Vatican theologian calls German
intercommunion plan 'unwise and defective'
by Maike Hickson
May 26, 2018
A German theologian and member of the Vatican’s International Theological Commission strongly criticized in a recent interview the German intercommunion handout February 20 by a majority of the German bishops. He calls this handout “unlawful,” “unwise,” and “defective.”
On 25 May, domradio.de, the radio station of the Diocese of Cologne, published an interview with Professor Karl-Heinz Menke who is a Catholic priest and a retired professor of dogmatic theology at the University of Bonn, Germany. Menke is also, since 2014, a member of the Vatican’s International Theological Commission.
In this new interview, he shows little understanding or approval for the recent decision of the German bishops to admit Protestant spouses of Catholics, under certain conditions, to Holy Communion. The bishops “should have spared the German Church this polarizing strife,” he says. To wish to regulate more than what has been already regulated and permitted for certain “emergency situations,” is, in Menke’s eyes, “unwise.”
Moreover, Menke also reveals that he has read this German intercommunion handout – which has still not been published, due to the resistance of seven German bishops in this matter – and he adds: “If I had to grade this paper theologically, I would assess it as insufficient [“
mangelhaft” – grade 5 in Germany, a failing grade, which would be equivalent in the U.S. to a Grade of “F”].”
In the eyes of this Vatican theologian, it lacks
“a fundamental reflection concerning the difference between the sacramental understanding of the Church among Catholics and the non-sacramental understanding of church among Protestants...no clear description of the difference between the [Protestant] last supper […] and the [Catholic] Eucharist".
Menke explains that the Protestants see in the last supper an “illustration of the event of justification ‘by grace alone,’” while the Catholic understanding of the Eucharist is bound to a “confessional community with the local bishop and the pope.”
Additionally, the German theologian sees “a lack of a reflection” on the problem that
Catholics spouses of such a mixed marriage are also still themselves prohibited from receiving the last supper of the Protestants – “not to mention the consequences for the children of such mixed marriages and their bond with the Church.”
As others have done before him in this debate, Menke stresses that “he who received the Sacrament of the Holy Eucharist identifies publicly with that community in which he goes to Communion.” This applies also to Protestant spouses, he says, adding that “it is not necessary to explain more than that.”
Professor Menke fears that these new German intercommunion rules are confusing to the simple faithful
who are not sufficiently formed in theology in order to differentiate between the invitation of a Protestant spouse of such a mixed marriage to the Sacrament of the Eucharist and the invitation of the Catholic spouse of a mixed marriage to the Protestant last supper.”
Moreover, Menke even calls this German handout effectively “unlawful” and predicts that, “if the unlawful majority vote of the German bishops’ conference implements itself in actual practice,” in a few years people would not make the distinction between “the invitation of a Protestant spouse to Communion and the general invitation of people of other confessions” to Communion.
Finally, Menke expresses his own disapproval of the German bishops for their acceptance of that particular intercommunion handout:
It has deeply irritated me that, except for the archbishop of Cologne [Rainer Woelki] and some Bavarian bishops, the majority of the German episcopacy rubber-stamped a paper of such defective theological quality; and that it wanted to decide, with the help of a majority, about a question which belongs to the level of the Universal Church and which cannot, even there, be decided upon with the help of a majority vote.
Professor Menke is one of thirty members of the Vatican’s International Theological Commission. According to the Vatican website, the mission of this group “is that of helping the Holy See and primarily the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith in examining doctrinal questions of major importance.”
The members of this Commission are “theologians from diverse schools and nations, noted for their knowledge and faithfulness to the Magisterium of the Church.” Another member of this Vatican Commission is Father Thomas Weinandy, who has lately expressed some very articulate and faithful objections to the way Pope Francis rules the Catholic Church.
We may also note that, in 2017, Karl-Heinz Menke received the Joseph-Ratzinger-Prize which is called the “Nobel Prize for Theology.” He has been lauded as “an excellent specialist” of the thought of Joseph Ratzinger.
Ottawa's Archbishop Terrence Prendergast, a new and hardly-remarked- upon profile in courage in what's left of the Church hierarchy uncowed by Bergoglio and brave enough to speak out (very few, obviously)...
Canadian archbishop says
German intercommunion plan
is ‘against Catholic teaching’
by Lianne Lawrence
OTTAWA, May 23, 2018 (LifeSiteNews) —
Catholic teaching on intercommunion can’t change whether or not German bishops reach a consensus to allow it, says Archbishop Terrence Prendergast of Ottawa.
“This kind of open communion is against Catholic teaching and from what I can see in non-Catholic congregations that follow a discipline of ‘open communion,’ it is also spiritually and pastorally unfruitful,” the
Jesuit archbishop told the Catholic Register’s Deborah Gyapong in an interview.
“It is puzzling to learn that the Holy Father told the bishops that whatever they determine is acceptable as long as they all agree,” he said.
“Even more important is the challenge to remain faithful to Catholic doctrine and not to propose practices that undermine the faith, and the need to foster loyalty and communion with the universal Church.”
Three-quarters of the German bishops voted in February on a proposal to allow non-Catholic spouses to receive Holy Communion under certain circumstances, but a minority disagreed.
When a delegation of German bishops both for and against the proposal went to Rome May 3 for direction, the prefect for the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith relayed the message from Pope Francis that they return home and seek “unanimous” agreement, if possible, on the question.
In response, Cardinal Willem Eijk, Archbishop of Utrecht and head of the Catholic Church in the Netherlands, asked the pope to clarify the matter an open letter May 5.
Eijk’s letter explained both the Catechism of the Catholic Church and Canon Law do not permit intercommunion with Protestants.
In the English-version of his letter published by the National Catholic Register,
Eijk wrote he found the pontiff’s response to the German bishops “utterly incomprehensible,” and warned the pope could be setting the Catholic Church on a “drift to apostasy.”
Prendergast told the Catholic Register the intercommunion debate hits the limit of what the Church can propose in varying pastoral practices.
“Pope Francis is right when he says that not every theological debate needs to be settled by authoritative interventions of the papal magisterium,” Prendergast said.
“And Cardinal Eijk is right when he says that the question of intercommunion is a doctrinal matter that cannot be settled by an isolated decision of a national conference of bishops.”
The question of intercommunion with Protestants “is, in fact, a classical situation of discerning between things that are changeable — or possible — and others that are not,” the archbishop observed.
“It seems clear by now that many bishops and Catholics in the world consider ill-advised and doctrinally impossible what a number of bishops in Germany have proposed,” he said.
The German bishops’ majority voted that a Protestant spouse be granted permission to receive Holy Communion if, after a “serious examination” of conscience with a priest or another person with pastoral responsibilities, he or she could “affirm the faith of the Catholic Church,” wished to end “serious spiritual distress,” and had a “longing to satisfy a hunger for the Eucharist.”
At the time, Cardinal Reinhard Marx, president of the German bishops’ conference, made clear the proposal did not require the Protestant spouse to convert to Catholicism.
“Receiving the Eucharist is intrinsically linked to the faith, my personal faith and the faith of the community to which I belong,” Prendergast pointed out.
“What the majority of bishops in Germany proposes means that a person who does not belong to the Catholic Church routinely, perhaps every Sunday, receives the Eucharist in the Catholic Church.”
Prendergast noted the “church is a close-knit network,” and people in his archdiocese are asking about the intercommunion debate.
It’s a chance for Canadian Catholics to look at their own practices regarding Communion, he said.
Catholics in Canada “generally know that receiving communion requires belonging to the Church, among other things,” he said. “This discipline is well-known and widely appreciated in our parishes.”
But there is a need to teach Catholics about the benefits of going to Mass without receiving Communion and what it is “to be properly disposed and in the state of grace,” Prendergast told the Catholic Register.
Catholics often come to church after years of not attending receive communion “as a matter of course,” he said.
“Formalism and cultural routine alone will not cut it… Receiving communion has to make a difference in our lives, and be meaningful. Otherwise we are deceiving ourselves, and as pastors we are deceiving others,” the archbishop pointed out.
“In Holy Communion we receive the Lord, and so, to receiving worthily, we need to be fully open to Him and connected to His Church, visibly and invisibly, institutionally and internally. That and nothing less is Catholic teaching.”
[Modificato da TERESA BENEDETTA 01/06/2018 07:11]