‘Open Forum on the Family’, Regency Hotel, Drumcondra, Dublin Saturday 21 March 2015

http://www.acireland.ie/open-forum-on-the-family-regency-hotel-dromcondra-dublin-saturday-21st-march-2015/
Pope Francis has urged the lay faithful to engage actively in the consultation process in advance of the 2015 Synod on the Family.
In many dioceses and parishes around the country consultation is  underway, mostly focused on the “Lineamenta” and the associated questions circulated by the Vatican.
To provide ACI members and supporters with an alternative approach to the consultation process the Steering Group is organising an ‘Open Forum’ on the Family’ in the Regency Hotel in Dublin on Saturday, 21 March, 2015.
The ‘Open Forum’ will include a number of short presentations on the real ‘lived experiences’ of people surviving on the margins of the church as a result of marriage break-down, involvement in second relationships, and sexual orientation.
The programme, which will be facilitated by Dr. Margaret Nugent from NUIM, will provide opportunities for detailed consideration of the key issues via small group discussions and a plenary session. Dr. Margaret Nugent is a staff member in the Adult and Community Education Department in NUIM and has extensive experience in working with community groups, statutory, semi-state and non-governmental organisations at home and in Africa, India and South America.
Following the event a report on the proceedings will be compiled and forwarded to the Conference of Irish Catholic Bishops and the Synod Secretariat in the Vatican.
You can book a place by emailing your name(s) and a telephone number to info@acireland.ie

Registration will also be possible on the day from 10.30 am.
Online booking will be available shortly.
ACI Steering Group

Similar Posts

What did Pope Francis achieve with the Synod?

Articles, Synod on the Family
12 Comments

Massimo Faggioli reports on the outcome of the synod in http://www.globalpulsemagazine.com/news/life-begins-at-50/2070

“Yet the final document, which received the quorum of the two thirds for all its paragraphs, is more cautious than the text of 2014.
It is also silent on some important issues, namely the attitude of the Church towards gay people (except a weak passage on families with gay members).”
“But in this sense the final relatio of 2015 is a document that gives us a picture of the Church – more accurately, of its bishops – that is closer to reality,”
“The Synod also showed that much of the Catholic debate today is the expression of a debate between American bishops. The fact that they disagreed in public … is in itself surprising. It is the symptom of the extremism and sectarianism of some … but also the sign of Francis’ breakthrough in the American Catholic hierarchy.”
“The Synod’s final document is important, but it says less about the future direction of the Church than Francis’ great speeches of October 17 (a new ecclesiological framework for a synodal Church) and October 24 (against the ideologues in the Church). This is why the Synod of 2015 will disappoint some liberals, but it is clearly a victory for Francis.”

Synod on the Family – Please fasten your seat belts

Pope Francis, Synod on the Family
5 Comments

We carry two reports about the Synod on the Family.
Gerard O’Connell in America Magazine gives an account of the first week and the reports of various language groups.
‘The first week revealed not only the ethnic but also the theological and cultural diversity of the synod fathers, which French language group “A” described as “a unique experience of Catholicity.” ‘

In the second article Sandro Magister, comments in www.chiesa.it on a letter reputed to have been sent to Pope Francis from 13 Cardinals who are said to be a little disgruntled by proceedings at the Synod.
One of their objections is that members of a committee to draft a final document at the Synod “have been appointed, not elected, without consultation.” Interesting they think people should be elected, not appointed, to important positions and that there should be consultation!!

Join the Discussion

Keep the following in mind when writing a comment

  • Your comment must include your full name, and email. (email will not be published). You may be contacted by email, and it is possible you might be requested to supply your postal address to verify your identity.
  • Be respectful. Do not attack the writer. Take on the idea, not the messenger. Comments containing vulgarities, personalised insults, slanders or accusations shall be deleted.
  • Keep to the point. Deliberate digressions don't aid the discussion.
  • Including multiple links or coding in your comment will increase the chances of it being automati cally marked as spam.
  • Posts that are merely links to other sites or lengthy quotes may not be published.
  • Brevity. Like homilies keep you comments as short as possible; continued repetitions of a point over various threads will not be published.
  • The decision to publish or not publish a comment is made by the site editor. It will not be possible to reply individually to those whose comments are not published.