STATEMENT BY THE EPISCOPAL CONFERENCE
Lately, several people have been questioning whether couples who are unmarried and who cohabit are able to receive Holy Communion.
We wish to affirm that everybody – these couples included – is welcome in the Church, who shall continue to offer all the spiritual support that is necessary. As your Bishops, we encourage you, among other things, to participate in the life of the Church and attend for the celebration of the Mass.
However, the Catholic Church reiterates that those couples who live together outside of marriage are not to receive the Eucharist. The Church does not impose this as a form of punishment, but rather because their way of living is not in conformity with the Sacrament of Christian marriage. Besides this, their life-style is not consistent with the Church’s teaching regarding the Eucharist and their situation does not manifest the moral disposition which is proper in order to receive the Eucharist. The teaching of the Magisterium of the Church states that in order to receive the Eucharist, a person must be in full communion with God and the Church.
The Church, as founded by Christ, and as an ecclesial community, ought to give visible witness of this teaching through its members.
We know that it calls for great sacrifice in order to be able to give witness of true Christian living within the Catholic Church. We also know that there are some people who are paying a high price in order to remain in full communion with the Church – people whose marriages have failed but who have chosen not to enter into another relationship outside of marriage. Therefore, these people who are separated and who have not formed a relationship with another partner, may be admitted to the sacraments of Confession and the Eucharist.
As your Bishops, we would like to invite all those who are unmarried and who co-habit, to heed the Church’s teaching, to reinforce their conviction in God’s mercy, to seek sincerely the road to conversion and do all that is possible to remain on the right path. We encourage these couples to participate in the Mass and internally express a sincere desire for Communion, which is of great spiritual value before God.