Irish primate: local bishops should not set policy on Communion for divorced/remarried
October 15, 2015
The Primate of All Ireland has rejected the idea that individual bishops or episcopal conferences could set their own standards for allowing divorced and remarried Catholics to receive Communion.
“I think if we are part of a universal teaching Church, then we do have a very clear vision for marriage and the family and I don’t think that should be subject to interpretation at the level of individual episcopal conferences,” Archbishop Eamon Martin of Armagh told the Irish Catholic. He added that it is “difficult to reconcile” the notion that divorced and remarried Catholics who receive the Eucharist with the permanent teaching of the Church on the indissolubility of marriage.
Archbishop Martin said that there should be ways to reach out to Catholics in irregular marriage, inviting them to participate in the life of the Church, with “a more welcoming and Christ-like pastoral approach,” without a change in Church teaching.
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