Vatican City, Oct 9, 2005 / 22:00 pm
The issue of intercommunion has been one of ongoing discussion throughout the course thus far of the General Synod of Bishops, being held currently at the Vatican. While some have suggested that those outside the Catholic Church be permitted to receive the Eucharist in certain situations, others have held closer to the Church's long held teaching that allowing non-Catholics to receive would suggest a unity which is not yet present.
Bishop Amedee Grab O.S.B., of Chur, Switzerland, noted that in ecumenical dialogue with Christian churches who celebrate the memorial of the Lord's Supper, "one can often see an increasing convergence on very important themes: real presence, sacrificial characteristic of the memorial, need for ordination."
"What has proved more difficult", he said, "is finding a formulation on the nature of the Church, and an agreement that the Holy Eucharist - source and summit of her vocation and her mission - was entrusted to Her."
Bishop Grab cited the Ecumenical Directory, saying that "participation in Holy Communion by individual non-Catholic baptized, in exceptional cases and under certain conditions, is specifically provided for..." The Directory, he said, "not only mentions admittance but also invitation, following verification of the aforementioned conditions, among which belonging to the Catholic Church is not mentioned."