Paul, Apollos, and Cephas, all over again
In April 2016, Bishop Philip Egan of Portsmouth, England, issued a pastoral letterĀ on the interpretation ofĀ Amoris LaetitiaĀ (the Popeās apostolic exhortation on marriage) and re-affirmed the Churchās long-settled teaching: the divorced and civilly remarried, while members of the Christian community, are not living in full communion with that community, and thus should not present themselves for Holy Communion until their manner of life changes or their irregular marriage has been regularized under Church law. Last month, Archbishop Charles Scicluna and Bishop Mario Grech of MaltaĀ also issued a pastoral letterĀ onĀ Amoris LaetitiaĀ and invited divorced and civilly remarried couples to present themselves for Holy Communion if they were, in conscience, at peace with God.
It happens that a woman in the Portsmouth diocese has vacation property on Malta. Sheās divorced and civilly remarried and seems to understand the Churchās longstanding teaching about what her situation means for the worthy reception of Holy Communion. Shortly after the Malta bishopsā statement, she ran into the local priest on his village rounds and asked, āWhen it comes to Communion, do I follow Bishop Egan or Archbishop Scicluna?ā As the priest in question put it in an e-mail, āWhat could I say, āEgan when youāre here, Scicluna when youāre there…ā?ā
At the very beginning of the First Letter to the Corinthians, St. Paul lamented that his fractious converts in rowdy Corinth were divided: āFor it has been reported to me…that there is quarreling among you, my brethren. What I mean is that each of you says, āI belong to Paul,ā or āI belong to Apollos,ā or āI belong to Cephasā….ā These divisions were not simply a matter of who-got-converted-by-whom, Paul insisted. They were misunderstandings fracturing the body of Christ: āIs Christ divided?ā [1 Cor. 1.11-13].
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