way as the goal.”
For Bode, the understanding of Communion in Catholic teaching is changeable in order to reach common ground for intercommunion.
Holy Communion is a sacrament in the Catholic Church that
can only be received by Catholics in a state of grace. Catholics believe
that bread and wine are truly changed into the body and blood of
Christ. Whereas for Lutherans in Germany and elsewhere and in other
Protestant denominations, communion is merely a commemorative breaking
of the bread in order to recall Christ’s action.
Intercommunion for non-Catholics without acceptance of Catholic teaching on the real presence and transubstantiation (CCC, 1376) has been a goal for liberal bishops of Germany and elsewhere. The occasion of Pope Francis’ visit to Sweden last fall brought more attention to the issue.
Previously, Bishop Bode showed notable sympathy not only for homosexual couples but also for the admittance of “remarried” couples to Holy Communion. He proposed that
pastors not tell cohabiting couples that they are living in a state of
sin since, he claimed, it would not help them towards choosing to enter
the Sacrament of Marriage. And his calls for a “private blessing” of gay
unions also resounded during the Synod for the Family in which he participated.
Some Vatican insiders speculate that an announcement regarding intercommunion could come then.
In commemoration of the 500-year anniversary of the Protestant revolt known as the Reformation, the Pontifical Council for Christian Unity is promoting a document encouraging Catholics “to hear Luther’s challenge for the Church of today, recognizing him as a ‘witness to the gospel.’"