Courtney McGrailDear Editor, I could not help but applaud Bishop Kevin Doran’s words in support of Pope Francis against those critics who claim the Holy Father is spreading confusion. His explanation that the Pope is trying to get people to understand that we cannot set ourselves up as the consciences of others struck me as very important, especially since I constantly hear that the Faithful will be confused if divorced-and-remarried Catholics are seen going up to receive Communion.
Are we meant to be watching each other go up to Communion? Are we meant to be looking at other people to see who goes up, who receives Communion, who asks for a blessing, and who sits quietly in the rows? Have we not enough to be doing examining our own consciences, offering up our own prayers, and giving thanks ourselves?
Do people really think the central aisles of our churches should be valleys of squinting windows?
Yes, of course there is a danger of people noticing divorced-and-remarried Catholics receiving Communion, and of them being confused by this. St John Paul said as much in the 1980s, with Pope Benedict doing the same. But is the prospect of confusing some really so serious that it should become an excuse for denying the greatest of the Sacraments to those who dearly need it?
Some Argentine bishops have proposed, with Pope Francis’ approval, that in some cases it could be possible for “eventual access to the Sacraments to take place privately”, but might it not be better simply to do as Bishop Kevin has done and remind people that they simply can’t make assumptions about the state of others’ souls?
Surely Pope Francis’ encouragement of patient discernment and talk of pastoral accompaniment is as much as anything a project to help people properly form their consciences.
Yours etc.,
Louise Healey
Bray, Co. Wicklow.