The
preparatory document for next year’s Synod of Bishops on the Family
was formally released at a news conference in the Vatican on Tuesday.
The synod’s theme is “The pastoral challenges to the Family in the
context of Evangelization and it will run from the 5th to the 19th
of October 2014.
The document gives an overview of Church teaching on
the family and spells out in a frank manner the many daunting
challenges facing the family in today’s society, saying there is an
urgency for the Church to address these challenges.
The document also
includes a questionnaire or consultation containing 39 questions on
family issues that has been sent to bishops conferences around the world
asking them to share it as widely as possible so that input from local
sources can be received.
Bishop John Hine is the head of the
Committee for Marriage and Family Life of the Catholic Bishops’
Conference of England and Wales and spoke to Susy Hodges. He begins by
giving his own reaction to the Church’s decision to send out this
questionnaire and the feedback he has received so far from lay
Catholics.
Bishop
Hine welcomes the decision to send out this questionnaire seeking input
from lay Catholics around the world ahead of next year’s Synod
describing it as “extremely significant” and saying it’s already
received an enthusiastic feedback from the faithful. “It really
responds to the desire for the people, the laity in the Church to be
consulted on matters which concern them so deeply.” “Couples are
delighted that they’re going to be involved in the consultations,” he
says.
Bishops Hine also says he finds this initiative “extremely
refreshing” but goes on to warn that “it will, of course, raise
expectations (from the lay faithful) and we have to recognize that and
be prepared to work at meeting those expectations in some way.”
When
asked if he believes some of those expectations are likely to be met or
whether they are over the top, the Bishop says “those expectations are
the reality that we’re facing” and adds that he believes it is very
positive that “the Church is facing the real challenges so openly and
this in itself, is of huge pastoral benefit.”
Please find below the full text of the preparatory document below:
PASTORAL CHALLENGES TO THE FAMILY IN THE CONTEXT OF EVANGELIZATION
Preparatory Document
Vatican City
2013
I. Synod: Family and Evangelization
The mission of preaching the Gospel to all creation, entrusted
directly by the Lord to his disciples, has continued in the Church
throughout history. The social and spiritual crisis, so evident in
today’s world, is becoming a pastoral challenge in the Church’s
evangelizing mission concerning the family, the vital building-block of
society and the ecclesial community. Never before has proclaiming the
Gospel on the Family in this context been more urgent and necessary. The
importance of the subject is reflected in the fact that the Holy Father
has decided to call for a Synod of Bishops, which is to have a
two-staged itinerary: firstly, an Extraordinary General Assembly in
2014, intended to define the “status quaestionis” and to collect the
bishops’ experiences and proposals in proclaiming and living the Gospel
of the Family in a credible manner; and secondly, an Ordinary General
Assembly in 2015 to seek working guidelines in the pastoral care of the
person and the family.
Concerns which were unheard of until a
few years ago have arisen today as a result of different situations,
from the widespread practice of cohabitation, which does not lead to
marriage, and sometimes even excludes the idea of it, to same-sex unions
between persons, who are, not infrequently, permitted to adopt
children.
The many new situations requiring the Church’s attention and
pastoral care include: mixed or inter-religious marriages; the
single-parent family; polygamy; marriages with the consequent problem of
a dowry, sometimes understood as the purchase price of the woman; the
caste system; a culture of non-commitment and a presumption that the
marriage bond can be temporary; forms of feminism hostile to the Church;
migration and the reformulation of the very concept of the family;
relativist pluralism in the conception of marriage; the influence of the
media on popular culture in its understanding of marriage and family
life; underlying trends of thought in legislative proposals which
devalue the idea of permanence and faithfulness in the marriage
covenant; an increase in the practice of surrogate motherhood (wombs for
hire); and new interpretations of what is considered a human right.
Within the Church, faith in the sacramentality of marriage and the
healing power of the Sacrament of Penance show signs of weakness or
total abandonment.
Consequently, we can well understand the
urgency with which the worldwide episcopate is called upon to gather cum
et sub Petro to address these challenges. For example, by simply
calling to mind the fact that, as a result of the current situation,
many children and young people will never see their parents receive the
sacraments, then we understand just how urgent are the challenges to
evangelization arising from the current situation, which can be seen in
almost every part of the “global village”. Corresponding in a particular
manner to this reality today is the wide acceptance of the teaching on
divine mercy and concern towards people who suffer on the periphery of
societies, globally and in existential situations. Consequently, vast
expectations exist concerning the decisions which are to be made
pastorally regarding the family. A reflection on these issues by the
Synod of Bishops, in addition to it being much needed and urgent, is a
dutiful expression of charity towards those entrusted to the Bishops’
care and the entire human family.
II. The Church and the Gospel on the Family
The good news of divine love is to be proclaimed to all those
personally living this basic human experience of couples and of a
communion open to the gift of children, which is the family community.
The teachings of the faith on marriage is to be presented in an
articulate and efficacious manner, so that it might reach hearts and
transform them in accordance with God’s will, made manifest in Jesus
Christ.
The citation of biblical sources on marriage and family
in this document are essential references only. The same is true for
documentation from the Magisterium which is limited to that of a
universal character, including some texts from the Pontifical Council
for the Family. It will be left to the bishop-participants at the synod
to cite documents from their own episcopal assemblies.
In every
age, and in the many different cultures, the teaching of the Pastors
has been clear nor has there been lacking the concrete testimony of
believers — men and women — in very diverse circumstances who have lived
the Gospel of the family as an inestimable gift for their life and
their children. The commitment for the next Extraordinary Synod is
inspired and sustained by the desire to communicate this message with
greater incisiveness, in the hope that “the treasure of revelation,
entrusted to the Church, more and more fill the hearts of each person”
(DV, 26).
The Plan of God, Creator and Redeemer
The
beauty of the biblical message on the family has its roots in the
creation of man and woman, both made in the image and likeness of God
(cf. Gen 1:24-31; 2:4-25). Bound together by an indissoluble sacramental
bond, those who are married experience the beauty of love, fatherhood,
motherhood, and the supreme dignity of participating in this way in the
creative work of God.
In the gift of the fruit of their union,
they assume the responsibility of raising and educating other persons
for the future of humankind. Through procreation, man and woman fulfill
in faith the vocation of being God’s collaborators in the protection of
creation and the growth of the human family.
Blessed Pope John
Paul II commented on this aspect in Familiaris consortio: “God created
man in his own image and likeness (cf. Gen 1:26, 27): calling him to
existence through love, he called him at the same time for love. God is
love (cf. 1 Jn 4:8) and in himself he lives a mystery of personal loving
communion. Creating the human race in his own image and continually
keeping it in being, God inscribed in the humanity of man and woman the
vocation, and thus the capacity and responsibility, of love and
communion (Gaudium et spes, 12). Love is therefore the fundamental and
innate vocation of every human being”(FC, 11).
The plan of God
the creator, which was disrupted by original sin (cf. Gen 3:1-24), has
revealed itself throughout history in the events of the chosen people up
to the fullness of time, when, with the incarnation of the Son of God,
not only was the divine will for salvation confirmed, but also the
redemption offering the grace to follow this same will.
The Son
of God, the Word made flesh (cf. Jn 1:14) in the womb of the Virgin
Mother, lived and grew up in the family of Nazareth and participated at
the wedding at Cana, where he added importance to the festivities with
the first of his “signs” (cf. Jn 2:1-11). In joy, he welcomed his
reception in the families of his disciples (cf. Mk 1:29-31; 2:13-17) and
consoled the bereaved family of his friends in Bethany (cf. Lk 10:38-
42; Jn 11:1-44 ).
Jesus Christ restored the beauty of matrimony,
proposing once again the one plan of God which was abandoned because of
the hardness of the human heart, even within the tradition of the
people of Israel (cf. Mt 5:31-32; 19:3-12; Mk 10:1-12; Lk 16:18).
Returning to the beginning, Jesus taught the unity and faithfulness of
the husband and wife, refuting the practice of repudiation and adultery.
Precisely through the extraordinary beauty of human love — already
celebrated in a heightened manner inspired by the Song of Songs, and the
bond of marriage called for and defended by the prophets like Hosea
(cf. Hosea 1:2, 3.3) and Malachi (cf. Mal 2:13-16) — , Jesus affirmed
the original dignity of the married love of man and woman.
The Church's Teaching on the Family
Even in the early Christian community the family appeared as the
“domestic church” (cf. CCC, 1655): In the so-called “family canons” of
the Apostolic letters of the New Testament, the great family of the
ancient world is identified as the place of a profound solidarity
between husbands and wives, between parents and children, and between
the wealthy and the poor (cf. Eph 5:21-6:9; Col 3:18-4:1; 1 Tim 2:8-15;
Titus 2:1-10; 1 Pt 2:13-3:7; cf. also the Letter to Philemon). In
particular, the Letter to the Ephesians recognized the nuptial love
between man and woman as “the great mystery”, making present in the
world the love of Christ and the Church (cf. Eph 5:31-32 ).
Over
the centuries, especially in modern times to the present, the Church
has not failed to continually teach and develop her doctrine on the
family and marriage which founded her. One of its highest expressions
has been proposed by the Second Vatican Council in the Pastoral
Constitution Gaudium et spes, which, in treating certain pressing
problems, dedicated an entire chapter to the promotion of the dignity of
marriage and the family, as seen in the description of their value for
the constitution of society: “the family, in which the various
generations come together and help one another grow wiser and harmonize
personal rights with the other requirements of social life, is the very
foundation of society” (GS, 52). Particularly striking is its appeal for
a Christ-centered spirituality in the spouses’ life of faith: "Let the
spouses themselves, made to the image of the living God and enjoying the
authentic dignity of persons, be joined to one another in equal
affection, harmony of mind and the work of mutual sanctification. Thus,
following Christ who is the principle of life, by the sacrifices and
joys of their vocation and through their faithful love, married people
can become witnesses of the mystery of love which the Lord revealed to
the world by his dying and his rising up to life again”(GS, 52 ).
After the Second Vatican Council, the successors of St. Peter enriched
this teaching on marriage and the family, especially Pope Paul VI with
the Enyclical Humanae vitae, which offers specific principles and
guidelines. Subsequently, in his Apostolic Exhortation Familiaris
consortio, Pope John Paul II insisted on proposing the divine plan in
the basic truths of married love and the family: “The only ‘place’ in
which this self-giving in its whole truth is made possible is marriage,
the covenant of conjugal love freely and consciously chosen, whereby man
and woman accept the intimate community of life and love willed by God
himself(cf. Gaudium et spes, 48) which only in this light manifests its
true meaning. The institution of marriage is not an undue interference
by society or authority, nor the extrinsic imposition of a form. Rather
it is an interior requirement of the covenant of conjugal love which is
publicly affirmed as unique and exclusive, in order to live in complete
fidelity to the plan of God, the Creator. A person's freedom, far from
being restricted by this fidelity, is secured against every form of
subjectivism or relativism and is made a sharer in creative Wisdom” (FC,
11).
The Catechism of the Catholic Church gathers together the
fundamental aspects of this teaching: “The marriage covenant, by which a
man and a woman form with each other an intimate communion of life and
love, has been founded and endowed with its own special laws by the
Creator. By its very nature it is ordered to the good of the couple, as
well as to the generation and education of children. Christ the Lord
raised marriage between the baptized to the dignity of a sacrament [cf.
Second Vatican Ecumenical Council, Gaudium et spes, 48; Code of Canon
Law, 1055, 1]”(CCC 1660).
The doctrine presented in the
Catechism touches on both theological principles and moral behaviours,
developed under two separate headings: The Sacrament of Matrimony (nos.
1601-1658) and The Sixth Commandment (nos. 2331-2391). An attentive
reading of these sections of the Catechism provides an updated
understanding of the doctrine of faith, which supports the Church’s work
in the face of modern-day challenges. The Church’s pastoral ministry
finds inspiration in the truth of marriage viewed as part of the plan of
God, who created man and woman and, in the fullness of time, revealed
in Jesus the completeness of spousal love elevated to the level of
sacrament. Christian marriage founded on consensus is also endowed with
its own effects such as the goods and duties of the spouses. At the same
time, marriage is not immune from the effects of sin (cf. Gen 3:1-24),
which can cause deep wounds and even abuses to the dignity of the
sacrament.
The recent encyclical of Pope Francis, Lumen fidei,
speaks of the family in the context of a reflection on how faith reveals
“just how firm the bonds between people can be when God is present in
their midst” (LF, 50). “The first setting in which faith enlightens the
human city is the family. I think first and foremost of the stable union
of man and woman in marriage. This union is born of their love, as a
sign and presence of God’s own love, and of the acknowledgment and
acceptance of the goodness of sexual differentiation, whereby spouses
can become one flesh (cf. Gen 2:24) and are enabled to give birth to a
new life, a manifestation of the Creator’s goodness, wisdom and loving
plan. Grounded in this love, a man and a woman can promise each other
mutual love in a gesture which engages their entire lives and mirrors
many features of faith. Promising love for ever is possible when we
perceive a plan bigger than our own ideas and undertakings, a plan which
sustains us and enables us to surrender our future entirely to the one
we love” (LF, 52). “Faith is no refuge for the fainthearted, but
something which enhances our lives. It makes us aware of a magnificent
calling, the vocation of love. It assures us that this love is
trustworthy and worth embracing, for it is based on God’s faithfulness
which is stronger than our every weakness” ( LF, 53).
III. Questions
The following series of questions allows the particular Churches to
participate actively in the preparation of the Extraordinary Synod,
whose purpose is to proclaim the Gospel in the context of the pastoral
challenges facing the family today.
1. The Diffusion of the Teachings on the Family in Sacred Scripture and the Church’s Magisterium
a)
Describe how the Catholic Church’s teachings on the value of the family
contained in the Bible, Gaudium et spes, Familiaris consortio and other
documents of the post-conciliar Magisterium is understood by people
today? What formation is given to our people on the Church’s teaching on
family life?
b) In those cases where the Church's teaching is
known, is it accepted fully or are there difficulties in putting it into
practice? If so, what are they?
c) How widespread is the
Church's teaching in pastoral programmes at the national, diocesan and
parish levels? What catechesis is done on the family?
d ) To what
extent — and what aspects in particular — is this teaching actually
known, accepted, rejected and/or criticized in areas outside the Church?
What are the cultural factors which hinder the full reception of the
Church’s teaching on the family?
2. Marriage according to the Natural Law
a)
What place does the idea of the natural law have in the cultural areas
of society: in institutions, education, academic circles and among the
people at large? What anthropological ideas underlie the discussion on
the natural basis of the family?
b) Is the idea of the natural law in the union between a man and a woman commonly accepted as such by the baptized in general?
c)
How is the theory and practice of natural law in the union between man
and woman challenged in light of the formation of a family? How is it
proposed and developed in civil and Church institutions?
d) In
cases where non-practicing Catholics or declared non-believers request
the celebration of marriage, describe how this pastoral challenge is
dealt with?
3. The Pastoral Care of the Family in Evangelization
a)
What experiences have emerged in recent decades regarding marriage
preparation? What efforts are there to stimulate the task of
evangelization of the couple and of the family? How can an awareness of
the family as the "domestic Church" be promoted?
b) How
successful have you been in proposing a manner of praying within the
family which can withstand life’s complexities and today’s culture?
c)
In the current generational crisis, how have Christian families been
able to fulfill their vocation of transmitting the faith?
d) In
what way have the local Churches and movements on family spirituality
been able to create ways of acting which are exemplary?
e) What
specific contribution can couples and families make to spreading a
credible and holistic idea of the couple and the Christian family
today?
f) What pastoral care has the Church provided in supporting couples in formation and couples in crisis situations?
4. Pastoral Care in Certain Difficult Marital Situations
a) Is cohabitation ad experimentum a pastoral reality in your particular Church? Can you approximate a percentage?
b) Do unions which are not recognized either religiously or civilly exist? Are reliable statistics available?
c)
Are separated couples and those divorced and remarried a pastoral
reality in your particular Church? Can you approximate a percentage? How
do you deal with this situation in appropriate pastoral programmes?
d)
In all the above cases, how do the baptized live in this irregular
situation? Are aware of it? Are they simply indifferent? Do they feel
marginalized or suffer from the impossibility of receiving the
sacraments?
e) What questions do divorced and remarried people
pose to the Church concerning the Sacraments of the Eucharist and of
Reconciliation? Among those persons who find themselves in these
situations, how many ask for these sacraments?
f ) Could a
simplification of canonical practice in recognizing a declaration of
nullity of the marriage bond provide a positive contribution to solving
the problems of the persons involved? If yes, what form would it take?
g)
Does a ministry exist to attend to these cases? Describe this pastoral
ministry? Do such programmes exist on the national and diocesan levels?
How is God’s mercy proclaimed to separated couples and those divorced
and remarried and how does the Church put into practice her support for
them in their journey of faith?
5. On Unions of Persons of the Same Sex
a) Is there a law in your country recognizing civil unions for people of the same-sex and equating it in some way to marriage?
b)
What is the attitude of the local and particular Churches towards both
the State as the promoter of civil unions between persons of the same
sex and the people involved in this type of union?
c) What pastoral attention can be given to people who have chosen to live in these types of union?
d)
In the case of unions of persons of the same sex who have adopted
children, what can be done pastorally in light of transmitting the
faith?
6. The Education of Children in Irregular Marriages
a)
What is the estimated proportion of children and adolescents in these
cases, as regards children who are born and raised in regularly
constituted families?
b) How do parents in these situations
approach the Church? What do they ask? Do they request the sacraments
only or do they also want catechesis and the general teaching of
religion?
c) How do the particular Churches attempt to meet the
needs of the parents of these children to provide them with a Christian
education?
d) What is the sacramental practice in these cases: preparation, administration of the sacrament and the accompaniment?
7. The Openness of the Married Couple to Life
a)
What knowledge do Christians have today of the teachings of Humanae
vitae on responsible parenthood? Are they aware of how morally to
evaluate the different methods of family planning? Could any insights be
suggested in this regard pastorally?
b) Is this moral teaching
accepted? What aspects pose the most difficulties in a large majority of
couple’s accepting this teaching?
c) What natural methods are
promoted by the particular Churches to help spouses put into practice
the teachings of Humanae vitae?
d) What is your experience on this subject in the practice of the Sacrament of Penance and participation at the Eucharist?
e) What differences are seen in this regard between the Church’s teaching and civic education?
f) How can a more open attitude towards having children be fostered? How can an increase in births be promoted?
8. The Relationship Between the Family and the Person
a)
Jesus Christ reveals the mystery and vocation of the human person. How
can the family be a privileged place for this to happen?
b) What critical situations in the family today can obstruct a person’s encounter with Christ?
c) To what extent do the many crisis of faith which people can experience affect family life?
9. Other Challenges and Proposals
What other challenges or proposals related to the topics in the above questions do you consider urgent and useful to treat?