The issue of Catholics and Protestants being able to receive communion in each other's churches has long been an issue in Germany and is particularly important for the many German couples who have a partner belonging to either church.

The Bishop of Augsburg, Bertram Meier has long wished that Catholics and Protestants come closer in their understandings of ordained ministry and Eucharistic communion.

Meier explained that he "dream[s]" of a shared Catholic-Protestant document "in which we emphasise our common confession and only secondarily name our differences so that we come closer to the common reception of Communion."

The issue of shared communion was addressed in an appraisal titled "Together around the Lord's Table."

Published in September 2019 by German Catholic and Protestant theologians and bishops the text of the paper explicitly argued that Catholics and Protestants should be able to receive the Eucharist at celebrations of the other denomination.

The topic was due for discussion at the German bishops' plenary assembly in Fulda at the end of September but was taken off the agenda following feedback from the Vatican Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF).

Earlier in the year, the German Bishops earlier presented "Together around the Lord's Table" to the CDF but following their review, in September, the CDF voiced strong objections.

The CDF stated that differences between Catholics and Protestants in the understanding of the Eucharist and the ministry were too significant to allow "reciprocal Eucharistic hospitality."

As reported in October 2020 by the German Catholic news agency, KNA, leaders of both churches identified questions that "still need to be clarified."

Sources

• National Catholic Reporter
• Novena News
• CathNews Australia

Fifty years after the Second Vatican Council, it appears that the Rhine may once again be flowing into the Tiber, to paraphrase Fr Ralph Wiltgen's historic account of that council, in the lead-up to this year's critical family synod.

But a closer look at the actual situation of the Church in Germany not only reveals clues as to why German clergy, theologians and others are wielding such enormous influence in Rome ahead of the synod.

It also shows that the Rhine's waters are far from the fast-running liberal current that they appear to many outside observers.

In fact, the Church in Germany, though fed by several different streams and sources, to a large extent is dissipating into its secular environs.

The vast majority of the 24 million German Catholics in 2015 are neither practising their faith nor sufficiently aware of its teachings.

Church attendance hovers around the 12 per cent mark. More alarming still, a recent study showed that almost half of all priests neither pray daily nor go to Confession.

To be sure, other Western countries are registering similar numbers and trends. What is different in German-speaking Europe, however, are three important factors that need to be reckoned with in preparation for the synod.

First, while the Faith may continue to dissipate and membership decline, the Catholic community in Germany - in no small part due to the Church tax - is materially very rich and socially rather powerful, as well as politically influential.

The Church is the country's second-largest employer, running everything from childcare centres to schools, retirement homes, libraries and hospitals. Catholic clergy belong to important public institutions such as the National Ethics Committee.

The contribution of German Catholic relief organisations to the world, meanwhile, is rightfully legendary. Continue reading

Sources

• Anian Christoph Wimmer is a German-Austrian broadcaster, writer and journalist. He is editor-in-chief of the weekly Munich newspaper Münchner Kirchenzeitung. The article above is from the Catholic Herald.
• Image: Spiegel Online