A shared Eucharist is the ultimate goal of ecumenism, not the means of achieving it, argues Archbishop Seán Brady
Catholics, along with other Christians, acutely feel the pain of separation, especially around the table of the Eucharist. Separation, that is, from other Christians with whom they know they have so much in common by reason of the sacrament of baptism. They also know that the separation is the result of the centuries-old divisions that have taken place over doctrine and practice. Those divisions have damaged and weakened the communion that comes from baptism.
Last October, bishops of the Catholic Church met in a General Synod to discuss the Eucharist. The topic was The Eucharist - Source and Summit of the Life and Mission of the Church.
The question of admitting other Christians to the Eucharist was discussed, seriously and at length. It was often asked with a certain urgency: Is Eucharistic Communion not possible between all Christians - Catholic, Reformed and Orthodox alike? The answer which the synod of bishops, from all over the world, gave is that inter-communion is generally not permitted and ecumenical concelebration is absolutely prohibited.
The reason is that receiving communion in the Catholic Church is not just an act of personal communion with Jesus Christ but above all an expression of full communion with and in the church. Catholics, and all the Orthodox churches, follow the tradition that has been handed down through the centuries which links Eucharistic sharing to communion and agreement on essential matters of faith and order.
While much progress has been made towards such agreement in recent years, the Catholic tradition and the churches of the Orthodox tradition believe that Eucharistic sharing should be the event which most joyously and appropriately expresses agreement between the Christian traditions once it has been achieved.
From the Catholic point of view, sharing the Eucharist with one mind and one heart is the goal of ecumenical endeavour rather than the means of achieving it. While other traditions emphasise the Eucharist as a means of achieving unity, this in itself reflects a different understanding of the relationship between the Eucharist and the church.
There are two ways of approaching such differences. One is to minimise or ignore them. The other is to work through them in dialogue and prayer to find that unity of mind and heart on which authentic and lasting unity is based.
It is generally agreed, among those who work tirelessly to overcome those divisions that go back for 400 years, that people who act outside the discipline of their own tradition only contribute to further fragmentation within that tradition and do not really help the cause of genuine ecumenism. Issues of truth are ultimately issues of faithfulness.
When people decide to ignore faithfulness to their own tradition, they undermine the need for patient dialogue to resolve issues of profound conviction. They also feed the fear and suspicion which many still harbour against ecumenism that it involves minimising deeply held beliefs.
This is not the basis on which genuine ecumenical progress can be made.
The path to such agreement, as the ecumenical journey of recent years confirms, is one of discussion and respectful dialogue, prayer and patience.
The synod of bishops made an appeal for a greater understanding of the position of the Catholic Church on this matter. It asked that the Catholic position on Eucharistic sharing be respected as part of our conviction about the very nature and meaning of the Eucharist itself. To believe that Eucharistic sharing is the ultimate expression of unity achieved is to affirm our desire for such unity and our commitment to achieving it through respect for each other's deepest convictions.
For Catholics the Eucharist is the source and summit of the church's life, the very core of Catholic faith and practice. This is reflected in the Catholic Church's strong insistence on full communion for those concelebrating the Eucharist in its canonical prohibition of Catholic priests concelebrating the Eucharist with priests or ministers of churches which are not in full communion with the Catholic Church (C.908) and in the requirement that failure to observe this discipline should be notified to the Holy See.
This discipline also respects the fact that for many from the reformed tradition, locating ecumenical prayer within a Catholic Mass would be insensitive to their convictions.
Thanks to the immense progress of recent years, any number of more inclusive forms of prayerful celebration of what unites our Christian traditions are not only possible but actively encouraged, especially those in which the celebration of the Word of God plays a central part.
To be genuinely inclusive ecumenism and ecumenical events cannot be based on the views of one particular priest, one particular minister or one particular Christian Church or tradition. The views of other Christian traditions must be taken into account and understood. That takes time and effort, but impatience, as well as suspicion and inertia, can be destructive of the progress that has already been made.
Patient and respectful dialogue on the other hand, based on sincere respect for each other's most deeply held convictions, will ensure that, in God's time, the unity of mind and heart for which we all pray will be one that endures.
• Dr Seán Brady is Roman Catholic Archbishop of Armagh, Primate of All Ireland and president of the Irish Episcopal Conference