Friday, July 18, 2003
Roman Catholic priest suspended for leading "open communion"
A Roman Catholic priest based in Germany was suspended Thursday for leading a high-profile open communion service at a Lutheran church in May in defiance of a papal admonition.
The bishop of Trier barred Gotthold Hasenhuettl, who is also a professor emeritus of theology at the University of Saarbruecken in western Germany, from celebrating the Eucharist and withdrew his church teaching permit.On May 29, around 2,000 people crowded into Berlin's Gethsemane Church as Hasenhuettl, distributed communion wafers among the worshippers - Roman Catholics and Lutherans alike. He celebrated a Roman Catholic Eucharist, but the service was advertised as an "open communion."
Pope John Paul II in April issued a reminder that services in Protestant churches cannot substitute for Sunday Mass. In an encyclical, he branded "unthinkable" the practice of substituting obligatory Sunday Mass with celebrations of prayer with other Christians or participation in their liturgical services.
Roman Catholics maintain that they receive the blood and body of Christ in communion, but many other Christians view communion as a symbolic re-creation of the Last Supper.
"Anyone who divides excludes himself," the Austrian-born Hasenhuettl, 69, said during the service, held on the sidelines of a major ecumenical conference.
Last month, another Roman Catholic priest was suspended for receiving communion at a Lutheran service held days later at the same church.
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