wfn.org | Episcopalians: Church leaders express disappointment with papal encyclical on Eu

[dmack@episcopalchurch.org]

April 30, 2003

2003-089

Episcopalians: Church leaders express disappointment with papal 
encyclical on Eu

by James Solheim

(ENS) Church leaders and ecumenists around the world are 
expressing various degrees of dismay and disappointment over an 
April 17 papal encyclical Ecclesia de Eucharistia (The Church of 
the Eucharist) that offers no hope of sharing the sacrament with 
other Christians in the near future.

Saying that he hoped to rekindle the "amazement" of Roman 
Catholics with the "real presence" of Christ in the consecrated 
bread and wine, Pope John Paul II made it clear that members of 
other churches were not welcome to communion in the Roman 
Catholic Church, nor were Roman Catholics free to take communion 
outside their own church, except in highly unusual situations. 

The encyclical, an authoritative explanation or teaching on 
important church doctrine, also reminded church members that 
divorced Roman Catholics who remarry may not receive communion. 
In the encyclical the pope did, however, restate a "burning 
desire" to join other Christians in celebrating the Eucharist, 
and paid tribute to "significant progress and convergence" in 
ecumenism.

Still, the Rev. Ishmael Noko, general secretary of the Lutheran 
World Federation (LWF), in a statement issued in Geneva, 
regretted that "many years of ecumenical dialogue" had not 
resulted in a new stance by the Vatican on the issue of the 
Eucharist. Roman Catholics, "while respecting the religious 
convictions of these separated brethren, must refrain from 
receiving the communion distributed at their celebrations," 
according to the encyclical. 

Some leaders of the Lutheran federation hoped more progress 
would have been made on this issue after the LWF and the Roman 
Catholic Church signed, in 1999, a joint declaration on the 
doctrine of justification, one of the most divisive issues at 
the time of the Reformation.

Many Protestants see inter-communion as a means of fostering the 
ultimate unity of the church. Traditional Roman Catholic 
teaching, however, holds that the sharing of the Eucharist is 
something that is appropriate once Christian unity has been 
reestablished, a view affirmed by the pope.

Pain or joy?

"It is clear that for some the encyclical's reiteration of our 
still existing disunity will give pain. Some have hoped that as 
we have been able to articulate greater unity in our 
understanding of the apostolic faith it would be possible for 
greater openness in sharing of the Eucharist among the Christian 
communities," said Dr. Ann Riggs, director of the NCC's Faith 
and Order Commission, in a reflection on the NCC web 
site(http://www.ncccusa.org).

"For some it will give pain as the Pope reiterates here that for 
the Catholic Church Eucharistic openness, beyond the needs of 
specific individuals in particular cases of urgent need and 
under specific conditions, there are limits which cannot be 
transgressed and from which it is not possible to give 
dispensation," Riggs wrote.

She added, "In reading this Paschal message, in the ecumenical 
community we can choose to be discouraged by how long the path 
is before us. Or we can join with Pope John Paul as he 
reiterates his own reflections from Ut unum sint: 'And yet we do 
have a burning desire to join in celebrating the one Eucharist 
of the Lord, and this desire itself is already a common prayer 
of praise, a single supplication. Together we speak to the 
Father and increasingly we so with one heart.'"

"I must say I fail to see how Ecclesia de Eucharistia takes 
notice of the enormous progress made by the Anglican-Roman 
Catholic International Commission (ARCIC) or our Anglican-Roman 
Catholic dialogue here in the United States (ARC-USA)," said 
Bishop Christopher Epting, the Episcopal Church's deputy for 
ecumenical and interfaith relations. "That is particularly 
disappointing, given all the years of work by these bodies since 
the Second Vatican Council. "

More theological work

In London, Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams said, "I 
welcome the affirmation of the Eucharist as a place of God's 
presence and action and also welcome the Pope's reaffirmation of 
his 'burning desire' for common Eucharistic celebration. This is 
an area of work which continues to be important for relations 
between Anglicans and Roman Catholics and we continue to work 
theologically on this together."

A somewhat hopeful statement from the Anglican Communion Office 
(ACO) in London said that the pope "has chosen an appropriate 
moment to draw the attention of all Christians to the central 
place of the Eucharist in the life of the Christian faithful, 
and eloquently expressed afresh the Roman Catholic understanding 
of this Sacrament. He speaks of his personal experience of the 
celebration of this Sacrament as a way of introducing a 
theological exploration of its importance in the life of the 
Church, and of the boundaries of its proper celebration, which 
include a restatement of the existing limitations on Eucharistic 
sharing as defined by the Canon Law of the Roman Catholic 
Church."

The statement, signed by the Rev. Gregory Cameron, ACO director 
of Ecumenical Affairs, said that "we very much hope that this 
encyclical will be adopted for study by the instruments of 
dialogue set up mutually by the Anglican Communion and the Roman 
Catholic Church--namely, the Anglican Roman Catholic 
International Commission (ARCIC), and the International Anglican 
Roman Catholic Commission for Unity and

Mission (IARCCUM). From this study, we will hope to understand 
more fully the way in which the ecumenical commitment expressed 
in this encyclical, and by both our churches, may be carried 
forward to the point where a fuller eucharistic sharing may be 
initiated between Roman Catholics and Anglicans."

Tangible evidence needed

Prof. J. Robert Wright of the General Theological Seminary in 
New York, a veteran participant in the official dialogues with 
Roman Catholics for many years, said in an interview that he was 
"delighted to notice that the pope still has a burning desire 
for communion with the separated Christians in separated 
churches but I look forward to seeing tangible evidence of the 
additional leadership that he will give in seeking that goal."

Wright said that it was "significant that the pope has issued 
this particular encyclical at this point in the ecumenical 
movement when, in so many ways, the Roman Catholic ecumenical 
dialogue with other churches is not proceeding with much speed." 
He said that the encyclical might even "accelerate that dialogue 
among leaders of his church who are obliged to follow his lead, 
no matter what their personal feelings may be." He hopes that 
the pope's commitment would "translate into a fire among those 
who are leaders in Roman Catholic ecumenism in his name."

Yet Wright said that he fears that "the prohibitions in 
encyclical will simply reinforce the impression that this 
particular pope has nothing new to contribute to the momentum 
for church unity across the spectrum of the churchesIf anything 
it could dampen even the hopes of those in his own church who 
have worked so hard for this. Unfortunately in text the burning 
desire is dampened if not almost extinguished in the 
restrictions he places on that desire, with regard to his own 
church and other churches with regard to communion."

The Rev. Finlay Macdonald, moderator of the (Presbyterian) 
Church of Scotland, said that the pope "is simply reinforcing 
the traditional view that those who do not accept Catholic 
teaching should not receive the mass. In this sense he is not 
saying anything new."

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--James Solheim is director of Episcopal News Service.