The blog of the Sons of the Most Holy Redeemer (also known as the Transalpine Redemptorists), of Papa Stronsay, Orkney, Scotland, features an interesting document: a 1908 letter from Pope Pius X (not exactly an “ecumaniac” or champion of “indifferentism”) to Andrei Sheptyts’kyi (1865–1944), the saintly Greek Catholic Metropolitan of Kiev, explicitly permitting communicatio in sacris with Orthodox Christians.
N.B. I post this merely for informational purposes; the Catholic and Orthodox faithful should always respect the eucharistic disciplines imposed by the hierarchy of their respective communions.
” explicitly permitting communicatio in sacris with Orthodox Christians.”
— as long as a dispensation is obtained from one’s confessor. That is an extremely important caveat.
Furthermore, the request from Met. Sheptytsky says that the requested dispensation will be something given by confessors “as many times as they will judge it in conscience to be opportune”, which on the face of it, seems to imply that the confessor will have to be consulted and asked for a dispensation prior to every act of communicatio in sacris.
Actually, it doesn’t imply “prior to every act.” If circumstances remain the same as they were when the dispensation was granted, it doesn’t have to be revisited.
Here is a hypothetical example:
An American consulting engineer finds himself spending a lot of time working in Central Asia. It would be morally burdensome to drive 250km and back on a Sunday to attend the nearest Catholic church. As such he is dispensed by his confessor, whom he sees perhaps every three months at best when back in the USA, and can thus commune repeatedly at the local Orthodox church with its pastor’s permission.
Metropolitan Hilarion had pointed out recently that certain Orthodox sacraments could be dispensed to members of the Church of England in certain situations. So historically things like this have happened.
I’m actually not clear on what the current policy is in the RCC. I’ve heard something along the lines that anyone who professes belief in the real presence can receive if the priest allows it.
I know this is true with my bishop. If Roman Catholics are seriously ill in the hospital, and no one has been able to administer communion to them, we are instructed to hear their confession and commune them.
Just a quick housekeeping note: Forgive me if it’s petty, but it’s ever so nice when other blogs, when they pick up things via this blog, credit this blog with a link (“via Eirenikon”).