Abstract

Karl Braun:
The Responsible Care for the Painful Reality of Divorced and Remarried
(FKTh 2013-4, p. 288–299)

The article offers a critical evaluation of the “Pastoral Manual” published in September 2013 by the Pastoral Office of the Archdiocese of Freiburg im Breisgau. The proposal of this manual is confronted with the link between Eucharist, Church and marriage. Assessing diverse affirmations on the divorced and remarried faithful, the author refers to the Synod of the Dioceses of the Federal Republic of Germany (1975), the response to it in the Apostolic Letter of John Paul II “Familiaris consortio” (1981), the Pastoral Letter of three German bishops (1993) and the reaction to this writing by the Congregation for the Doctrine of Faith on the Eucharistic Communion for Divorced and Remarried Faithful (1994). Archbishop Braun gives his view on the discussion and formulates some arguments for a responsible pastoral praxis in harmony with the universal magisterium.