Call for new culture of mercy

THE CHURCH may have forgotten the importance of mercy in recent decades but allowing Communion for divorced and remarried couples would require a “radical rethink” in teaching, Cardinal Vincent Nichols said this week.

“I grew up very firmly in a Church that understood itself as a Church of sinners. [But] I don’t think it’s been our strong suit in the last 30 years,” the cardinal told a press conference at the headquarters of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales in Eccleston Square, London, ahead of next month’s Synod on the Family in Rome.

“I think what Pope Francis is calling for is a return to that lived sense of the mercy and compassion of God who always accompanies us. I think one of the challenges we face is finding ways of creating a culture of mercy in the Church.”

When asked about the Pope conducting marriages earlier this month that included couples who had been cohabiting or had had an earlier marriage annulled, he said: “I can’t think of a priest in this country who hasn’t been doing those things for quite a while, frankly.”

But the cardinal said that any change that would allow Communion for divorced and remarried couples would require a “radical rethink” on either the indissolubility of marriage or on the teaching about receiving Communion.

“I don’t see for myself where this area of manoeuvre opens up without quite a radical rethink of one or  the other, so I go to this synod really intent on listening to what people have to say,” said Cardinal Nichols, pointing out that how Communion links a person to a “public witness of my faith” needs to be explored.

Speaking afterwards to The Tablet, he said it was important not to see the divorced and remarried as “a block” and cited Cardinal Walter Kasper, who has called for remarried divorcees to receive Communion in some circumstances, and highlighted the importance of discerning different types of couples who have divorced and remarried. 

The issue has been hotly debated in recent weeks with a number of cardinals expressing fierce opposition to Cardinal Kasper’s proposals.

Cardinal Nichols, who will attend the extraordinary synod as President of the Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales, also stressed that mercy needs to be seen alongside recognising the need for forgiveness.

“Mercy is the air we are to breathe, forgiveness and conversion are the pathway we are to walk,” he said, adding that it was important for the Church not to have an “idealised” view of marriage. 

Meanwhile, five dioceses in England and Wales have been given £25,000 each from the bishops’ conference for various marriage and family life projects. These include work in schools, supporting grandparents and promoting natural family planning.