John Paul II Institute Scholars Notably Absent from Synod

The National Catholic Register ^ | 9/10/14 | Edward Pentin

[marshmallow]

The Vatican yesterday published the names of participants for the upcoming Synod on the Family, but strangely absent from the list are experts from the Pontifical John Paul II Institute for Studies on Marriage and the Family, despite the organisation having a faculty in Rome.

Professors from the Institute have been some of the most vocal in criticising the possibility of changing pastoral practice regarding Holy Communion for divorced and “remarried” Catholics.

Family life will be the focus of the extraordinary general assembly of the Synod of Bishops that will meet at the Vatican between 5-19 October 2014. The 150 synod fathers taking part will discuss the "pastoral challenges of the family in the context of evangelization."

But the two week meeting is also expected to look at “updating” pastoral practice concerning divorced and “remarried” Catholics who are not allowed to receive the Eucharist. The issue has been widely debated since Cardinal Walter Kasper mooted possible changes to the Church’s pastoral approach in a keynote speech at a consistory on the synod earlier this year.

[Fithal the Wise]

“strangely absent from the list are experts from the Pontifical John Paul II Institute for Studies on Marriage and the Family, despite the organisation having a faculty in Rome.”

Bad sign. A setup?