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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 29 November 2018
As Freeman points out, the 1993 Directory for the Application of Principles and Norms on Ecumenism generally repeats the criteria from 1972 but drops the reference to “serious spiritual need,” raising the bar to “danger of death” in paragraph 130. I would add here that the 1993 Directory also says nothing about lacking recourse to the sacrament in one's own tradition for a prolonged period of time. The 1993 text states only that the person in question be “unable to have recourse for the sacrament desired to a minister of his or her own Church or ecclesial Community.”
54 Secretariat for the Promotion of Christian Unity, Instruction on Admitting Other Christians to Eucharistic Communion in the Catholic Church (1972), IV, 2; text at http://www.ewtn.com/library/curia/pccucom2.htm.
55 Secretariat for the Promotion of Christian Unity, Note Interpreting the “Instruction on Admitting Other Christians to Eucharistic Communion in the Catholic Church under Certain Circumstances” (1973), 7; text at https://www.ewtn.com/library/CURIA/PCCUCOM3.HTM.
56 Note Interpreting the “Instruction on Admitting Other Christians to Eucharistic Communion in the Catholic Church under Certain Circumstances,” 6.
57 Issued by the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, the successor to the Secretariat for the Promotion of Christian Unity; text at http://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/pontifical_councils/chrstuni/documents/rc_pc_chrstuni_doc_25031993_principles-and-norms-on-ecumenism_en.html.
58 Freeman observes that the 1993 Directory also omits the reference to “urgent need” found in the 1967 Directory for the Application of the Decisions of the Second Ecumenical Council of the Vatican Concerning Ecumenical Matters. See Freeman, above.
59 Directory for the Application of Principles and Norms on Ecumenism, 131.
60 See Freeman above.
61 See Freeman above.
64 See http://www.odwphiladelphia.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/Guidelines-for-the-Reception-of-Holy-Communion.pdf for the Archdiocese of Philadelphia and http://www.usccb.org/prayer-and-worship/the-mass/order-of-mass/liturgy-of-the-eucharist/guidelines-for-the-reception-of-communion.cfm for the guidelines established by the US bishops. I could not find the policies for New York City or San Diego (sites of the CTS/NABPR joint conventions in 2019 and 2020, respectively) on their diocesan websites. Perhaps my difficulty says something about the status of ecumenical relations.
65 1917 Code of Canon Law, c. 940; text available in The 1917 or Pio-Benedictine Code of Canon Law, curated by Edward N. Peters (San Francisco: Ignatius, 2001), 328.
66 Second Vatican Council, Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy (Sacrosanctum Concilium), December 4, 1963, §73, http://www.vatican.va/archive/hist_councils/ii_vatican_council/documents/vat-ii_const_19631204_sacrosanctum-concilium_en.html.
67 Pastoral Care of the Sick: Rites of Anointing and Viaticum (New Jersey: Catholic Book Publishing, 1983), no. 8, p. 21. The text continues: “A prudent or reasonably sure judgment, without scruple, is sufficient for deciding on the seriousness of the illness; if necessary a doctor may be consulted.” In an important footnote to no. 8, Pastoral Care of the Sick adds: “The word periculose has been carefully studied and rendered as ‘seriously,’ rather than as ‘gravely,’ ‘dangerously,’ or ‘perilously.’ Such a rendering will serve to avoid restrictions upon the celebration of the sacrament. On the one hand, the sacrament may and should be given to anyone whose health is seriously impaired; on the other hand, it may not be given indiscriminately or to any person whose health is not seriously impaired” (note 8, p. 21). Charles Gusmer has argued: “However useful it may be to note the different conditions that suggest anointing or to urge consultation with a doctor when in doubt, it is not so much the person's medical condition that is determinative. It is rather the ‘religious’ condition, a spiritual powerlessness, the crisis that illness represents in the life of an ailing Christian as regards communication with self, others, and God”; Gusmer, Charles W., And You Visited Me: Sacramental Ministry to the Sick and Dying, rev. ed. (Collegeville, MN: Liturgical Press, 1989), 87Google Scholar.
68 See Joshua McElwee, “Vatican Asks German Bishops for Agreement on Communion for Non-Catholic Spouses” National Catholic Reporter, May 3, 2018, https://www.ncronline.org/news/world/vatican-asks-german-bishops-agreement-communion-non-catholic-spouses.
69 In a statement (Prot. N. 212/2018–64727) of May 25, 2018, but released after the writing of the current article, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith placed the German proposal on hold. The statement observed that “the question of admission to communion for evangelical Christians in interconfessional marriages is an issue that touches on the faith of the Church and has significance for the universal Church” and that “this question has effects on ecumenical relations with other Churches and other ecclesial communities that are not to be underestimated.” The text of the statement, which was explicitly approved by Pope Francis, is available at http://magister.blogautore.espresso.repubblica.it/2018/06/04/francis-blocks-the-document-by-the-german-bishops-in-favor-of-intercommunion-the-complete-text-of-the-letter/?refresh_ce. On June 27, 2018, the German bishops issued a statement in which they affirm their decision to “stride forward in this matter courageously.” The statement, “Pastoral Guidance on the Matter of Inter-denominational Marriages and Joint Participation in the Eucharist,” is available at https://dbk.de/fileadmin/redaktion/diverse_downloads/presse_2018/2018-107-eng-Kommunikation-StR-Oekumene.pdf. For an assessment of this document, see Joshua McElwee, “German Bishops ‘Obliged to Stride Forward’ on Inter-Communion after Vatican's Rebuff,” National Catholic Reporter, June 27, 2018, https://www.ncronline.org/news/vatican/german-bishops-obliged-stride-forward-inter-communion-after-vaticans-rebuff.
70 Francis writes: “It is possible that in an objective situation of sin—which may not be subjectively culpable, or fully such—a person can be living in God's grace, can love and can also grow in the life of grace and charity, while receiving the Church's help to this end”; a note ad loc. adds: “In certain cases, this can include the help of the sacraments.” Pope Francis, Post-synodal Apostolic Exhortation, Amoris Laetitia, March 19, 2016, §305 with note 351, https://w2.vatican.va/content/dam/francesco/pdf/apost_exhortations/documents/papa-francesco_esortazione-ap_20160319_amoris-laetitia_en.pdf.
71 See Simon Caldwell, “Cardinal: Greater Access to Communion Challenges Church Teaching,” National Catholic Reporter, May 24, 2018, https://www.ncronline.org/news/world/cardinal-greater-access-communion-challenges-church-teaching.