What does it mean to be Catholic and divorced? For approximately 28 million divorced Catholics, it’s a nagging and uncomfortable question.
The Vatican will convene a second Synod this fall to ponder whether and under what circumstances divorced and remarried Catholics should continue to be denied the Holy Eucharist (communion). Here’s the story in the New York Times.
A tiny minority of divorced Catholics go to the time, trouble, expense and humiliation of obtaining an official annulment of their marriage, a journey into an Alice-in-Wonderland world where marriage wasn’t really marriage, sex wasn’t really sex, and love wasn’t really love. Those who remarry without an annulment must choose whether to defy the prohibition and take communion or to sit on the sidelines and watch when their fellow parishioners enjoy this intimate sharing with Christ.
It is an exciting time to be Catholic.