Church Leaders Dismayed by Encyclical
Pope affirms traditional exclusion of Protestants;
ecumenical leaders "disappointed and discouraged"
by James Solheim for 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 might 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 website(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 bod-
ies since the Second Vatican Council. "
In London, ArchIn 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 bound-
aries 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 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."
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 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 lead-
ers 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 churches; if 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."
James Solheim is director of
Episcopal News Service