By Cindy Wooden
Catholic News Service

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- While acknowledging problems connected with faith, discipline and manpower, the Synod of Bishops on the Eucharist called on Catholics to approach the sacrament with awe and allow it to transform their lives and the life of the world.

In their final message, the bishops encouraged Catholics to "go joyfully" to meet the risen Jesus in the Eucharist and experience the truth of his promise to be with his followers until the end of time.

The message was released Oct. 22, a day later than scheduled, after synod members returned it to their drafting committee for dozens of minor changes and after several bishops called for clarification in its section on divorced and civilly remarried Catholics who cannot receive the Eucharist.

The rewriting of the message meant that the bishops did not have a chance to vote on its final form, although Canadian Cardinal Marc Ouellet of Quebec, chairman of the drafting committee, told a press conference Oct. 22 that the bishops' applause earlier that morning signified their approval.

The message said the synod's goal was to offer Pope Benedict XVI suggestions on how "to update and deepen the eucharistic life of the church."

It listed several challenges to eucharistic renewal, including secularism with its loss of a sense of the sacred and an awareness of sin; a shortage of priests in many countries; those in irregular marriage situations; and war, injustice and poverty.

The bishops said Catholics must rediscover the "deepest meaning" of the sacrament of reconciliation; "it is a conversion and a precious remedy given by the risen Christ for the forgiveness of sins and for the growth of love toward him and our brothers and sisters," they said.

The fact that in many parts of the world there are not enough priests to celebrate the Eucharist each Sunday "worries us a great deal," the bishops said. They asked Catholics to join them in praying for and actively promoting vocations to the priesthood.

The message did not mention the Oct. 2-23 synod's discussion about the possibility of ordaining married men in the Latin-rite church, a possibility the majority of bishops said was not the path to pursue.

Australian Cardinal George Pell of Sydney told the Oct. 22 press conference, "I think it is significant that there has been a massive restatement of the tradition in the Latin church of mandatory celibacy for priests."

In their message, the bishops encouraged renewed attention to the idea of "spiritual communion," in which the faithful prayerfully unite themselves with Christ present in the Eucharist although they do not receive Communion.

The bishops said the practice of spiritual communion would help Catholics have a deeper experience of the Eucharist when they are able to receive it and would "bring genuine consolation to those who, for various reasons, cannot receive the body and blood of Christ in Communion."

The message also expressed "pastoral concern" and sadness for those who do not have access to the Eucharist because their family situations "do not conform to the commandment of the Lord" regarding the unbreakable bond of marriage.

The bishops said that "while we do not endorse their choice" to live together without the benefit of a sacramental marriage "they are not excluded from the life of the church."

"We ask that they participate in Sunday Mass and devote themselves assiduously to listening to the word of God so that it might nourish their life of faith, of love and of conversion," the message said.

French Archbishop Roland Minnerath of Dijon told the press conference that synods cannot change church teaching, but must find new pastoral approaches to applying church teaching, which the bishops tried to do in the face of "the very painful situation of the divorced and remarried."

While the church cannot ignore their irregular situation, the archbishop said, the bishops were aware that the church must find ways to "draw near to these persons, to understand individual situations, to study case by case how a person in such a situation can continue to develop his or her faith life."

Cardinal Ouellet said the theme was "among the most delicate" and most discussed issues of the synod. "There was a real concern to express compassion and understanding for the situation of the divorced and remarried. At the same time, a balance had to be maintained between the doctrine of the church" on the indissolubility of marriage and a recognition of the suffering and sadness of those who cannot receive Communion.

The bishops also said the suffering of the poor and of victims of violence and injustice is a challenge for how Catholics experience and live the Eucharist.

"These sufferings cannot remain extraneous to the celebration of the eucharistic mystery which summons all of us to work for justice and the transformation of the world in an active and conscious fashion," the message said.

The bishops' message said the Second Vatican Council, which ended 40 years ago, "provided the basis for an authentic liturgical renewal," which must be cultivated and purified of "abuses that have crept into liturgical practice."

"We are convinced that respect for the sacred character of the liturgy is transmitted by genuine fidelity to liturgical norms of legitimate authority," they said.

The bishops also praised priests who preside over the Eucharist and minister to their people with generosity, expressed trust in the ability of young people to change the world for the better, and appealed to parents to educate their children in the faith and support them as they discern the vocation to which God is calling them.

Copyright (c) 2005 Catholic News Service/U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops