Santa Fe archbishop: No Communion for cohabitating couples

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The Catholic archbishop of Santa Fe has issued a pastoral letter, read in all parishes of the archdiocese on April 3, that explains the Catholic Church’s position on reception of the sacraments to those living in cohabitation.

“We are all painfully aware that there are many Catholics today who are living in cohabitation,” the pastoral letter by Archbishop Michael Sheehan begins. “The Church must make it clear to the faithful that these unions are not in accord with the Gospel, and to help Catholics who find themselves in these situations to do whatever they must do to make their lives pleasing to God.”

lifesitenews.com/news/santa-fe-archbishop-no-communion-for-cohabitating-couples
 
Good idea…but how can they tell who is “cohabitiating?” IE-My sister stayed with me when she was going through a horrible divorce (Abusive ex-husband, he was a nightmare) So let’s say the rumor goes out that I have a female living in my house. (She stayed in the guest room.) Should I be denied communion? Should I have kicked her out and made her stay with her ex? (She had just moved near by and knew no one) Should I have declared her an infidel and had her killed? Made her stay at a homeless shelter?

I AGREE that cohabitating before marriage is a bad idea-but be very careful. Don’t spread rumors until you know for sure something immoral is going on.
 
Rascalking said:
Good idea…but how can they tell who is “cohabitiating?” IE-My sister stayed with me when she was going through a horrible divorce (Abusive ex-husband, he was a nightmare) So let’s say the rumor goes out that I have a female living in my house.

I think there are co-habitating couples, particularly those awaiting annulments, who present themselves as unmarried. There are MANY couples who are free to marry, presenting themselves for marriage in the Church, for whom their co-habitation is supposed to be non-negotiable. These are the ones to whom the Archbishop is referring.
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t_r said:
Rascalking;7739171:
Good idea…but how can they tell who is “cohabitiating?” IE-My sister stayed with me when she was going through a horrible divorce (Abusive ex-husband, he was a nightmare) So let’s say the rumor goes out that I have a female living in my house.

I think there are co-habitating couples, particularly those awaiting annulments, who present themselves as unmarried. There are MANY couples who are free to marry, presenting themselves for marriage in the Church, for whom their co-habitation is supposed to be non-negotiable. These are the ones to whom the Archbishop is referring.
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I know. I’m just saying it’s NOT a good idea to jump to conclusions. I had someone jump to the moral high ground once and accuse me of having a woman living in my house. I said, “Yes, it’s my sister who needs a place to stay due to her divorce. Now shut up and mind your own business.”

The person who asked me was very humiliated. Serves them right.
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Rascalking, I think this is much more a shot across the bow of the people involved, not a call for all of the diocese to scrutinize everyone and their relationships.

A priest can not deny Holy Communion to someone based on hearsay or an imperfect understanding of the person’s situation.
 
Rascalking: Why would you assume that parish priests will be lurking around to see who is living with whom and then spread rumors? Co-habitation is usually defined as two people who are not married to each other living as if they are, in fact, married. This is called “Adultery” and is a public sin and a scandal. Bishops and priests have the duty to inform their congregations that this activity is not in line with Church teachings. The parties involved then have the obligation to discontinue their living arrangements or be denied access to the Sacraments. The hope is that they will make some changes and seek the consolation and reconciliation of the confessional. Thus being reunited with God and His Church. I hope and pray that the day will come when all Bishops and priests will start teaching those in their charge that there is a moral way in which we must live.
 
The archbishop is not advocating a witch-hunt… I think he is simply and definitively stating what the Church teaches and is making sure that people KNOW this, without question… the same can be said for couples using artificial contraception who present themselves for communion (wonder if that’s next??)

Now that the position is clear, without ambiguity, it is up to the couples themselves to correct their conduct… NOT for everyone else to point fingers!
 
I know everyone! I’m just saying be careful and don’t jump to conclusions! Denying communion is a super serious thing, and even priests sometimes might get wrong information!

Yikes! Didn’t mean to kick up this hornest nest! I support the churches teaching, and just wanted to add a reminder.
 
Sharing a home with a person you love of the opposite sex with whom you are not having sex for the obvious reason at our advance age should not prevent one from being able to receive communion. Sometimes a roommate is just a roommate whether same sex or opposite sex. This is especially true for us senior citizens who can’t afford to live alone, have no family nearby and need companionship and someone to help pay the rent and utilities.
 
bluerose said:
The archbishop is not advocating a witch-hunt… I think he is simply and definitively stating what the Church teaches and is making sure that people KNOW this, without question… the same can be said for couples using artificial contraception who present themselves for communion (wonder if that’s next??)

Now that the position is clear, without ambiguity, it is up to the couples themselves to correct their conduct… NOT for everyone else to point fingers!
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Right. He isn’t, but those people at LifeSiteNews - whom I trust not at all - put out a headline that makes it look as though there is a witch hunt going on. Shame on them!! 😦 😦
 
Cohabitation is a term of art that means living in a state analogous to marriage. It therefore implies sharing not only the communal table, but also the communal bed (“mensa et thoro”).

It does not apply to people who live together out of economic necessity or preference, let alone people in the same family.

The announcement simply puts the faithful on notice as a matter of discipline. In my diocese, several years ago the bishop sent out a similar letter regarding the viewing of pornography. Anyone doing so is in a state of mortal sin and cannot take the eucharist. Nobody is watching, but if one violates the instruction, one commits an additional sin in doing so.
 
Rich_Olszewski said:
Right. He isn’t, but those people at LifeSiteNews - whom I trust not at all - put out a headline that makes it look as though there is a witch hunt going on. Shame on them!! 😦 😦
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Here is an independent news site reporting the story:

Live-In Couples Can’t Take Communion, Archbishop Says

“These people are objectively living in a state of mortal sin and may not receive Holy Communion. They are in great spiritual danger. At the best – and this is, sadly, often the case – they are ignorant of God’s plan for man and woman. At the worst, they are contemptuous of God’s commandments and His sacraments,” Sheehan said in the letter.

koat.com/r/27465811/detail.html

So how is the LifesiteNews headline, and I am paraphrasing, misleading?
 
Rascalking said:
… Denying communion is a super serious thing…
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That’s correct, but commiting the sin of scracreligious reception of the Eucharist is much MORE serious (ie mortal sin). I have read the entire pastoral letter and believe that the intent is to inform them not to PRESENT themselves for communion, so that they may avoid commiting a MORTAL sin.
 
Rascalking said:
t_r;7739251:
I know. I’m just saying it’s NOT a good idea to jump to conclusions. I had someone jump to the moral high ground once and accuse me of having a woman living in my house. I said, “Yes, it’s my sister who needs a place to stay due to her divorce. Now shut up and mind your own business.”

The person who asked me was very humiliated. Serves them right.
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Dear Catholic Mormon ? ? ?

It is not our responsibility to determine who is living in the state of Mortal sin (unless they commit a Scandal - which is public.)
There are some people who are in your situation.
There are Catholics who are committed to living as “brother and sister” until they receive an annulment.
There are Catholics who came back to the Church, but for some reason - lack of living witnesses or for a good reason can not get an annulment. When they commit to living as “brother and sister”, they can also recieve the sacraments - no sexual relations. (These are usually but not always Reverts, coming back to the Church and may even have children by their second civil marriage.)

However the good Abp was doing his duty in teaching 100% of what is in the “CCC 2nd Ed”.
No Catholic in his Diocese has the excuse in not living according to the Faith. Both Adultary and Fornication are Mortal Sins.
Those living in the state of Mortal Sin may never receive the Eucharist, or they commit the additional Mortal Sin of Sacrilege.

When a co-habitating couple comes to a Priest to get married in the Church, they can no longer have a sexual relationship until after the marriage. - Pre-cana instructions these days usually take from 6 months or longer.
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Here are some cases where this applies:
  • people registering for marriage and reporting the same address.
  • people waiting for annulment and also reporting the same address
  • people living in the same address in common law marriage
  • people who openly live together w/o marriage for the reason that one of the parties would loose some benefits from the previous spouse
The denial is necessary only if the cohabitation is public, and the parties themselves acknowledge it. In the US it is still a little bit better but is some European countries 2/3rd of the children born outside of marriage. This should be concern for every catholic person.
 
I think the BISHOP has his head in the sand, there are more important issues in the church than people co-habitating. How about the problem of priest raping children. The church being run by OLD GUYS, don’t konw whats going on in the world. The Catholic church in America has lost a third of it catholics since 1988. these are issues that must be addressed.

Reynaldo Careaga
 
reyrey82t said:
I think the BISHOP has his head in the sand, there are more important issues in the church than people co-habitating. How about the problem of priest raping children. The church being run by OLD GUYS, don’t konw whats going on in the world. The Catholic church in America has lost a third of it catholics since 1988. these are issues that must be addressed.

Reynaldo Careaga
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Welcome to CAF. You will find that generally in threads about homosexual behavior we are inundated with posts of irate people telling us that the Church should also be addressing heterosexual sin. So here we have a Bishop doing just that and you tell us he is wasting his time and is probably a rapist to boot.

The homosexual priest scandal did great harm to the church and continues to do so to this day, but that does not mean that our clergy should not continue to guide us and lead us away from sin.
 
reyrey82t said:
I think the BISHOP has his head in the sand, there are more important issues in the church than people co-habitating. How about the problem of priest raping children. The church being run by OLD GUYS, don’t konw whats going on in the world. The Catholic church in America has lost a third of it catholics since 1988. these are issues that must be addressed.

Reynaldo Careaga
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The Church is an organization of over 1 Billion people. We can work on lots of things at once.

For example, when the Church encounters priests raping kids, the Church can act there. It can also act to correct people who fornicate or adulterate.

There is no reason why the Church can’t do multiple things at once 🙂

As far as those 'Old guys" not knowing what is going on in the world, that would be quite false. Those old guys have put out a LOT of teaching to correct the things going on in the world, such as fornication, contraception etc… That shows that not only that they DO have an idea about what is happening in the world, but also seek to correct those wrongs.
 
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