CV NEWS FEED // The North American Orthodox-Catholic Theological Consultation recently published a new document with statements about mixed marriages between Orthodox Church members and Catholics.
The document, titled “The Pastoral Care of Mixed Marriages: Neither Yours nor Mine—but Ours,” highlights statements about such marriages that reflect both agreements and disagreements regarding marriage, as discussed by several Catholic and Orthodox theologians.
Cardinal Joseph Tobin of Newark, New Jersey, and Metropolitan Methodios, the (Orthodox) metropolitan of Boston, Massachusetts, co-chair the Consultation, which facilitates ongoing ecumenical dialogue between Catholics and Orthodox Christians.
The United States Council of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) Office of Public Affairs issued a statement on March 5 about the document’s publication.
“Like most dialogue agreed statements, this new text does not speak officially for either Church,” the USCCB Office of Public Affairs statement reads:
However, it has been drafted by a group of experienced theologians highly esteemed by their peers and submitted to all the members of both Churches for their prayerful reflection and discussion.
In the document, the theologians agree that Christian marriage is a sacred, lifelong bond between a man and a woman, and that faith in Jesus Christ is a necessary condition for this bond. Further, both agree that “the celebration of a sacramental marriage requires an ecclesiastical context.”
The theologians recommend in the document that a Catholic marrying an Orthodox Christian receive an official dispensation from being married in ecclesial form, so that an Orthodox bishop or Orthodox priest may officiate the wedding.
The document also recognizes a fundamental disagreement between Orthodox Christians and Catholics about divorce and remarriage. The Catholic Church does not permit divorce and remarriage. The Orthodox Church, while ordinarily upholding the lifelong fidelity of marriage, allows “exceptions” for divorce and remarriage in the case of a “spiritual death of the marriage.”
Among the theologians’ agreed recommendations is that
Catholic hierarchs seek ways to receive the pastoral decisions of Orthodox spiritual courts and hierarchs and not only recognize, with the Orthodox hierarchy, the remarriages, in some carefully examined cases, of divorced spouses in mixed marriages, but also allow such divorced and remarried Catholic parties, in marriages with Orthodox Christians, eucharistic participation in the Catholic Church.
The document also acknowledged differences on receiving the Eucharist as an Orthodox Christian at a Catholic Mass.
“When a Catholic and an Orthodox are joined in matrimony, they will have many opportunities to illustrate the spiritual and theological closeness of both churches,” the document reads. “However, such closeness does not at present include common views on the sharing of the Eucharist.”
“Both churches have the conviction that only those united in the same faith can share the Eucharist,” the document continues:
For Catholics, the level of unity in faith that already exists with the Orthodox allows such sharing to take place in special circumstances. For the Orthodox, such a unity has not yet been achieved, and full communion does not exist.
Thus, faced with such opposing ecclesial views, we cannot fall into false irenicism through the assertion by only one party that ‘all is well’ so that the sharing of the Eucharist can occur.
As for the faith formation of children, the document also reads, “Parents should be unafraid to share the commonalities of their faith and be open and respectful where their faith diverges. Appreciation of diversity can provide a positive model for childhood development.”
“A child should be made aware of the faith traditions of both churches, even as the parents decide how to approach such an awareness together,” the document adds.
The theologians agreed that they “must encourage, in the spouses of a mixed marriage, a mutual recognition of their shared life in Christ and their assistance of each other on the way towards salvation as a foundation of their marital unity.”
They also called for the updating of materials for Christian marriage and family life, for clergy, and for those “involved in Orthodox-Catholic marriages. These materials must accurately reflect both the pastoral preparation necessitated and the decision-making required prior to any wedding to avoid indifferentism and spiritual confusion.”
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