Preparatory document and questionnaire released ahead of 2014 Synod on the family
(Vatican Radio) 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.
Listen to the full interview
with Bishop John Hine:
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?