ecumenical event ‘Not on intercommunion’ | Catholic National Register

Bishop Bätzing, bishop of Limburg, said he would celebrate mass in Frankfurt Cathedral on Saturday, the day when German Catholics and Protestants are invited to attend services in each other’s churches.

LIMBOURG, Germany – The head of the German Catholic bishops said a major ecumenical event on Saturday was “not about intercommunion”.

Bishop Georg Bätzing, president of the German Bishops’ Conference, insisted that religious services attended by both Catholics and Protestants on the evening of May 15 would be “ecumenically sensitive”.

He made the comments in a May 11 maintenance with the German Catholic News Agency KNA before the third Congress of the Ecumenical Church in Frankfurt from May 13 to 16.

The event sparked concern in the Vatican over concerns that Congress might promote a controversial proposal for a “Eucharistic meal in communion” between Catholics and Protestants.

Bishop Bätzing, bishop of Limburg, said he would celebrate mass in Frankfurt Cathedral on Saturday, the day when German Catholics and Protestants are invited to attend services in each other’s churches.

Bishop Bätzing said: “Just to confirm once again: the form of celebration proposed does not concern intercommunion in the sense of a general and reciprocal invitation to participate in the Eucharist and the Lord’s Supper, but to the question of know how we deal with the personal decisions of conscience of every Catholic or Protestant Christian.

“For me, I respect such a decision and give communion when someone asks to receive [the Body of Christ] who believes what we Catholics believe and wants to faithfully receive the Body of the Lord in the Real Presence of Jesus Christ.

He continued, “This is not about inviting non-Catholic Christians to fellowship in general, as there is still no full fellowship between the separate churches.”

“Catholic canon law also recognizes the possibility for non-Catholics to receive Holy Communion under certain conditions. There is no doubt, however, that we must continue the theological dialogue on the meaning of the Eucharist and the Last Supper and their significance for ecclesial communion.

CNA Deutsch, CNA’s German-language information partner, reported that Bishop Bätzing added that the controversial “synodal path” of the German Catholic Church would have an impact on ecumenical ties, although it is mainly an “internal reform of the Catholic Church in our country”.

Bishop Bätzing wrote a letter to the clergy of his diocese of Limburg in March, advising them not to give Holy Communion to non-Catholics unless they ask for it after examination of conscience.

In the four pages letter published in the light of the Congress of the Ecumenical Church, he told priests that there could be “no general and interfaith reception of the Eucharist” or “new forms of Eucharistic celebration”.

He wrote: “The prerequisite for a worthy reception of the Eucharistic gifts, for both Catholics and non-Catholics, is examination of conscience.

“As pastors, we respect the decision of conscience when a person receives Holy Communion after serious consideration and in accordance with the Catholic faith.

He published the letter in the midst of a debate on the proposed “Eucharistic meal in communion” between Catholics and Protestants in Germany.

The proposal was made by the Ecumenical Study Group of Protestant and Catholic Theologians (known by its German initials, ÖAK) in a 2019 document titled “Together at the Lord’s Table.

The ÖAK adopted the text under the co-presidency of Bishop Bätzing and the retired Lutheran bishop Martin Hein.

The study group, founded in 1946, is independent of both the German Catholic Bishops‘ Conference and the Evangelical Church of Germany (EKD), an organization representing 20 Protestant groups. But the ÖAK informs both organs of its deliberations.

The ÖAK document sounded the alarm in the Vatican, prompting an intervention by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF) in September 2020.

In four pages criticism and one letter to Bishop Bätzing, the doctrinal congregation pointed out that significant differences in the understanding of the Eucharist and of ministry remain between Protestants and Catholics.

“The doctrinal differences are still so important that they currently exclude a reciprocal participation in the Lord’s Supper and in the Eucharist,” he declared.

“The document cannot therefore serve as a guide for an individual conscience decision concerning the approach to the Eucharist. ”

The CDF warned against any step of intercommunion between Catholics and members of the EKD.

Following the Vatican’s intervention, Bishop Bätzing has repeatedly excluded general intercommunion, while affirming that he respects the “personal decision of conscience” of individual Protestants to receive Communion in Catholic churches.

The 60-year-old bishop Recount ACI Stampa, CNA’s Italian-language news partner, in a May 6 press release maintenance that the current debate was not about a general invitation to Protestants to receive Communion, but rather the Church’s approach to individual non-Catholic Christians who wish to receive the Eucharist.

He said: “It is not a question of generically extending the invitation to communion to all non-Catholic Christians.

He also noted that canon law allows non-Catholics to take Communion on certain occasions.

Canon 844, § 4, of the Code of Canon Law says: “If the danger of death is present or if, in the judgment of the diocesan bishop or of the conference of bishops, some other serious necessity requires it, Catholic ministers administer these same sacraments. lawfully also to other Christians who do not have full communion with the Catholic Church, who cannot turn to a minister of their own community and who seek him on their own, on condition that they manifest their faith Catholic with regard to these sacraments and that they are appropriately arranged.

Bishop Bätzing told ACI Stampa: “We must undoubtedly continue the theological dialogue on the importance of the Eucharist and the Lord’s Supper. And fortunately, there are already clear convergences in recent years.