on 11 april 1973, cardinal franjo šeper, prefect of the congregation for the doctrine of the faith (cdf), wrote to the president of the national conference of catholic bishops (in the u.s.), "in regard to admission to the sacraments the ordinaries are asked on the one hand to stress observance of current discipline and, on the other hand, to take care that the pastors of souls exercise special care to seek out those who are living in an irregular union by applying to the solution of such cases, in addition to other right means, the church’s approved practice in the internal forum ("probatam ecclesiae praxim in foro interno").” following a request for clarification, on 21 march 1975, then archbishop jean jérôme hamer, secretary of the cdf, wrote, "i would like to state now that this phrase ["probata praxis ecclesiae"] must be understood in the context of traditional moral theology. these couples [catholics living in irregular marital unions] may be allowed to receive the sacraments on two conditions, that they try to live according to the demands of christian moral principles and that they receive the sacraments in churches in which they are not known so that they will not create any scandal".