If divorced-and-remarried Catholics should receive communion, as Cardinal Walter Kasper and many of the German bishops suggest, does that mean St. Thomas More and St. John Fisher died for nothing?
In his latest column Archbishop Samuel Aquila of Denver asked this question and pointed to similarities between Cardinal Kasper’s push for allowing remarried Catholics to receive communion and English bishops granting Henry VIII’s “annulment.”
“As with those who advocate for communion for the civilly remarried, the English bishops were uncomfortable with embracing divorce and remarriage outright,” he said in his Oct. 19 column.
“Instead, they chose to bend the law to the individual circumstances of the case with which they were confronted, and King Henry VIII was granted an ‘annulment’ — on a fraudulent basis and without the sanction of Rome.”
The case for Henry VIII’s divorce came from a “strong utilitarian argument”: the king’s personal happiness and the well-being of the country.
Similarly, Archbishop Aquila said, some of the German bishops at the Synod on the Family “are pushing for the Church to allow those who are both divorced and remarried to receive communion, while other bishops around the world are insisting the Church cannot change Christ’s teaching.”
Two men we now recognize as saints, Thomas More and Bishop John Fisher, refused to join England’s bishops in recognizing the king’s divorce and remarriage. Both men were beheaded and later canonized.
Now similar arguments are being heard in Rome as some of the German bishops are calling for divorced-and-remarried Catholics to be able to receive communion, the archbishop observed.
“And this begs the question: Do the German bishops believe that Sts. Thomas More and John Fisher sacrificed their lives in vain?”
In contrast to Cardinal Kasper’s comment that “heroism is not for the average Christian,” Jesus tells us plainly that “Whoever wishes to come after me must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me,” the Denver archbishop said.
While those who find themselves “on the margins of the faith” must be welcomed with mercy in the Church and parish life, he noted, we must also remember that “mercy always speaks the truth, never condones sin, and recognizes that the Cross is at the heart of the Gospel.”
Born during the turbulent era of the French Revolution, Saint Jeanne Jugan rose above hardship and a lack of formal schooling to become a profound vessel of Christ’s mercy. After losing her father at a young age and working through her youth as a kitchen maid and nurse, her life radically changed one freezing night when she encountered a blind, paralyzed elderly woman with nowhere to go. Jeanne carried the woman back to her own home, placed her in her own bed, and began a lifelong mission of radical hospitality. This act of profound love blossomed into the Little Sisters of the Poor , a thriving community dedicated to sheltering and honoring the destitute elderly. Despite later facing heavy trials—including being unjustly sidelined and stripped of her leadership by a controlling chaplain—Jeanne accepted her obscurity and exile with a joyful spirit, resting her complete trust in God's hidden providence until her death in 1879. In our daily lives, Saint Jeanne Jugan invites us to lo...