Sir , – Desmond Fisher states that "given the pope's repeated emphasis on the church's dogmatic teaching a change in the rules is inconceivable" ("First real test of Pope Francis to begin", Rite & Reason, September 30th). However, it was also inconceivable once that the church's support for slavery would ever change but it had to move with the times. This synod's main arena of battle will be whether the ban on divorced and remarried Catholics receiving communion will be lifted.
Pope Francis’s position has been outlined by Cardinal Walter Kasper, one of his closest confidantes, who has stated that the Catholic Church could find a “toleration” of civil marriages following divorce, in some circumstances.
Cardinal Pell from Australia is leading the conservative backlash, stating, “The sooner the wounded, the lukewarm, and the outsiders realise that substantial doctrinal and pastoral changes are impossible, the more the hostile disappointment, which must follow the reassertion of doctrine, will be anticipated and dissipated”.
Already the battle lines are drawn with the president of the German bishops’ conference, Cardinal Marx, stating that the majority of German bishops support Cardinal Kasper.
In one sense all this in-fighting is irrelevant as many divorced and remarried Catholics follow their belief that the eucharist is not a reward for the good and virtuous only but also sustenance on their particular journey towards God as incarnated in Jesus Christ.
The irony is that if a husband or wife dies, then there is no problem about the surviving spouse who remarries receiving communion. However, when a marriage for all intents and purposes dies and the original marital relationship ceases to exist, those who divorce and remarry are barred from receiving communion as they are, in the eyes of the dogmatist churchmen, adulterers and sinners and not fit to be full partakers in the eucharistic meal.
Pope Francis is trying to loosen the church from the chains of dogmatists and he deserves all our support in his battle for pastoral change . – Yours, etc,
BRENDAN BUTLER,
Malahide, Co Dublin.
Sir, – Breda O'Farrell (September 30th) asks why it is that men, single and celibate, are the only people considered competent to say Mass and hear confession. While I share that initial sense of the inequality and foolishness of not tapping in to many capable women at a time of a shortage of priests, Pope Francis does address this issue in his apostolic exhortation Evangelii Gaudium (the Joy of the Gospel). The pope explains that the priesthood is reserved for males only because the priest administering the sacraments does so in the persona Christi who is fully man and God, but he importantly adds that it is divisive within the church if sacramental power is too closely identified with power in general. If the church hierarchy is to have real credibility in the future, then Ms O'Farrell will witness women taking real leadership roles in the organising and managing of church affairs at all levels. – Yours, etc,
FRANK BROWNE,
Templeogue, Dublin 16.