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November
7, 2005 
VOL.
43, NO. 19Oakland,
CA
Synod on Eucharist
ends with
affirmation of Church tradition
VATICAN CITY— More than 250 bishops filed into
St. Peter’s Square, Oct. 23, for a Mass concluding the first synod
of Pope Benedict XVI’s reign, a focus on Eucharistic renewal.
After weeks of discussion that identified Catholicism’s global priest
shortage and the sacramental status of remarried Catholics as top concerns,
the bishops reaffirmed traditional teaching, based on Christ’s example,
as the best answer to the challenges facing the Church.
“The synodal work allowed us to deepen the salient aspects of this
mystery, given to the Church from the beginning,” Benedict told
the synod’s bishops, who had convened in Rome to advise Benedict,
not set policy. “How can we not take up, once again, the invitation
by the beloved Pope John Paul II to ‘start again from Christ’?”
The pope expressed his deep sadness that four Chinese bishops who had
been invited to participate in the synod had not been allowed to travel
to Rome. He told the assembly that the Church in China was still on a
“suffering path.”
At the start of the worldwide gathering, bishops had jockeyed to set the
synod agenda and test the limits of their freshman pontiff. Issues often
ducked during John Paul’s 26-year reign took center stage as bishops
pondered the possibility of introducing exemplary married men known as
“viri probati” into the priesthood as a means of stemming
the priest shortage. One bishop even challenged the theological validity
of the priesthood’s celibacy requirement.
At the closing Mass, Benedict expressed gratitude to the bishops for their
input and invited Catholics to reflect on the Eucharist as the key to
transforming their lives.
He called priestly celibacy “a precious gift and the sign of undivided
love towards God,” Benedict said, linking the practice of celibacy
to the Eucharist, the sacrament of bread and wine that was the synod’s
official theme.
At the outset of the synod, bishops from some of the world’s most
priest-poor regions noted that the shortage undercut their ability to
distribute the Eucharist in the first place. Bishop Roberto Camilleri
Azzopardi of Comayaga, Honduras, reported having one priest for every
16,000 Catholics in his diocese.
Bishop Luis Antonio Tagle of Imus, Philippines, reported that in 40 of
the 60 parishes he oversees, lay people regularly distribute Communion
in the absence of priests—a fact that he said diminishes the sacramental
value of the Eucharist.
“In the absence of the priest, there is no Eucharist. We should
face squarely the issue of the shortage of priests,” Bishop Tagle
said at a press conference at the synod’s start.
But in the end, the bishops did not propose any concrete changes to Church
policy. As an advisory body, the synod prepared a list of 50 propositions
that bishops presented to the pope on Oct. 22. The pope immediately ordered
that the propositions be published, a change from the usual confidential
nature of such recommendations.
The pope is expected to reflect on the propositions and may give his official
response in an “apostolic exhortation” that generally is released
a few weeks after the synod.
One proposition presented to the pope acknowledged “the acute pain
that is felt over the lack of priests in some parts of the world. Many
faithful are deprived of the Bread of Life.”
The bishops synod-ending document underscored the need to “sensitize
families” that are “indifferent if not contrary” to
letting their sons enter the priesthood. It also called for a “more
equal distribution of priests” throughout the world, an idea that
at least some bishops regard as a short-term measure that does not replace
the need for local vocations.
Speaking at a press conference at the synod’s close, Cardinal George
Pell of Sydney, Australia, described the synod as a “massive endorsement”
of priestly celibacy, which he considered
significant.
“When you have a synod backing this discipline of the Latin church
in such a nearly unanimous way, that’s not unimportant,” he
said.
The proposals dampened hopes that Catholics who had divorced and remarried
without an annulment might be permitted to receive Communion after Archbishop
John Atcherley of Wellington, New Zealand, suggested the Church should
rethink its ban.
The bishops reaffirmed Church teaching prohibiting such remarried couples
from receiving Communion on the grounds that their sexual relations are
sinful.
“According to the tradition of the Catholic Church, they cannot
be admitted to Communion, finding themselves in conditions of objective
contrast with the Word of the Lord,” the bishops’ document
reads.
The proposal did encourage these remarried couples to abstain from sex,
maintaining “a loyal and trustworthy friendship” in accordance
with Church teaching.
The issue of Communion and Catholic politicians received some attention.
“Politicians and legislators must feel themselves particularly moved
in their conscience, correctly formed, about the grave social responsibility
of presenting and supporting iniquitous laws,” the proposal read.
The question of whether wayward politicians should receive Communion,
the proposal said, should be left to the individual discretion of bishops
who “should exercise the virtues of firmness and prudence, taking
account of concrete local situations.”
It is up to the local bishops’ conferences to set policies on the
distribution of Communion during Sunday Liturgies of the Word when no
priest is present. One of the synod propositions asked the Vatican to
consider preparing a new document that would spell out universal rules
on such liturgies.
The synod’s other recommendations included:
• Reaffirmation that shared Communion with non-Catholic Christians
“is generally not possible” and that an “ecumenical
concelebration” of the Eucharist is even more objectionable.
• Better emphasis on the missionary aspect of the Eucharist.
• Study and possible change in the order of Baptism, Confirmation
and Eucharist.
• Possible relocation in the liturgy of the sign of peace.
• Reminding Catholics of the importance of gestures of adoration,
such as genuflection, before the consecrated host.
• Better awareness of the Eucharist’s connection with social
justice issues including ecological concerns.
Pope Benedict waves as he arrives to celebrate Mass, Oct. 23, at the close of the synod. He affirmed the Roman Catholic rule of priestly celibacy, rejecting suggestions that the way to confront the Church’s shortage of priests is to allow them to marry.
RNS PHOTO/REUTERS/Tony Gentile
