Synod on the Family – Second Consultation

Australia’s catholic bishops have produced a new questionnaire of 30 questions, based on the 46 proposed by the Vatican, to survey  Catholics’ attitudes to issues relating to family life. The consultation is  to help inform October’s Synod on the Family.
Some Australian dioceses have produced a web survey to help get opinions from as many people as possible.
It can be accessed here. https://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=V6CxPa38vEEPM2rGeGSPAA%3d%3d
We await to hear how the Irish bishops propose to consult catholics in Ireland about these issues.

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Widen the circle at the 2015 Family Synod

Synod on the Family
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Deborah Rose-Milavec, Executive Director of FutureChurch, brings to our attention a campaign to ‘widen the circle’ of those who can contribute at the Synod about family.
She argues that ‘The synod would benefit from listening to Catholic representatives from diverse constituencies and from engaging in the dialogue Pope Francis has promoted throughout his papacy. We believe widening the circle will create greater understanding among the synod fathers whose final recommendations to Pope Francis may impact our Church’s pastoral practice for years to come.’

The Joy of Love – Pope Francis

Pope Francis, Synod on the Family
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Pope Francis –
“No one can be condemned for ever, be­cause that is not the logic of the Gospel!”
“Here I am not speaking only of the divorced and re­married, but of everyone, in whatever situation they find themselves.”

“not all discussions of doctrinal, moral or pastoral issues need to be settled by interventions of the magisterium. Unity of teaching and practice is certainly necessary in the Church, but this does not preclude various ways of interpreting some aspects of that teaching or drawing certain consequences from it. This will always be the case as the Spirit guides us towards the entire truth.”

“We have been called to form consciences, not to replace them.”

2 Comments

  1. Pádraig McCarthy says:

    Here are the 30 questions pulled from the on-line survey, so you can print them off for discussion if it seems helpful.
    THE VOCATION AND MISSION OF THE FAMILY
    IN THE CHURCH AND CONTEMPORARY WORLD
    Access the Final Synod Document here: http://press.vatican.va/content/salastampa/en/bollettino/pubblico/2014/10/18/0770/03044.html
    1. Does the final Synod Document offer an adequate account of marriage and the family or does more need to be said?
    2. What is being done to help families cope in the midst of great social changes?
    What more could be done, especially in helping them to understand those changes?
    3. What is being done to ensure that governments support marriage and the family in every way possible? What more could be done?
    4. What is being done to support strong families? What more could be done?
    5. What is being done to help families in trouble?
    How might troubles be prevented?
    How effectively is pastoral care being offered to families “on the periphery”?
    6. How can we help individuals and couples grow in affective or emotional maturity?
    7. What needs to be done to equip ordained ministers and others to work effectively in the area of marriage and the family?
    8. Does the encounter with Christ shape pastoral care in the area of marriage and the family?
    How well is Scripture used in the pastoral care of couples and families?
    9. What values are in fact most important in the area of marriage and the family in the eyes of young people and married couples?
    What counter-values are evident?
    10. How can couples living together before marriage or in de facto relationships be encouraged to choose marriage?
    11. What is being done to help people understand the greatness and beauty of the indissolubility of marriage?
    What more could be done?
    12. How can we help people understand better the power of a relationship with God in marriage and of the grace of the Sacrament in their lives?
    13. How can we help people understand better that marriage is a key part of God’s original plan and is therefore a way of fulfilment not confinement, joy not sorrow?
    14. How can the family be helped to become “the domestic Church” with a missionary vocation? How can we help develop a family spirituality?
    15. What can be done to provide an effective and comprehensive catechesis of marriage and the family, starting in early life and involving life-long formation?
    16. Do we need to shape a new language in the area of marriage and the family? If so, how?
    17. How effective is the marriage preparation that is being offered?
    How might it be more effective?
    18. Do we need to do more to support couples in the early years of married life? If so, what?
    19. What place do marriage and the family have in the RCIA?
    20. What movements and associations are there in the area of marriage and the family?
    Can these contribute more broadly and effectively?
    21. What are the challenges of mixed marriages and interreligious marriages?
    How can we meet them more effectively?
    22. Apart from sacramental marriage, what can be done to foster appreciation of “natural marriage”?
    23. How can we respond compassionately to people in irregular unions while remaining faithful to the teaching of Christ and the Church?
    24. Does the process of declaring nullity need to be simpler, less difficult and less costly?
    25. How can we respond better to people of same-sex attraction and their families?
    26. How can we communicate more effectively the Church’s vision of married love and the beauty and dignity of parenthood as presented, for example, in Humanae Vitae?
    27. What more can be done to promote a sense of parenthood as divine vocation?
    What more can be done to help parents in their educational mission, especially in transmitting the faith to their children?
    28. How can we encourage adoption and foster-parenting as signs of fruitful generosity?
    29. What more can we do to prevent abortion and foster a genuine culture of life?
    30. How can we help all people see that no-one is beyond God’s mercy?

    Reply

  2. I am surprised that there has been no mention here of the fact that Archbishop Diarmuid Martin, who will be attending the Synod, has written to all the priests and parishes in the Dublin Archdiocese inviting the people to take part in a diocesan-wide discussion ahead of the Synod. The process of reflection and discussion will take place in parishes during February and March with responses to be returned to the Diocesan Office for Evangelisation and Ecumenism before the end of March. I read about this in my just-arrived Tablet this evening. I think this is to be applauded as many parishes and dioceses – not just in Ireland — did not get an opportunity to contribute before the last Synod. I am also impressed that there is an office for ecumenism in the Dublin Archdiocese. Are there similar offices or Ecumenical Commissions in other Irish dioceses?

    Reply

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