SOME THOUGHTS ON THE DEBATE ABOUT READMITTING TO HOLY COMMUNION THOSE IN IRREGULAR MARRIAGES

The debate about whether those in so-called ‘irregular marriages’ should be readmitted to Holy Communion is a hot topic at present. People, including some of the cardinals, are weighing in on all sides and if we are not careful, it could become a singularly unedifying spectacle. We would do well to heed Paul’s warning about the dangers of forming factions (1 Corinthians 11.18) when we come to the Eucharist. My own close involvement with the discussion dates back to the early 1990s when I produced a report for the ‘Marriage and Family Life Committee’ of the Bishops’ Conference, before going on to complete my Ph.D. at Heythrop College on the whole question of pastoral care in this field. An edited version of the thesis – What binds marriage? Roman Catholic theology in practice – is still available from Bloomsbury. 

I am greatly encouraged that Pope Francis has invited the whole Church to prepare for and contribute to the synod in the autumn. Surely this requires that we listen to one another in charity and try to discern what the Lord wants? The fact that Cardinal Kasper was invited to address the College of Cardinals at the recent consistory is clearly significant because he has long advocated that we ask ourselves whether the present discipline is a true reflection of what the Gospel envisages. Proof-texting – the reinforcing of an already established position with scripture quotations – is one of the pitfalls that awaits anyone who enters into theological dialogue and it is for this reason that I sincerely hope that some eminent scripture scholars will play a significant role at the synod in October. 

When I was undertaking my research I met those who condemned the bishops of England and Wales for inviting me to undertake the work on the grounds that the scriptures and the Church’s unbroken tradition were unambiguous. Nothing could be further from the truth. It is true that Matthew (5.32 & 19.3-9), Mark (10.1-12), Luke (16.18) and Paul (1 Corinthians 7.10-16), all make it clear that Jesus clearly taught that divorce was not part of the Father’s plan. However, in Mark and chapter 19 of Matthew, the teaching is a response to the Pharisees’ challenge over the fact that Moses allowed divorce and so Jesus is offering guidance relating to all marriages of all time, not just what later came to be defined as Christian marriage or ‘marriage in the Lord’. It is worth noting this because much of the debate and some of the uncertainty comes from the so-called ‘exception clauses’. In both the references in Matthew the Greek word, porneia,is used, and there is no agreement as to what Matthew had in mind. All we do know is that it is an attempt by Matthew to interpret Jesus’ teaching for a particular group of people. Much clearer is the exception in Paul, which came to be known as the Pauline Privilege and was ultimately extended to embrace any marriage in which one of the partners was not a baptised Christian (the Petrine Privilege). Therefore, in practice the Church has and can find ways of dissolving any marriage bond, which is not a sacramentally consummated one ‘in the Lord’; in other words the majority of marriage bonds in human history.

Add to this the Church’s willingness to adopt Roman jurisprudence and annul even supposedly indissoluble sacramental bonds when there is deemed to be sufficient evidence to suggest that there was something defective in the consent of the couple and you have an added complication in trying to present to the wider world an uncompromising position on the consequences of marital breakdown.

The fact is that there are many Catholics who are dismayed and confused by the Church’s teaching and pastoral practice and in some cases they feel abandoned by the Church and therefore rejected by Christ. How does this square with the fact that throughout his public ministry Jesus sought out and dined with all the wrong people, especially those who had been rejected by the religious leaders of his day? The teaching Church has much to ponder at the forthcoming synod. I hope and pray that the Holy Spirit will enable us reverently to listen to one another and discern a way forward. 

Timothy J. Buckley is a Redemptorist and parish priest of Our Lady of the Annunciation (Bishop Eton) and St Mary’s, Woolton, Liverpool