By Carol Glatz
Catholic News Service

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Bishops from around the world will have to grapple with "a couple of contradictions" in order to allow the faithful to have more access to the Eucharist, said the special secretary of the Synod of Bishops on the Eucharist.

Archbishop Roland Minnerath of Dijon, France, said talks during the first 10 days of the Oct. 2-23 synod had shown that "on the one hand we are a church of the Eucharist, but on the other hand we seem to have fewer and fewer priests to celebrate it."

According to information released by the Vatican, the archbishop said another contradiction the faithful may be experiencing concerns the sacrament of reconciliation.

He said the church says participation in Sunday Mass "is obligatory and confession is important, but we can't offer that to all of our faithful," because there were not enough priests to offer confession or because priests were juggling too many duties and did not have time to offer the sacrament often enough.

Archbishop Minnerath delivered his comments between scheduled talks during the Oct. 12 morning session in the Vatican's synod hall. As special secretary, he was allowed to intervene at any time if he thought it could assist in the synod debate.

While the need to offer the faithful the opportunity to receive Communion and the sacrament of reconciliation were great concerns for the synod, he asked participants to not underestimate some other challenges confronting the church.

He cited the "challenge of Islam" which, he said, was growing in the West; the challenge of a culture of indifference in which "rationalism and hedonism" reigned; and the challenge of growing numbers of people flocking to Pentecostal or evangelical churches.

The archbishop said he wanted to mention these additional concerns in order "to keep things in perspective for all of us."

He told the synod fathers that "none of us has solutions, but the Holy Spirit does." He called on them to listen to the Holy Spirit and "be confident that our eucharistic church has a future."

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