“Can someone who is divorced receive holy Communion?” 

 

Not only is this a common question, but one that seems to frequently involve misinformation, or at least confusing information. 

 

To answer it, we first have to understand the Church’s teaching regarding the reception of Communion in general. To summarize it briefly, after making our first Communion, we are able to receive Communion whenever we attend Mass, even daily. 

 

It is understood however, that normally a person would not receive Communion more than once a day (even if he or she attended more than one Mass) unless there were special circumstances involved. 

 

The other thing that would preclude a person from receiving Communion would be having an unrepented mortal sin on their conscience. In this case, one should first obtain the sacrament of reconciliation before receiving Communion again. 

 

However, for any sin to be “mortal” the Church also says that three conditions must be met. If any of them are missing the sin cannot be considered a mortal sin. These three conditions are: 

 

1. The sin involves “grave matter” (it is something seriously wrong), 

 

2. It is done with full knowledge (knowing it is not only wrong, but seriously wrong), 

 

3. The person gives their full consent (freely choose to do it). 

 

With this in mind we can return to the original question. Put simply, getting a divorce or being divorced does not necessarily constitute being in a state of mortal sin, and therefore being ineligible to receive Communion. 

 

Certainly, the Church neither approves of, nor applauds divorce. The Church’s teaching comes directly from Jesus’ own teaching and is based in the belief that God is the Creator of marriage and therefore not only what it is, but also what it involves (Mt 19:1-9). 

 

The Church sees divorce as inconsistent with God’s original plan for marriage. However, as the Catechism of the Catholic Church makes clear, even though the Church does not approve of divorce, it can at times tolerate it (CCC 2383). 

 

That being said, the Church is equally clear about what divorce can and cannot do in terms of the marital bond. While civil divorce can change a person’s legal standing in the eyes of the state, it doesn’t have any effect on the sacramentality of the marital bond or its indissolubility. 

 

Said another way, even if the civil authorities don’t recognize two people as married to each other any longer, it doesn’t mean the Church ceases to see them as being married. The only way the Church would see them as no longer bound together would be if the annulment process demonstrates that what was believed to be a valid marriage was in fact not one (explaining the annulment process is more than the scope of this column). 

 

Being divorced in and of itself therefore, does not automatically make someone ineligible to receive Communion. Being divorced doesn’t even mean that a person committed a sin necessarily (CCC 2383). Because it is unrepented mortal sin that constitutes ineligibility for Communion, one must examine whether or not that is the case. 

 

Even if it were, once a person seeks appropriate reconciliation, he or she could again receive Communion. 

 

The real problem for the reception of Communion happens when someone has only a civil divorce and gets remarried outside the Church. Such a person would be seen, in the Church’s view, as being in a perpetual state of ineligibility for Communion (assuming of course normal marital relations are taking place in the current bond, etc.). 

 

However, should that person go through the annulment process, seek reconciliation and have their union recognized by the Church, they could again receive. 

 

Likewise, if a person is divorced but not remarried (assuming there are no unrepented mortal sins on their conscience, as with anyone else) they remain eligible to receive Communion. 

 

Being in a state of mortal sin, not just being divorced, is the real obstacle to reception of Holy Communion.