TAIZÉ, France, Aug. 23 – Brother Roger Schutz pursued many ecumenical dreams in his long life, but in death one of them came true: At a Eucharistic service celebrated Tuesday by a Roman Catholic cardinal for Brother Roger, a Swiss Protestant, communion wafers were given to the faithful indiscriminately, regardless of denomination.
Members of the monastic order founded by Brother Roger Schutz carried his coffin at his funeral Tuesday in Taizé in eastern France.
Cardinal Walter Kasper, the president of the Vatican’s council for the unity of Christians, who celebrated the Mass, said in a homily, "Yes, the springtime of ecumenism has flowered on the hill of Taizé." Beyond religious divisions, Brother Roger also abhorred the division between rich and poor. "Every form of injustice or neglect made him very sad," Cardinal Kasper said.
Brother Roger’s community and friends, including President Horst Köhler of Germany and the retired archbishop of Paris, Jean-Marie Lustiger, attended the liturgy in the vast wooden monastery church at Taizé, while thousands more followed it on a huge screen in fields outside the church. [Source]
Being that this article is from they NYT I wonder how accurate the phrase "given to the faithful indiscriminately, regardless of denomination." is. Though I would not be too surprised with Cardinal Kasper being involved. Especially considering that then-Cardinal Ratzinger vetoed plans for Cardinal Walter Kasper to doing the same thing at a joint communion service in Germany in 2003. I doubt that Brother Roger would really consider this "a dream come true" since if it happened it would have been a false symbol of communion and unity, a communion that truly does not yet exist. To pretend otherwise for ecumenical sensibilities is to just pretend. It would be really interesting to know if Pope Benedict was involved in this decision or not.
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At Pope John Paul’s funeral, Cardinal Ratzinger gave Holy Communion to Brother Roger personally. The B.B.C. broadcast I was watching it on featured a British Archbishop as one of three commentators (don’t get me started), and he clearly implied that Brother Roger was at least a Catholic. Given his robes, I wondered if he was actually a Priest. I have since heard that he was a convert and was thus entitled to receive Holy Communion.
Okay, get me started… The middle commentator was a female religious (pardon the irony and the venom here), and that’s all she wnet on about. You’d swear that women were denied access to the Church the way she went on. At one stage, she remakred that the Pope had graciously kept thanking her after she kept butting in against instructions. Yes, I muttered to myself, he was too polite to add the “Shut up and go away…”. She also mentioned that she didn’t agree with everything he had done, and wanted to ask him some questions when she met him in Heaven. I suspect this was a reference to no women Priests, and I hated her presumption anyway…
Sorry, gang; had to rant…
I was appalled by the murder of Brother Roger, a senseless act in all meanings of the word. But modern funerals repel me anyway, and i expected something like this. I wonder if Kasper would have been one of Benedict’s choices as a Cardinal; perhaps not…
God Bless.
NUTS…
Change “receive” to “be offered”… re Holy Communion. Er, apologies for the heresy there!
I have since heard that he was a convert and was thus entitled to receive Holy Communion.
It is often implied that Brother Roger was a Catholic, but the Vatican has always denied this to this day.
But even if he wasn’t formally a convert: also non-Catholics are entitled to receive Holy Communion, if they profess that they believe they are receiving the Body of Christ. The Orthodox are even invited officially to Catholic Communion, while Protestants can get a special permission.
But of course, such a permission always depends on the individual faith of someone, so it does not involve giving Communion “indiscriminately” to everyone.
Jack – I believe you are referring to Sr. Joan Chissister — the BBC feed was the only one I was able to receive in my car during the funeral.
I actually turned it off because I found her comments so offensive. Rant on – actions like hers deserve rants.
Yes, Cathy. A friend actually copied it onto DVD, and I keep screaming at her to shut up (usually in extremely bad language) whenever she speaks. This “we are Church” thing. I usually reply “Um, we’re Church too…!” Trying to pretend that the Church is really only for “educated women” is really silly, at least to my poor male mind. I’ve heard of Chittister before; so that’s her, eh?! NOT IMPRESSED…
It’s great to hear a lady tell me this, too!!! God Bless you…
Petra, I keep hearing contradictory statements about Brother Roger, and my understanding of Canon Law regarding the reception of Holy Communion is that it is MUCH stricter than you stated. Orthodox Christians may receive it yes, but that is because they retain Apostolic Succession from validly consecrated Bishops and ordained Priests AND an understanding of the Holy Eucharist that is IDENTICAL with Catholic teaching. Protestants have none of these. That’s why, in the reception of converts, receiving Holy Communion is almost always the last step they take on their journey into the Church… I’m no theologian; I could be wrong. But the above is my understanding of how matters are.
In the case of poor Brother Roger, there is certainly what’s commonly called “Baptism by Blood”… His original Baptism was probably valid anyway (many Protestant Baptisms are, in whatever Church it was done. For the rest, we can hope in the mercy of God, in whose service Brother Roger was killed.
God Bless…
So His Eminence, Cardinal Wally, gets another 15 minutes of fame and controversy. Best to move on and pray for mercy for us human beings who must live in a world that dopes us on celebrities of all sorts. Will he be on concert, I wonder?
Kasper was described to me as “a poop” by a close priest-friend who knows Kasper well.
That was 10+ years ago–nothing seems to have changed, eh?
Great post title 🙂
“Vatican ecumenist says sharing Communion means sharing faith“
ROME (CNS) — The Catholic Church believes the Eucharist is a sacrament that strengthens the unity of the church because those who share Communion profess the same faith, said the Vatican’s chief ecumenist.
To say “Amen” and receive Communion means “I fully agree with what has been said and what has been done,” said Cardinal Walter Kasper, president of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity.
Acknowledging the Eucharist as a memorial of Christ’s last meal with his disciples is not enough, the cardinal said, responding to questions after a May 19 talk on “The Sacrament of Unity: The Eucharist and the Church.” Cardinal Kasper’s talk at the Atonement Friars’ Centro Pro Unione in Rome was drawn largely from his new book of the same title.
Saying “Amen” means acknowledging Christ’s real presence in the Eucharist and the sacrificial value of the Eucharist for the forgiveness of sins and the transformation of the world, the cardinal said, but it also means accepting that the Eucharist is celebrated in communion with the pope and united with the prayers of the Blessed Virgin Mary and all the saints.
Because complete agreement between Catholics and other Christians is lacking on one or more of the points of faith, eucharistic sharing is permitted only in limited circumstances and usually requires the approval of the local bishop, Cardinal Kasper said. …
This is the first I have heard about Frere Roger’s funeral. I might surmise, however, that it was NOT Holy Mass, but rather a protestant communion service (of the variety that the protestant members of Taize, the founder included, would be accustomed) in which case, “Communion wafers” are generally distributed indiscriminately. I should check the facts before I post this, but I am fairly certain that this is what happened – and the media doesn’t pay any attention to the difference.
I guess the NYT does say that it was “a eucharistic service celebrated by a Catholic Cardinal” and later refers to “the Mass,” but I am still not sure that they are not conflating the cardinal preaching the homily (or was it a eulogy?) and actually Celebrating the “eucharistic service.”
Dad29 has me interested. What, technically, is a “poop”? As a theological term, I mean? Is it someone who wants to be Pope but only makes it to Poop? (Circular.) Is it Dutch for Pope?
As a past participle (“pooped”), it’s yesteryear’s slang for “tired” (e.g, “I’m to tired to convert to Catholicism” = “I’m too pooped to pope”).
Bad theology folks if you really think that even a well deposed Protestant is permitted to receive communion at a Catholic Church, unless of course it involves cases of emergency and also bad theology to assume that any receipient of holy communion must have faith for the Eucharist to be valid since the real presence is not bound by individual faith, as the Anglicans believe, but bound to the sacrament of holy orders whose lineage is confirmed by valid and unbreakable apostolic succession.
Orthodox Christians, on the other hand, as well as other groups found in the front cover of any misalette who shared that lineage(Old Catholic), can receive communion in certain cases if they have permission of their bishop.
The Eucharist is what He is.
Surely there are articulate Catholic women besides the “We are Church” bunch who can represent the true teachings of the Church. I’m afraid that the only Catholic lay voice that the world hears is from Chissister and her ilk. (At last, a chance to use that word)!
You’re one of them, Lynne… But through no fault of your own, I don’t see you (or any of our other female luminaries on these blogs) up there on T.V. giving orthodox and intelligent comments and information about religious and other matters(God, would THAT be a refreshing change?!).
Curses!
If it was a Catholic Mass and there was communion given indiscriminately, that would have been a little weird, because we had Cardinal Kasper giving a talk on ecuminism the week before WYD. At the end someone asked what the differences were between the Catholic and Protestant beliefs regarding the Eucharist, and why there couldn’t be intercomunion. His response was that, first of all, there is no one Protestant belief regarding the Eucharist, and secondly that the reason there can be no intercommion (even where the individual belief is in line with Catholic belief) has to do with the Eucharist’s relationship to the Church.
@DJP:
bad theology to assume that any receipient of holy communion must have faith for the Eucharist to be valid
I don’t know if you’re talking to me but I didn’t say that the validity of the Eucharist depended on the faith of the receiver. But it does depend on the faith of the receiver if he receives the Lord to his sanctification or to his damnation.
Jack Dwyer:
What I was talking about were people who, though not belonging to a church in full communion with the Catholic Church, still expressed the Catholic faith about the Eucharist. This is what it is believed Brother Roger did. I stated that this was the personal belief of someone who, in these points, just didn’t profess the faith of his own faith community (i. e. Calvinist, Lutheran, etc.), but fully said ‘Amen’ to what is said at Mass.
Of course I know that there isn’t such a distinction about ‘no in general, but yes to individual believers in individual circumstances’ in the case of the Orthodox, because they all profess the same faith in the Eucharist as the Catholic Church does.
Who the dickens was Brother Roger? I’ve never heard of him before.
Skip that. I just Googled “Brother Roger” and found out that he was the founder of an interdenominational monastery, whatever that is.
As a point of clarity to those who are batting the ball back and forth over what was done with communion at Br. Roger’s funeral.
News reports indicate that this was a Catholic service, per Br. Roger’s request. From the description, this certainly sounds like a Mass, though the Rite of Christian Burial allows for other burial rites.
As to the practice of indiscriminate communion, this would not have pleased Br. Roger at all. I am from a family where journalism is in the blood (3 generations now); I’ve seen enough journalistic errors regarding Catholic belief, history and ritual to make me belive that the statement about indiscriminate distribution of the Eucharist was a misinterpretation on the part of the reporter.
As to the “interdenominational monastery, Whatever that is.” As for communion, Br. Roger practiced a special rule for reception by monks of the community (each loyal to his theological roots); if the brothers worshipped at a Protestant service, Catholic member would received reserved sacrament consecrated at a Catholic Mass. This would hold respectively for brother of Anglican and Orthodox persuasions. If the brothers worshipped at a Catholic, Anglican or Orthodox liturgy, the Protestants would receive communion blessed at a Protestant service.
And while they could not share communion, the Taize Community has lived and flourished in peace. Which is a lot better than you can see in a lot of purely Catholic parishes.
Roger was a friend to Bl. John XXIII, Paul VI, John Paul the Great and Mother Teresa. The reality of his Catholic witness (Reformed minister though he was) cannot be mistaken.
Roger of Taize, Ora pro nobis!
“if the brothers worshipped at a Protestant service, Catholic member would received reserved sacrament consecrated at a Catholic Mass. This would hold respectively for brother of Anglican and Orthodox persuasions. If the brothers worshipped at a Catholic, Anglican or Orthodox liturgy, the Protestants would receive communion blessed at a Protestant service.”
None of which changes the rule that Catholics are not permitted to attend Protestant church services except for special events such as funerals. Crikey.
Elinor,
I am aware of no rule that Catholics can not attend Protestant services. It is true that could not receive Communion if they attended on one of the days when they have their Communion services. There are some couples of mixed Protestant-Catholic marriages that do attend both. If there is such a rule where is it referenced?
I think it’s out of old canon law. I know a family that homeschools their kids out of the Baltimore Catechism and they had to clarify for their kids that the rule about not attending protestant weddings, for example, no longer applies…
It used to be necessary to obtain special permission to attend a Protestant service. Now it isn’t required to ask permission, but one is supposed to avoid them except for special circumstances, such as weddings, graduation thanksgivings, funerals, and so on, and is expected to refrain from participating in their communion practices. Catholics are not supposed to attend Protestant services casually or regularly, and a Protestant service never satisfies the Sunday obligation.
Thanks, Jack! Maybe we should encourage some of the traditional laywomen and nuns to become more vocal. I know many laywomen and also nuns especially in the Sisters of the Good Shepherd) who are tireless in their work with pregnant women and their children.
Didn’t mean to get off-subject. What I meant was that I know many women who understand their faith and practice it.
I don’t know that the reporting is correct, but I was watching “Rome Reports” on EWTN the other day and the picture was of then Cardinal Ratzinger giving the Eucharist to Brother Roger; the voice over explained that Brother Roger had joined the RCC.
Just to say hellow!