TO CHANGE THE CHURCH.

• Author: Slade, Stephanie
• Position: BOOK - Brief article - Book review

There are roughly 1.28 billion Roman Catholics in the world. Of those, some probably do not know their Church says getting divorced and remarried without annulment counts as adultery. (As such, remarried Catholics are ineligible to receive the Eucharist during Mass.) Many more likely are aware of the teaching but quietly choose to ignore it. Of those, some are priests and bishops, who sometimes make "pastoral exceptions" for members of their flocks by allowing them to take Communion despite the prohibition.

What's the harm, then, in acknowledging what's already happening, and perhaps opening up the sacrament more formally? To Change the Church, a new book by New York Times columnist Ross Douthat, suggests Pope...