Posted on 06/27/2014 1:27:49 PM PDT by NYer
The Synod of Bishops has released the instrumentum laboris, or working document, for its upcoming 3rd extraordinary general assembly, which will take place from October 5 to 19.
The instrumentum laboris acknowledges the severe difficulties facing the family today, and the growing conflict between the values on marriage and the family as proposed by the Church and those prevailing in contemporary societies. The 75-page document suggests that most people including many Catholicsare not acquainted with the Christian vision of marriage.
While showing clear support for Church teachings on controversial issues such as birth control, divorce, remarriage, and same-sex unions, the document underlines the need for respectful treatment of those who do not share the Churchs vision, and pastoral care for those Catholics who find themselves in difficult marital situations.
The synod, announced by Pope Francis on October 8, is devoted to the pastoral challenges of the family in the context of evangelization. In November, the Synod of Bishops sent a preparatory document in which the worlds bishops were asked to respond to questions related to nine different topics, from the diffusion of the teachings on the family in Sacred Scripture and the Churchs Magisterium to the relationship between the family and the person.
The instrumentum laboris, dated June 24 and published on June 26, is a 159-paragraph summary of the responses received from the worlds bishops, as well as from individuals and institutions.
The document repeatedly acknowledges that many Catholics are unaware of or reject certain aspects of Catholic teaching on the family. It also summarizes the bishops varied proposals to address various pastoral challenges.
For example, the document states that very many responses, especially in Europe and North America request streamlining the procedure for marriage annulments (no. 96), although some responses urge caution and point out the following risks in streamlining, simplifying or reducing the process: injustices and errors could result; the impression might be given that the indissolubility of the Sacrament is not respected; the change might lead to abuses and create in young peoples minds the idea that marriage is not a life-long commitment; and the action might bolster the mistaken idea that an annulment is simply Catholic divorce (no. 99).
The document has three parts.
Part I
The documents first part, Communicating the Gospel of the Family in Todays World, offers a brief overview of biblical teaching and recent magisterial documents on the family (nos. 1-7) before surveying the knowledge and acceptance of the teachings on marriage and the family from Sacred Scripture and Church documents (nos. 8-19). The document found that in places with a vibrant Christian tradition and a well-organized pastoral program, people are responsive to the Christian doctrine on marriage and the family. In other places, many Christians, for various reasons, are found to be unaware of the very existence of this teaching (no. 8).
In its summary of the Gospel of the Family and the natural law (nos. 20-30), the working document states that very few responses and observations demonstrated an adequate, popular understanding of the natural law The demise of the concept of the natural law tends to eliminate the interconnection of love, sexuality and fertility, which is understood to be the essence of marriage. Consequently, many aspects of the Churchs sexual morality are not understood today. This is also a result of a certain criticism of the natural law, even by a number of theologians (nos. 21, 26).
The first part concludes with an examination of the family and vocation of the person in Christ (nos. 31-49).
Part II
The documents second part, The Pastoral Program for the Family in Light of New Challenges, summarized proposals for improving ministry to families (nos. 50-60) before discussing four pastoral challenges: the crisis of faith (nos. 61-62), critical situations within the family (nos. 64-69), external pressures (nos. 70-75), and varied special situations (nos. 76-79).
The document then turned to difficult pastoral situations (nos. 80-120).
Under the heading of so-called marriage difficulties, the responses consistently recount stories of great suffering as well as testimonies of true love, the working document continued. Real pastoral attention is urgently needed to care for these people and bring them healing so that they might continue their journey with the entire ecclesial community. The mercy of God does not provide a temporary cover-up of personal misdeeds, but rather radically opens lives to reconciliation which brings new trust and serenity through true inward renewal. The pastoral care of families, far from limiting itself to a legal point of view, has a mission to recall the great vocation of love to which each person is called and to help a person live up to the dignity of that calling (no. 80).
In its summary of responses related to the pastoral care of those who cannot receive the sacraments because of their marriages outside the Church, the document states:
Pastoral charity impels the Church to assist people who have suffered the breakdown of their marriage and are living with their situation relying on the grace of Christ. A more painful wound results when these people remarry and enter a state of life which does not allow them to receive Holy Communion. Clearly, in these cases, the Church must not assume an attitude of a judge who condemns (cf. Pope Francis, Homily, 28 February 2014), but that of a mother who always receives her children and nurses their wounds so they may heal (cf. Evangelii Gaudium, 139-141). With great mercy, the Church is called to find forms of accompaniment which can support her children on the path of reconciliation. With patience and understanding, she must explain to these people that their not being able to celebrate the sacraments does not mean that they are excluded from the Christian life and a relationship with God (no. 103).
The documents second part concludes with a discussion of same-sex unions. Every bishops conference voiced opposition to redefining marriage between a man and a woman through the introduction of legislation permitting a union between two people of the same sex, the document states. The episcopal conferences amply demonstrate that they are trying to find a balance between the Church's teaching on the family and a respectful, non-judgmental attitude towards people living in such unions (no. 113).
The responses are clearly opposed to legislation which would allow the adoption of children by persons in a same-sex union, because they see a risk to the integral good of the child, who has the right to have a mother and father, as pointed out recently by Pope Francis, the document continued. However, when people living in such unions request a childs baptism, almost all the responses emphasize that the child must be received with the same care, tenderness and concern which is given to other children. Many responses indicate that it would be helpful to receive more concrete pastoral directives in these situations (no. 120).
The second part also expressed concern about sex education: sex education in families and educational institutions is an increasingly urgent challenge, especially in countries where the State tends to propose in schools a one-sided view and a gender ideology (no. 119).
Part III
The third part of the document, An Openness to Life and Parental Responsibility in Upbringing, examines the pastoral challenges concerning an openness to life (nos. 121-131). The document states that Pope Paul VIs encyclical Humanae Vitae certainly had a prophetic character in reiterating the unbreakable link between conjugal love and the transmission of life (no. 122).
When treating a couples openness to life and their knowledge of the Churchs teaching, with particular reference to Humanae Vitae, the responses clearly admit that, in the vast majority of cases, the positive aspects are unknown, the document continued. Those who claim to know the Churchs teaching belong, for the most part, to associations and Church groups actively involved in parishes or programs of spirituality for the family From the pastoral point of view, the responses, in very many cases, see the need to make better known what was stated in Humanae Vitae and to propose a coherent anthropological vision in revitalized language, not only in pre-marriage preparation but also in instructional courses on love in general (no. 128).
The third part concluded with a discussion of different issues related to the upbringing of children (nos. 132-157), including ministering to children whose parents are in irregular situations.
The 2015 synod
The Extraordinary General Assembly precedes an Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops, which will take place in 2015 and will also be devoted to the family.
At the press conference at which instrumentum laboris was released, Cardinal Lorenzo Baldisseri, the Secretary General of the Synod of Bishops, said that the conclusions of the Extraordinary General Assembly will be used to prepare a new instrumentum laboris for the 2015 Ordinary General Assembly. After the Ordinary General Assembly, a final document will be published, subject to the decisions of the Holy Father.
The archbishop announced that because of the importance that the Holy See attaches to the discussions of this Synod, a special day of prayer for the Synod will be held on Sunday, September 28. During the Synod assembly, Mass will be celebrated each day in the basilica of St. Mary Major, in the Salus Populi Romani chapel that Pope Francis has visited at several crucial points in his pontificate.
Ping!
We both agreed to research the question more. If anyone has authoritative insight or resources to help us decide this question, we'd be grateful.
I think it's a huge question, given where this synod sometimes appears to be headed, especially after reading through the Instrumentoum Laboris.
Perhaps this provides some insight.
However, whats less well known is that an official proclamation from the Pope isnt the only way for the Catholic church to issue an infallible teaching. If all bishops throughout the world at any given time agree on a particular belief, then that belief is considered to automatically be infallibly true and dogmatically binding on all Catholics present and future. The church calls this the ordinary and universal magisterium. Pope John Paul II, for example, explicitly stated that the prohibition on women priests is a permanent and infallible part of Catholic faith because of this doctrine.
The odds of that happening at this synod are comparable to those of an asteroid making a direct hit on the White House.
If I understand the principle, the dissent of even one bishop would render this null and void as a church doctrine
It doesn't look like this Synod involves all bishops; however, if no bishop throughout the Church dissents from its conclusions, I still wonder whether it would be considered part of the OM.
E.g. the indissolubility of marriage, binding despite the "serene theology" put forth by Cdl. Kasper.
Not sure what you’re trying to say here.
Since the indissolubility of marriage is a truth that has been accepted by all bishops throughout the world in the past, the teaching is infallible and dogmatically binding in the present and in the future. So even if all the bishops in the world decided tomorrow that marriage was no longer indissoluble, such an opinion wouldn't be binding. This is what makes Francis' praise of Kasper's serene theology so discordant.
Every bishops conference voiced opposition to redefining marriage between a man and a woman through the introduction of legislation permitting a union between two people of the same sex,
There is hope yet that the last obsticle to Sodom and Gomorrah will remain steadfast.
If I’m lucky, I might be able to finish reading this document by October.
Honestly, does it have to be this long?
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.