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Vatican releases document on upcoming family synod

Document offers preview of what the synod will cover
Vatican releases document on upcoming family synod

File picture: AFP Photo/Andreas Solaro

Published: June 26, 2014 11:25 AM GMT
Updated: June 26, 2014 12:39 AM GMT

Struggles faced by faithful around the world in following Catholic teachings stem mainly from ineffective education in those teachings and the pervasive effect of a relativistic culture, states the guiding document for an upcoming Synod of Bishops on the family.

The document, anticipated by many Catholics as a barometer for what to expect from the synod, also strongly reinforces church teachings regarding the indissolubility of marriage, the restriction of marriage to heterosexual couples, and that partners must be open to having children.

At the same time, the document states, the church must respond with mercy to the struggles of families to adhere to sometimes controversial teachings -- like those prohibiting divorce and remarriage, contraception, cohabitation, and same-sex marriage -- and "support her children on the path of reconciliation."

Released by the Vatican on Thursday, the document was prepared for an extraordinary Synod of Bishops to be held in October. Called by Pope Francis last year, the 2014 synod is the first of two back-to-back yearly meetings of the world's Catholic bishops at the Vatican on the theme of "pastoral challenges of the family in the context of evangelization."

The Vatican's office for the Synod of Bishops drafted the preparatory document after a consultation unusual for the breadth of comment it encouraged prelates to seek from priests and laity.

Over the past months, news of the synod has raised hopes that Francis may be considering a change in the church's pastoral practices in a number of areas, particularly regarding the admittance of divorced and remarried persons to Communion.

Yet, Thursday's document paints the upcoming meeting as an event for the prelates to evaluate how to re-articulate current teachings, not to evaluate the teachings themselves.

The document, known in Latin as an instrumentum laboris, also blames modern culture for Catholics' poor acceptance of certain church teachings.

Responses to the synod office's global consultation -- which saw bishops' conferences around the world answer a long questionnaire on how Catholics perceive church teachings -- were "in agreement on the underlying reasons for the difficulty in accepting Church teaching," the document states.

Among those reasons: "the hedonistic culture; relativism; materialism; individualism; the growing secularism; the prevalence of ideas that lead to an excessive, selfish liberalization of morals; ... [and] a culture which rejects making permanent choices."

The document, which spans 85 pages, is to be used by bishops around the world in preparing for the 2014 and 2015 synods. It was promulgated and signed by Cardinal Lorenzo Baldisseri, general secretary of the Vatican's office for the synod. The document is split into three parts:

An examination of the faithful's "knowledge and acceptance" of church teaching;
A study of "various challenges and actual situations" faced by families;
Pastoral challenges concerning "openness to life" and raising of children.
At points, it addresses specific practices like abortion, contraception, same-sex marriage, and divorce and remarriage. At other points, it speaks much more broadly about the passing on of the faith and the wider context of the church's teachings on the family.

Prelates attending the Vatican synod are expected to review the document in preparation for whatever statements they might make during the meetings in October. Those statements, known as interventions, are usually limited to four or five minutes and are submitted for review before the opening of the event.

The 2014 synod, known as an extraordinary synod, will be limited mainly to leaders of national bishops' conferences. The 2015 meeting will be much larger, consisting of several elected bishop-representatives from each country.

Full Story: Vatican document for synod on family balances mercy and cultural blame

Source:National Catholic Reporter

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