Thursday, December 30, 2021

Archbishop of Berlin on receiving the Eucharist

Below is a quote from the Archbishop of Berlin, Heiner Koch.

Is there no place at the Lord’s table for people who experienced and suffered an irreversible break in their lives? 

How perfect and holy must one be to be allowed to the supper of the Lord? 

It becomes clear to me every time that the question of allowing divorced and remarried people to the Eucharist is not in the first place a question about the indissolubility of the sacrament of marriage.... 

Many people question the church and her mercy in this regard. 

More than a few people concerned leave the church with their children on the basis of what they see as rejection. 

Ultimately and most profoundly it is much more about the Christian faith and God and his mercy. For many, the question of admittance to the Eucharist makes them doubt God.

1 comment:

Joyce2 said...

I know several who have left the RC church because of this denial of Eucharist to divorced, and other signs of a lack of mercy by clergy.
This is painful but the upside is that we now celebrate Eucharist at our kitchen table, where two or three are gathered "in my name" is Christ and Jesus does not seems to have been the type to withhold mercy.
God cannot be contained by any one person or institution.

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