GERMAN BISHOPS SPEAK OUT ON COMMUNION FOR DIVORCED, REMARRIED Report argues the exclusion of divorced Catholics was no longer comprehensible to many priests Germanys Catholic bishops have published a report detailing their views on marriage and family; it suggests most bishops now believe sacraments should be available to divorced and remarried Catholics who do not have an annulment. This document contains reflections only and has no juridical power, said Matthias Kopp, spokesman for the Bonn-based bishops conference. He said the German bishops conference hopes to offer its own theological contribution in this area. While we can give no information about any follow-up, the majority of bishops agreed with the timing of its publication. In late December, the bishops published Theologically Responsible and Pastorally Appropriate Ways for Accompanying the Divorced and Remarried, on the bishops conference website. In a Dec. 30 Catholic News Service interview, he said the bishops had decided to delay issuing the report, prepared for the Oct. 5-19 extraordinary Synod of Bishops on the family, until the end of 2014. He said the bishops now would concentrate on preparing a formal submission to the worldwide synod assembly in October. The report, drafted by a working group and approved by the German bishops permanent council in June, appeared Dec. 22 alongside official translations of recent synod documents and German responses to an October 2013 Vatican questionnaire to dioceses worldwide. It said most of Germanys 66 bishops now favored allowing divorced Catholics living in new civil unions to undergo confession and receive Communion in particular justified instances. While a minority of bishops still believed such Catholics on principle, could not be admitted to the sacraments, the document added, all now agreed on the need to intensify pastoral care for them. READ THE FULL ARTICLE HERE: americamagazine.org/issue/german-bishops-speak-out-communion-divorced-remarried
Posted on: Mon, 05 Jan 2015 17:08:11 +0000
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