At the end of a tumultuous week, we asked an international panel of six Catholics – with a wide range of backgrounds, experience and opinions – to reflect on some of the issues and disagreements that have emerged in Rome
Marriage and divorceAdmission to CommunionAnthony Egan: Despite the traditional views of most African clergy and bishops, marriage in Africa is deeply complex and a process rather than an event – it goes from betrothal, paying lobola [bride price], then living together, having children, civil marriage and, finally, the church wedding. Most Catholics would probably side with those favouring mercy and accommodation over the rigorous application of the law. If there is no change, the slow decline of Catholicism will continue. Clare Watkins: Those
16 October 2014, The Tablet
‘Tectonic plates are shifting’
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User Comments (1)
Before it became treatable, I looked after a number of men dying of end-stage AIDS. I met several gay men who looked after their partners or friends during a really awful illness with total love and commitment, often at considerable risk to themselves. They had seen many of their friends, and sometimes other partners, die, and they were doing this with fully open eyes. Many had developed an extraordinary depth. Their gay relationship had led them to a deep love, true until death. Since then I have struggled to understand how God would not accept such a relationship, indeed love it, how it could be intrinsically disordered. Similarly with many remarried divorcees, where regularising their position may sometimes be far from straightforward.
We often talk of the centrality of the Eucharist in Christian life, yet we also now say it is not that vital, you can still be part of the communion without. Christ shared bread and wine with Judas, who he knew would betray him, and Peter, whom he foretold would deny him. We somehow manage to make the ever-surprising Good News sound so technical and dreary. Is there a greater sin than that?