Vatican official says society has lost sense of marriage, family

(June 08, 2012) The papal legate to the International Eucharistic Congress about to begin on Sunday in Dublin, Ireland, defended marriage based on the church's traditional teaching and urged Catholics to use the resource of the family to confront the challenges of secularized societies. Canadian Cardinal Marc Ouellet, prefect of the Vatican’s Congregation for Bishops, made his comment in his keynote address to open the International Theology Symposium at St. Patrick's College on Wednesday. The symposium is part of the International Eucharistic Congress celebrations taking place in Ireland and precedes the full programme of events scheduled to begin in Dublin on Sunday. Cardinal Ouellet told delegates that the church must promote the family in this time of "unprecedented anthropological crisis ... characterized by the loss of a sense of marriage and the family." The Vatican official explored the integration of the theology of communion with the theology of marriage, the development of the sacraments of initiation, the priesthood and the relationship between baptism and the ordained ministry and their significance in the life of the church. The cardinal said one of the important tasks for theology in relation to pastoral practice was to integrate and reattach the manifestations of eucharistic piety such as adoration of the Blessed Sacrament, Eucharistic processions and private Masses.