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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Doctrine does Develop

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Joshua J. McElwee, NCR Vatican correspondent, reports on the German language group report from the Synod.
The group, which includes Cardinals Walter Kasper and Gerhard Muller, says in their report “The mercy of God reveals to us in this way the reason and the entire purpose of the work of salvation. The justice of God is His mercy, with which He justifies us.”
Joshua J. McElwee says that as a consequence of this understanding of salvation, the German speaking group write, “there cannot be one universal principle that accounts for all particular situations.”

New Synod questionnaire on family issues issued by Vatican website

Pope Francis, Synod on the Family
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For your information we publish the New Synod questionnaire on family issues published by the Vatican. It requests episcopal conferences to choose a suitable manner of involving all components of the particular churches and academic institutions, organizations, lay movements and other ecclesial associations.

Synod on the Family – Please fasten your seat belts

Pope Francis, Synod on the Family
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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!!

Stones still Standing

Articles, Pope Francis, Reform of the Irish Church, Synod on the Family
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Chris McDonnell reflects on the recent synod.
“What’s changed?
We don’t deny the faith of earlier generations by asking that question”.
Chris is a retired head teacher having taught in London, Leeds and on Merseyside. Married with three children and eight grandchildren. He is a regular contributor to discussion in the catholic press, journals and blogs.

Archbishop calls for possibility of ordaining women as Deacons

Synod on the Family
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Carol Glatz, Catholic News Service, reporting in www.cruznow.com writes about the call made by a Canadian bishop for women deacons.
The issue of the role of women in our church is not going away, and won’t, no matter how many attempts are made to suppress and close down dialogue and debate.
St. John Paul II called for “no more degradation of women” in the world in “Familiaris Consortio”, 1981.
But there is a credibility issue for us with huge numbers of people, in making such calls, when women are still excluded from ordained ministry and from real decision making roles.
Ordaining women as deacons would be seen by many as a very tentative first step in righting a wrong.

Conclusion of the Synod of Bishops; address of Pope Francis

Pope Francis, Synod on the Family
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Time will judge the impact of the synod. The Pope’s closing comments stand for themselves but perhaps many will read as much into what he left unsaid as what he said.
“Surely it was not about finding exhaustive solutions for all the difficulties and uncertainties which challenge and threaten the family, but rather about seeing these difficulties and uncertainties in the light of the Faith, carefully studying them and confronting them fearlessly, without burying our heads in the sand.”

“It was about trying to open up broader horizons, rising above conspiracy theories and blinkered viewpoints, so as to defend and spread the freedom of the children of God, and to transmit the beauty of Christian Newness, at times encrusted in a language which is archaic or simply incomprehensible.”

“The Synod experience also made us better realize that the true defenders of doctrine are not those who uphold its letter, but its spirit; not ideas but people; not formulae but the gratuitousness of God’s love and forgiveness. This is in no way to detract from the importance of formulae – they are necessary – or from the importance of laws and divine commandments, but rather to exalt the greatness of the true God, who does not treat us according to our merits or even according to our works but solely according to the boundless generosity of his Mercy “

“The Church’s first duty is not to hand down condemnations or anathemas, but to proclaim God’s mercy, to call to conversion, and to lead all men and women to salvation in the Lord (cf. Jn 12:44-50).”

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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