CHAPTER 3: EUCHARIST IN ECUMENICAL MONASTERIES 107 already since 1971 to ‘allow non-Catholic baptized to receive Catholic Communion occasionally without having to break with their own community’.266 Nevertheless, ten years later, the French Bishops’ Conference would interpret Willebrands’ requirement of ‘grave spiritual need’ to include the “‘real need’ or an experienced spiritual desire in the circumstance of deep and continuous bonds of fraternal communion with Catholics (as they are experienced in some mixed marriages and in some durable ecumenical groups)”267 – a clear reference to Taizé. Still, it is clear that the situation in Taizé (and in Bose, for that matter), only through a benevolent interpretation on the part of the local bishop or bishop’s conference, meets the requirements listed in the Ecumenical Directory. In particular, the durable nature of the circumstances – including the practice of Eucharistic hospitality – and the role the practice plays as a means for promoting Christian unity are not unequivocally in line with the norms and regulations. Still, the monastics interviewed for the current study stress that their primary motivation for joining the communities has been their individual desire for the monastic common life (see section 4.1 in particular). The practice of Eucharistic hospitality addresses the challenges of this context for their own spiritual wellbeing since they lack access to the sacramental resources of their own churches (in case this is not the Roman Catholic Church). From that point of view, their situation rather easily reflects the conditions and apparently the local bishops share this interpretation. But as I will argue, the situation in Taizé and Bose simultaneously transcends this incidental, individual aspect and implies a structural, ecclesiological dimension. Taizé clearly tries to respect the norms and regulations of the churches concerning Eucharistic hospitality within the community. At the same time, the community often mentions its current practice and promotes the conversation 266 Schelkens, Johannes Willebrands: Een leven in gesprek, 336. Original text in Dutch: “Het werd niet met zoveel woorden gezegd, maar dit kwam tegemoet aan de wensen van plaatselijke bisschoppen en van Schutz, die al sinds januari 1971 aan Paulus VI vroeg om ‘af en toe nietkatholieke gedoopten toe te staan om de katholieke communie te ontvangen, zonder daarbij te moeten breken met hun eigen gemeenschap” (translation: FW) 267 Commission épiscopale pour l’Unité des Chrétiens, “L’hospitalité eucharistique avec les chrétiens des églises issues de La Réforme en France,” 1983, https://archivesweb.cef.fr/ public/historique.cef.fr/historique.cef.fr/catho/vieglise/oecumenisme/note.html. Original text in French: “’réel besoin’ ou un désir spirituel ‘eprouvé des liens de communion fraternelle profonds et continus avec des catholiques (tels qu’ils sont vécus dans certains foyers mixtes et dans quelques groups oecuméniques durables)” (translation: FW).
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