A Roman Catholic priest, Fr Berhard Kroll, who received
communion from a Protestant pastor at the Kirchentag ecumenical congress
in Berlin last month has been disciplined.
Fr Kroll has been prohibited from performing his normal priestly duties and
from celebrating mass for an undefined period.
Fr Kroll had defied Roman Catholic canon law reinforced by a papal encyclical
that many thought was aimed at the five-day Kirchentag, where more than
200,000 Roman Catholics and Protestants gathered together for the first time in
its 150 year history.
The Pope had expressly excluded the possibility of eucharistic sharing. But
with dwindling support for all the main Churches in Germany, the organisers had
been determined to challenge this.
Fr Kroll received communion from Heinz-Otto Seidenschnur after preaching on 31
May. He has now been sent on a retreat to reflect and think about how he
understands his priesthood, the Bishop of Echstätt Dr Walter Mixa, said in a
statement.
The Bishop’s stand was backed by the Archbishop of Cologne, Cardinal Joachim
Meisner, who said that he had acted correctly and logically, since Fr Kroll
had defied the teachings of the Roman Catholic Church on the eucharist and
therefore had broken his ordination vows.
But Wir sind Kirche (We are Church), one of the groups who organised the
ecumenical service, called for his reinstatement. Imposing ecclesiastical
punishment for accepting eucharistic hospitality in a Protestant service . . .
is a heavy affront to the ecumenical movement and the Protestant Church, it
said.
The congregation at Fr Kroll’s church is also opposed to the disciplinary
measure. The church choir and organist have boycotted services. A human chain
one kilometre long, made up of a 1000 people, formed after the Sunday services,
linking the village’s RC and Lutheran churches.
Fr Kroll’s action was part of an extended debate that had rocked the ecumenical
community for months. Both Roman Catholics and Protestants had signalled their
intention to trespass on each other’s eucharists.