San Diego's Bishop McElroy strongly encourages Communion for divorced/remarried
November 29, 2016
Bishop Robert McElroy of San Diego, California, has asked his priests to encourage Catholics who are divorced and remarried to consider whether “God is calling them to return to the Eucharist.”
Following up on recommendations from a diocesan Synod held in October, Bishop McElroy instructed his pastors to post notices in parish bulletins, inviting divorced and remarried Catholics to “utilize the internal forum of conscience” in making their decisions whether they should receive Communion.
Citing the deliberations of the diocesan Synod, the bishop also said that parishes should welcome gay and lesbian couples, and couples cohabitating before marriage. “The Synod pointed to the need to invite young couples lovingly, non-judgmentally and energetically into Catholic marriage and to provide mentors for them,” he said.
The Synod, in its final statement, had said that cohabitating couples should be “welcomed and guided patiently and discretely (sic).” The Synod suggested that parishes provide a supportive environment for these couples, and said that this attitude might require reconsideration of “practices which, while they have a certain legitimacy, alienate young couples and leave them feeling that they are unwanted in the life of the Church.”
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