At Easter 1995 the Archbishop of Brisbane issued a document entitled Blessed and Broken: Pastoral Guidelines for Eucharistic Hospitality. He explained that two years earlier the Archdiocesan Commission for Ecumenism had raised the question and expressed concern about the amount of confusion existing among Catholics in matters of eucharistic hospitality, with so many people unsure of official Church teaching. He asked the Commission to carry out the consultation and research necessary to produce pastoral guidelines, which it did. He then offered his Pastoral Guidelines for Providing Access to Holy Communion for Christians of Other Churches to the clergy and laity of the Archdiocese as official policy, which "is based on sound principles of Ecumenism, will give adequate direction to the Archdiocese, and will further the aims of the Ecumenical Movement. "
Following an introduction, a section on the Centrality of the Eucharist, and one on Unity in Faith, there are two paragraphs which relate directly to interchurch families. These are printed below. Of particular interest is the recognition that some couples will experience a need to share communion on a regular basis, and that this need can be met.
Eucharistic Hospitality
There are significant events in the lives of individual Christians and their families when requests to receive holy communion at a Catholic Mass will be made. If we consider the high frequency of marriage between Catholics and other Christians in Australia, the extensive sacramental preparation programs for children which require the participation of parents, many of whom are not Catholic, and the increasingly favourable ecumenical climate in our Archdiocese, it is very likely that such requests will be forthcoming on a variety of occasions. This will be more so once our Church's openness to responding to the spiritual need of other Christians is better known. The following are some examples of possible spiritual need: for the partner at a marriage celebrated with a nuptial Mass; for the parent of a child baptised at a Catholic Mass; for the parent of a child receiving confirmation and first holy communion; for the family of the deceased at a funeral Mass. Similarly, requests may come from Christians who are denied easy access to a minister of their own Church because they are confined to a health care facility, or are subject to some form of institutional confinement.
There should not be a general invitation from the presiding priest for Christians from other churches to receive holy communion at a Catholic Mass. Each case must be considered on its merit. The person must make a request without any kind of pressure, must manifest the Catholic belief in the eucharist, and must have appropriate dispositions. In the Archdiocese of Brisbane it is sufficient for the presiding priest to establish, by means of a few simple questions, whether or not these conditions are met.
When a Christian from another Church makes frequent requests to receive holy communion, different circumstances prevail. In such cases joint pastoral care by the clergy of both Churches should be offered to help the person understand the significance of such requests.
Interchurch Marriages
The Directory on Ecumenism states that eucharistic sharing for a spouse in a mixed marriage can only be exceptional. The Directory, however, recognises a category of mixed marriages where each partner lives devotedly within the tradition of his and her Church. It sees such couples making a significant contribution to the ecumenical movement. A spouse in such a marriage, now commonly called an interchurch marriage, could well experience a serious spiritual need to receive holy communion each time he or she accompanies the family to a Catholic Mass. Requests for this kind of eucharistic hospitality should be refer-red by the parish priest to the Archbishop or one of the auxiliary bishops.