Holy Communion & Divorce

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I am trying to find out the link between Divorce and taking Holy Communion. For example someone who was an atheist when they got married in a Protestant Church, and through his own grievous faults, he destroyed the marriage and the wife divorced him for unreasonable behaviour.

Twenty years later, He finds God and then becomes a Catholic, takes the sacrament of reconciliation for all his sins,incl his grievous sins that caused the divorce. However, he is told he cannot take Holy Communion. Yes, I fully understand that marriage is a sacred bond not to be broken. But my question Is:
What is the link between his divorce and not being allowed Communion, when the guy has already taken sacrament of reconciliation ?
 
Nothing in that says that he can’t take communion.

If he’s attempted to marry another person, then the relationship is potentially adulterous, depending on if his first marriage was valid or not. He would need to pursue a declaration of nullity (annulment) if he believes his first marriage is invalid, otherwise he would need to live a chaste life to resume taking communion.
 
Thank You, Promethean, appreciated. The guy is living a Chaste life anyhow, thus he can receive Holy Communion. Instead of asking the Church, he just pressumed he could not take communion as he was at fault for the divorce. He will be well pleased now. Thanks again...
 
M parents went through the same thing. My father left,divorced my mom and married again. My mom never got married again, in fact she never went out with anyone, she could have gone for an annulment, Marriage is a Sacrament, vows taken before God and she stands by that. She brought up the fact that my father could never receive Communion again in that state. I sometimes wonder what happens to people, do they take the vows they made so lightly. GOD BLESS
 
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Can someone show me where it’s forbidden? I bet nobody can show me in Scripture, I bet someone will post the Catechism or Papal Decree though.

I pray Pope Francis makes some even bigger changes, changes that actually line up with Scripture and show compassion and true mercy and forgiveness.
 
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If one is totally or partly responsible for the divorce, all that is needed to be eligible to receive communion is confession.

The problem with being barred from communion arises only if one enters into another sexual relationship after divorce, including contracting a civil marriage or marriage in a non-Catholic denomination or faith. In those cases the person is in an objectively adulterous situation, and should cease the conjugal relationship if the situation (e.g. care of children) requires that they remain together. If they are having difficulty ending conjugal relations, they should discern the best course of action with their pastor.
 
kristaok said:
Can someone show me where it’s forbidden? I bet nobody can show me in Scripture, I bet someone will post the Catechism or Papal Decree though.

I pray Pope Francis makes some even bigger changes, changes that actually line up with Scripture and show compassion and true mercy and forgiveness.
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One must be worthy, that is, in a state of grace and not causing scandal through the reception.

1 Cor 11
27 Therefore whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord unworthily will have to answer for the body and blood of the Lord. 28 A person should examine himself,[m] and so eat the bread and drink the cup. 29 For anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body, eats and drinks judgment[n] on himself. 30 That is why many among you are ill and infirm, and a considerable number are dying. 31 If we discerned ourselves, we would not be under judgment; 32 but since we are judged by [the] Lord, we are being disciplined so that we may not be condemned along with the world.
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Please correct me, someone, if I am wrong. But Divorcees are not prohibited from receiving the Eucharist. Adulterers are. A divorcee is not committing adultery unless the marriage resulting in the civil action of divorce was a sacramental marriage AND they are cohabitating, or married outside the sacrament of Holy Matrimony. Am I wrong? Apologies if I am.
 
Matthew 19:
1 When Jesus had finished saying these things, he left Galilee and went into the region of Judea to the other side of the Jordan. 2 Large crowds followed him, and he healed them there.

3 Some Pharisees came to him to test him. They asked, “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife for any and every reason?”

4 “Haven’t you read,” he replied, “that at the beginning the Creator ‘made them male and female,’[a] 5 and said, ‘For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh’? 6 So they are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let no one separate.”

7 “Why then,” they asked, “did Moses command that a man give his wife a certificate of divorce and send her away?”

8 Jesus replied, “Moses permitted you to divorce your wives because your hearts were hard. But it was not this way from the beginning. 9 I tell you that anyone who divorces his wife, except for sexual immorality, and marries another woman commits adultery.”

10 The disciples said to him, “If this is the situation between a husband and wife, it is better not to marry.”

11 Jesus replied, “Not everyone can accept this word, but only those to whom it has been given. 12 For there are eunuchs who were born that way, and there are eunuchs who have been made eunuchs by others—and there are those who choose to live like eunuchs for the sake of the kingdom of heaven. The one who can accept this should accept it.”
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1 Cor 11:
27 Therefore whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord unworthily will have to answer for the body and blood of the Lord. 28 A person should examine himself,[m] and so eat the bread and drink the cup. 29 For anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body, eats and drinks judgment[n] on himself. 30 That is why many among you are ill and infirm, and a considerable number are dying. 31 If we discerned ourselves, we would not be under judgment; 32 but since we are judged by [the] Lord, we are being disciplined so that we may not be condemned along with the world.
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The committing of divorce and sexual relationship with another is adultery, per Christ, and that renders one unprepared to take Communion.
 
Even in Orthodoxy, where divorce is permitted, there are still canonical penalties. Divorcees can be barred from Communion for a time and second marriages are stripped of celebratory elements (There is no crowning). The second marriage Service is penitential in tone. I think it is clear in Scripture that divorce is seen as a rupture and goes against God’s will for us. The question is how to address this rupture. We allowed Ecclesial Divorce for centuries, even before the Great Schism. The Latin and Greek wings of the Church developed two ways of looking at this gut wrenching question.

I won’t rehash that debate here. But to reiterate my point, divorce is universally seen traditionally as an impediment to Holy Communion and the Christian life. Catholics and Orthodox differ on “the fix.”

What specific “changes” are you looking for?
 
The divorced Adulterer must take the sacrament of reconciliation, before being eligible to receive communion, but he would need to live a chaste life to be able to keep taking communion.
 
You sound correct to me. The person might have some sin if he caused the divorce through ill-treatment of his spouse or irresponsible behavior, but once confessed, these sins are forgiven and removed, so unless the person is still harassing his ex, there’s no current sin involved with just being divorced.
 
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However,I t just seems odd to think, “Yes” the person has had their sins forgiven and can take communion,but the minute they attempt to marry another person,or cohabitate,or have a sexual partner, then the relationship is adulterous and thus they cannot they cannot take communion. It looks like one minute they are forgiven for their sins and the next the minute they are not. Bit confusing…
 
Where does it say those who have been divorced is unworthy? It doesn’t. The Blood makes us worthy. I’m not for divorce either, but things happen, thank God for the Blood.
 
When God forgives sins it’s completely blotted out, remember that. God said He will remember the sins no more. So yes they CAN take Communion ( even if they have to just take it at home )if they have sought Gods forgiveness God has forgiven them.
 
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Michael2457 said:
It looks like one minute they are forgiven for their sins and the next the minute they are not. Bit confusing…
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In the case where they start having a sexual relationship with someone who is not their spouse, they are committing new sins. That is the difference.

They can stop, ask forgiveness, and return to the sacraments though reconciliation.
 
kristaok said:
Can someone show me where it’s forbidden?
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The friend the OP was writing about was mistaken. He assumed he could not take communion. No one actually told him he couldn’t receive communion.

Prometheus cleared that up on post #2.
 
He’s referring to those who have divorced and entered into an adulterous relationship with a “second spouse.” Not to those who are merely divorced and living a chaste life…
 
It’s not really confusing. A person makes a promise to marry “till death do us part”. Unless the Church later declares that the marriage was null (never existed) for some reason, the Church considers the person to still be married, and any romantic behavior or inclinations towards someone else is therefore not allowed and is generally sinful.

Like everything else, the degree of moral culpability can be reduced based on circumstances - for example, if a person’s spouse was missing and presumed dead and 20 years later they reappear having been living under an assumed identity or in a POW camp, them the person who had good cause to think themselves widowed might well have gotten a new spouse by then, and the Church might well be more understanding in that circumstance.
 
Except the root question concerned divorce without adultery…divorce in itself is not sinful if a post divorce life is lived chastely.
 
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