VOLUME 1, ISSUE 44  •  OCTOBER 31, 2015

Table of Contents

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VATICAN NEWS

Pope tells Synod Fathers to learn from the Holy Family

The relics of St. Therese and her parents will be displayed throughout the synod

God’s dream for creation? The union of a man and woman, Pope says

Pope Francis asks for prayers ahead of synod discussion

A warning from Pope Francis: Don’t politicize the synod

Full text of Cardinal Erdo’s introductory report for the Synod on the Family

Cardinal Erdö’s emphatic defense of Church teaching marked synod’s first day

Pope Francis backs the new synod process in an unanticipated speech

Archbishop Chaput: We need more accurate translations of synod docs

‘Flawed, inadequate’ – bishops skewer synod’s working doc in new report

From the synod: Mercy is not an abandonment of Church teaching

Proclaim the beauty of God’s plan for family, L.A. archbishop tells synod

Disunity in the Church is perilous, Archbishop Chaput cautions at synod

Cardinal Dolan reportedly among concerned bishops who wrote Pope about synod

Cardinal Pell responds to reports of synod letter

How the ‘shadow council’ is trying to influence the Synod on the Family

Diverse synod groups united in concern over ‘gender ideology’

Synod letter leak was intended ‘to sow strife’, says Cardinal Müller

Violent marriages: A woman’s quest to help synod bishops grasp the issue

We need to be clear on what marriage actually is, synod bishops insist

Read today’s report from the German small group at the Synod

Don’t ‘regionalize’ Church teaching on marriage, says Irish archbishop at synod

A tough synod topic: The ‘silent martyrdom’ of incest, abuse in families

At synod, Cardinal Marx openly promotes Communion for divorced-and-remarried

What will the Synod’s final document look like?

Pope Francis: 50th anniversary of Synod renews the call to discipleship

Cardinal Pell: Catholic means universal, not continental

Strengthen marriage with truth and mercy, Venezuela’s Cardinal Urosa tells synod

That notorious 2014 synod report? We got it an hour after the media did, cardinal says

Marriage doesn’t take away your freedom – quite the opposite, Pope says

Synod finds strong support for Church teaching in communion debate

Church unity and truth serve the family, Archbishop Gomez says from synod

The problem of porn – are bishops talking about it?

Gay Catholic to Synod: Please protect teaching on homosexuality

Pope Francis: Synod was about affirming family, indissoluble marriage

Final synod document strongly backs Church teaching, beauty of family life

Walk alongside your people, Pope Francis tells bishops at synod’s close

Pope Francis grieves loss of life in Afghanistan-Pakistan quake

A prayer from the Pope – may Christians not be forced out of the Middle East

Prayer is the treasure of all religions, says Pope

WORLD NEWS

Gay Catholics tell synod to promote chastity – for everyone

Paris archbishop says ‘there will be no spectacular revolution at the synod’

More scheming outside the synod? Soros foundation rep attends LGBT lobby event

For German bishops mercy comes at a price, critics charge

With a child’s touch, sculpture seeks to comfort those who mourn abortion

In Myanmar, Salesians celebrate seminary’s 25th anniversary

Catholics in Mexico thankful Hurricane Patricia did not cause major damage

Sodalitium Christianae Vitae has an apostolic visitor to investigate its founder

A tour of Saint John Paul II’s Poland

China replaces one-child policy with two-child policy

U.S. NEWS

Child migrants’ home countries have only grown worse, U.S. Congress is reminded

Amid calls for reform, a look at stats – and stories – from the U.S. prison system

How one U.S. archdiocese is revamping its marriage prep program

Ahead of Florida execution, bishops renew calls against death penalty

New Mexico priest, seminarians soup up car for vocations

Advocates chide U.S. – stop ignoring religiously-motivated violence

Princeton love and marriage event expects record-breaking attendance

FEATURES

Preaching the Strange Word

Days of Special Remembrance

All Saint’s Day includes every man and woman of goodwill

SCRIPTURE READINGS

Sunday • November 1, 2015

Monday • November 2, 2015

Tuesday • November 3, 2015

Wednesday • November 4, 2015

Thursday • November 5, 2015

Friday • November 6, 2015

Saturday • November 7, 2015

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Volume 1, Issue 44 • October 31, 2015

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VATICAN NEWS

Pope tells Synod Fathers to learn from the Holy Family

by Ann Schneible (CNA/EWTN News) • October 3, 2015

Prayer vigil before the 2015 Synod on the Family on October 3, 2015. (Bohumil Petrik/CNA)

Vatican City — Pope Francis on Saturday presided over a candlelight vigil for the Synod on the Family, calling on the Synod Fathers to listen to families, including the Holy Family, over the course of their deliberations.

“The family is a place of discernment, where we learn to recognize God’s plan for our lives and to embrace it with trust,” the Pope said. “It is a place of gratuitousness, of discreet fraternal presence and solidarity, a place where we learn to step out of ourselves and accept others, to forgive and to be forgiven.”

“Every family is always a light, however faint, amid the darkness of this world.”

Speaking the night before the opening of the Synod on the Family, he called on Synod participants – many of whom were present – to “acknowledge, esteem, and proclaim all that is beautiful, good and holy” in the family, and “embrace situations of vulnerability and hardship: war, illness, grief, wounded relationships and brokenness, which create distress, resentment and separation.”

“May (the Synod) remind these families, and every family, that the Gospel is always ‘good news’ which enables us to start over,” he said, addressing the crowds – many of them families with children – gathered in Saint Peter’s Square.

The pontiff also reflected on the importance of looking to the Holy Family.

The family of Nazareth, he said, was not unlike most families: “with their problems and their simple joys, a life marked by serene patience amid adversity, respect for others, a humility which is freeing and which flowers in service, a life of fraternity rooted in the sense that we are all members of one body.”

“Let us set out once more from Nazareth for a Synod which, more than speaking about the family, can learn from the family, readily acknowledging its dignity, its strength and its value, despite all its problems and difficulties.”

Pope Francis prayed that the Synod on the Family, which opens Sunday, would demonstrate marriage and family as a “rich and humanly fulfilling” experience.

“The family is a place where evangelical holiness is lived out in the most ordinary conditions,” the Pope said. ”There we are formed by the memory of past generations and we put down roots which enable us to go far.”

The Synod on the Family goes from Oct. 4-25, and is the second and larger of two such gatherings to take place in the course of a year. Like its 2014 precursor, the focus of the 2015 Synod of Bishops will be the family, this time with the theme: “The vocation and mission of the family in the Church and the modern world.”

Looking out onto the darkened square filled with candlelight, the Pope reflected on the symbolism of the candle in the dark, in reference to the difficulties we face throughout our lives.

“What good is it to light a little candle in the darkness? Isn’t there a better way to dispel the darkness? Can the darkness even be overcome?”

“When life proves difficult and demanding, we can be tempted to step back, turn away and withdraw, perhaps even in the name of prudence and realism, and thus flee the responsibility of doing our part as best we can.”

The Pope reflected on the story of the prophet Elijah who, the Old Testament recounts, fled out of fear on the mountain of Horeb. The scriptures recount that God came to him as he hid in a cave on the mountain.

“He would get his answer not in the great wind which shatters the rocks, nor in the earthquake nor even in the fire,” the Pope said.

“God’s grace does not shout out; it is a whisper which reaches all those who are ready to hear its still, small voice. It urges them to go forth, to return to the world, to be witnesses to God’s love for mankind, so that the world may believe.”

Pope Francis recalled the vigil held one year prior for the 2014 Extraordinary Synod on the Family. During that gathering, those present prayed for the Holy Spirit to inspire the Synod participants to listen to each other, and to keep their “gaze fixed on Jesus, the definitive Word of the Father and the criterion by which everything is to be measured.”

“This evening, our prayer cannot be otherwise,” the Pope said.

He cited the words of Patriarch Athenagoras, who said without the Holy Spirit, the Church is simply an organization, whose “authority becomes domination, mission becomes propaganda, worship becomes mystique, Christian life the morality of slaves.”

The Pope appealed to the Synod participants to draw from the Church’s tradition in bringing “comfort and hope” to families today.

Jesus has his own experience within a family, like many others, for the first 30 years of his earthly life in an obscure town of the Roman Empire, the Pope recalled.

Pope Francis cited the example of Charles de Foucauld, Algerian founder of the Little Brothers of Jesus. An early 20th century martyr, declared Blessed in 2005, “Brother Charles” had abandoned a military career to explore a spirituality based on the Holy Family.

“Contemplating the Family of Nazareth, Brother Charles realized how empty the desire for wealth and power really is,” the Pope said.

The Blessed had wanted to be a hermit, but learned that love of God was fostered by human relationships. “For in loving others, we learn to love God, in stooping down to help our neighbor, we are lifted up to God,” he said.

“Through his fraternal closeness and his solidarity with the poor and the abandoned, he came to understand that it is they who evangelize us, they who help us to grow in humanity.”

Pope Francis said it is necessary to follow Blessed Charles’ example and enter “into the mystery of the family of Nazareth.”

Pope Francis called on the Synod to not only speak about the family but to learn from the family its dignity, strength, and value, notwithstanding its challenges.

He also reflected on the Church in terms of a family. As mother, it is “ever capable of giving and nourishing life, accompanying it with devotion, tenderness, and moral strength.”

In turn, the Church also demonstrates the “closeness and love of a father, a responsible guardian who protects without confining, who corrects without demeaning, who trains by example and patience, sometimes simply by a silence which bespeaks prayerful and trusting expectation.”

The Pope also spoke of the Church in terms of brothers and sisters, who never view one another as “a burden, a problem, an expense, a concern or a risk.”

For this reason, the Church appeals “to the longing for peace present in every man and woman, including those who – amid life’s trials – have wounded and suffering hearts.”

Pope Francis concluded: “This Church can indeed light up the darkness felt by so many men and women. She can credibly point them towards the goal and walk at their side, precisely because she herself first experienced what it is to be endlessly reborn in the merciful heart of the Father.”

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VATICAN NEWS

The relics of St. Therese and her parents will be displayed throughout the synod

by CNA/EWTN News • October 3, 2015

The body of St. Therese of Lisieux. (Enrique Lopez-Tamayo Biosca via Flickr CC BY 2.0)

Vatican City — Glass cases with the relics of Saint Therese of Lisieux and her parents, Blessed Louis and Zelie Martin, will be displayed in Santa Maria Maggiore in Rome for the entirety of the Synod on the Family, Oct. 4-25.

Blessed Louis and Zelie will both be canonized Oct. 18.

The relics will be available for veneration by the faithful from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m., the normal hours the basilica is open.

The relics of St. Therese will be displayed in the Borghese chapel of the basilica before the icon of the Salus Populi Romani. Through this devotion to Mary, Pope Francis has asked for her intercession for the fruits of the work of the Synod and for all the families of the world.

Fr. Antonio Sangalli, vice postulator for the cause for the canonization of the St. Therese’s parents, said, “Louis and Zélie demonstrated through their lives that conjugal love is an instrument of holiness, a way to holiness consummated by the two persons together.” He noted that this aspect today is “the most important aspect to value in the family. There is an enormous need for a simple spirituality lived out in daily life.”

The cause for beatification of one of St. Therese’s sisters, Françoise-Thérèse, was opened in France in July.

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VATICAN NEWS

God’s dream for creation? The union of a man and woman, Pope says

by Elise Harris (CNA/EWTN News) • October 4, 2015

Pope Francis celebrates the opening Mass for the Ordinary Synod of Bishops on the Family on Oct. 4, 2015. (Daniel Ibañez/CNA)

Vatican City — Pope Francis formally opened the synod of bishops Sunday, telling participants that the union between a man and woman is the foundation of God’s plan for the family, and a solution to the many forms of loneliness in today’s world.

“This is God’s dream for his beloved creation: to see it fulfilled in the loving union between a man and a woman, rejoicing in their shared journey, fruitful in their mutual gift of self,” the Pope said in his opening Mass for the Synod of Bishops.

He explained that this plan is the same one presented in the day’s Gospel for Mark, when Jesus says “From the beginning of creation, ‘God made them male and female.’”

“For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh. So they are no longer two but one flesh.”

Pope Francis’ comments were made during his Oct. 4 Mass marking the official opening of this year’s Ordinary Synod of Bishops on the Family.

Set to last from Oct. 4-25, this year’s synod follows the theme “The vocation and mission of the family in the Church and the modern world,” and follows last year’s extraordinary synod on the family, which focused on pastoral challenges regarding family life.

In his homily, Francis noted how the first reading from Genesis, which recounts the story of creation, speaks to us of Adam’s experience of solitude before the creation of Eve.

Although Adam was given dominion over the garden and the other creatures, he “felt alone, because there was not found a helper fit for him. He was lonely.”

The Pope then pointed to several forms of loneliness in modern society, and said that despite living in a globalized world filled with mansions and skyscrapers, the warmth within families today is diminishing.

While people have great ambitions and many different forms of entertainment, they have little time or freedom to enjoy them, he noted.

“There is) a deep and growing interior emptiness,” he said, adding that “the number of people who feel lonely keeps growing, as does the number of those who are caught up in selfishness, gloominess, destructive violence and slavery to pleasure and money.”

Like Adam, the world today experiences power but also vulnerability and loneliness, Francis observed, explaining that this fits the image of the modern family.

“People are less and less serious about building a solid and fruitful relationship of love. Love which is lasting, faithful, conscientious, stable and fruitful is increasingly looked down upon, viewed as a quaint relic of the past,” he said.

“It would seem that the most advanced societies are the very ones which have the lowest birth-rates and the highest percentages of abortion, divorce, suicide, and social and environmental pollution.”

Pope Francis then noted how God was pained by Adam’s loneliness when he said that “it is not good that the man should be alone,” and created a suitable partner for him.

God’s words, the Pope said, “show that God did not create us to live in sorrow or to be alone. He made men and women for happiness, to share their journey with someone who complements them … to love and to be loved, and to see their love bear fruit in children.”

Francis referred to how in the Gospel, Jesus was questioned about divorce by the crowd, who practiced and established it as an “inviolable fact,” and wanted to trap him.

Jesus responds in “a straightforward and unexpected way” by bringing everything back to the beginning of creation, he said. By doing this, Jesus teaches us “that God blesses human love, that it is he who joins the hearts of two people who love one another, he who joins them in unity and indissolubility.”

Turning to the role of the family, the Pope said that Jesus’ command to “let not man put asunder” what God himself has joined is an exhortation to believers “to overcome every form of individualism and legalism which conceals a narrow self-centeredness and a fear of accepting the true meaning of the couple and of human sexuality in God’s plan.”

Francis explained that for God, “marriage is not some adolescent utopia, but a dream without which his creatures will be doomed to solitude! Indeed, being afraid to accept this plan paralyzes the human heart.”

Paradoxically, there are many people who ridicule this plan while continuing to be attracted to true, steadfast and faithful love, he said. “We see people chase after fleeting loves while dreaming of true love; they chase after carnal pleasures but desire total self-giving.”

Quoting a text by Benedict XVI while he was still Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, Pope Francis said that in Genesis, “forbidden pleasures lost their attraction at the very moment they stopped being forbidden.”

“Even if they are pushed to the extreme and endlessly renewed, they prove dull, for they are finite realities, whereas we thirst for the infinite, he observed.

Francis then said the Church is called to carry out her mission regarding family life in fidelity, truth and love.

In fidelity to her master, the Church is called to defend faithful love and encourage families whose married life reveals of God’s own love, he said.

The Church is also called to defend “the sacredness of life, of every life; in defending the unity and indissolubility of the conjugal bond.”

He said the Church’s mission must be carried out in truth, which doesn’t change with passing fads or popular opinions. Truth, the Pope said, “protects individuals and humanity as a whole from the temptation of self-centeredness and from turning fruitful love into sterile selfishness, faithful union into temporary bonds.”

Finally, Pope Francis said that for the Church to carry out her mission in charity doesn’t mean pointing fingers or judging others, but rather implies being conscious of her duty to seek out and care for wounded couples “with the balm of acceptance and mercy.”

Quoting a speech of St. John Paul II from 1978, the Pope stressed that “error and evil must always be condemned and opposed; but the man who falls or who errs must be understood and loved.”

The Church, he said, “must search out these persons, welcome and accompany them, for a Church with closed doors betrays herself and her mission, and, instead of being a bridge, becomes a roadblock.”

Francis closed his homily by asking the Lord to accompany and guide the Church and the synod fathers during the upcoming discussions, and entrusted the gathering to intercession of Mary and her “most chaste spouse,” St. Joseph.

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VATICAN NEWS

Pope Francis asks for prayers ahead of synod discussion

by Elise Harris (CNA/EWTN News) • October 4, 2015

Pope Francis prays the Angelus with pilgrims in St. Peter’s Square on Oct. 4, 2015. (Martha Calderon/CNA)

Vatican City — In his Sunday Angelus address Pope Francis stressed the role of spouses in generating children, and asked for prayers ahead of the synod discussions beginning tomorrow.

The Pope opened his Oct. 4 address by noting how he had just celebrated Mass opening the Ordinary Synod of Bishops on the Family, which will reflect on the theme “The vocation and mission of the family in the Church and the modern world.”

Set to last from Oct. 4-25, this year’s synod follows last year’s extraordinary synod of bishops on the family, which focused on pastoral challenges regarding family life.

Francis invited those gathered in St. Peter’s Square for the tradition Marian prayer “to sustain the work of the synod with prayer, so that the Holy Spirit renders the synod fathers fully docile to his inspirations.”

In his reflections on the Gospel, the Pope focused on the first reading from Genesis, which recounted the story of creation.

He noted how the passage underlines “the complementarity and reciprocity between man and woman,” and said that, as stated in the bible, it’s because of this that a man leaves his father and mother and be joined to his wife.

The two then “become one flesh, one life, one existence,” Francis said, explaining that it’s withing this union that “spouses give life to new human beings: they become parents.”

Spouses, he said, “participate in the creative power of God himself,” but cautioned that since God is love, we only participate in his work “when we love with and like him.”

As St. Paul says, love has been poured into each of our hearts through the Holy Spirit, the Pope said, explaining that this is the same love given to spouses in the sacrament of marriage.

“It’s love that awakens the desire to create children, to wait for them, to welcome them, raise them, educate them,” he said. Francis then that this is the same love Jesus shows to the children on the day’s Gospel from Mark, when he says “let the children come to me,” and blesses them.

He asked that all parents and educators, as well as society as a whole, would become instruments of the welcome and love with which Jesus embraced the little ones.

Drawing attention to all the children who are hungry, abandoned, exploited, forced into war or rejected, the Pope said that “it’s painful to see the images of unhappy children, with a lost gaze, who flee poverty and conflicts, knocking on our doors and hearts asking for help.”

Francis prayed that the Lord help us not to be “a fortress-society, but a family-society,” that, with the proper rules in place, is still capable of welcoming.

Pope Francis said that throughout the upcoming synod discussions, participants their eyes fixed on Jesus in order to identify the best ways to respond to the needs and challenges of families today.

“On the basis of his teaching of love and mercy,” he said, they will seek “the most appropriate paths for an adequate commitment with families and for families so that the original design of the Creator for man and woman can be implemented and operated in all its beauty and strength in today’s world.”

Before leading pilgrims in the tradition Marian prayer, Francis closed his address by asking for prayers for the synod and for the intercession of Mary.

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VATICAN NEWS

A warning from Pope Francis: Don’t politicize the synod

by Ann Schneible (CNA/EWTN News) • October 5, 2015

Pope Francis at the Wednesday General Audience in St Peter’s Square on May 20, 2015. (Daniel Ibanez/CNA)

Vatican City — Pope Francis opened the Synod on the Family with a reminder that it’s not a forum whereby leaders come to an agreement, but a journey of openness to the Holy Spirit and “apostolic courage” against worldly temptations that can lead people away from the truth.

“The synod is not a conference or a parlor, nor is it a parliament or a senate where we come to an agreement,” he said. Rather, it is the Church journeying together “to interpret reality with the eyes of faith and the heart of God.”

Addressing the synod fathers on the first day of interventions of the three-week gathering, the Pope said participants must “assume apostolic courage of evangelical humility and of confident prayer” in order to give the Holy Spirit space to carry out his actions.

Such “apostolic courage,” he said, “is not intimidated by the seductions of the world which tend to put out the light of truth from the hearts of men,” thereby leading them away from God.

Pope Francis went on to say that unless the bishops open themselves to guidance by the Holy Spirit, their decisions will become mere “decorations” which serve to “cover and hide” the Gospel, rather than glorify it.

This year’s Synod on the Family, which runs from Oct. 4-25, is the second and larger of two such gatherings to take place in the course of a year. Like its 2014 precursor, the focus of the 2015 Synod of Bishops will be the family, this time with the theme: “The vocation and mission of the family in the Church and the modern world.”

Pope Francis’ Oct. 5 address to participants gathered in the Vatican’s Paul VI Synod hall continued to describe the role of the Synod as the Church interrogating her own fidelity to the deposit of faith.

In this way, he said, the Church demonstrates that she is not simply a “museum” to be looked at, but “a living source from which the Church drinks, while “satisfying the thirst” and “illuminating the deposit of life.”

The Holy Spirit speaks through the many languages represented by the Synod Fathers open to being “guided by the God who always surprises,” the Pope said.

He also appealed for the participants to have an evangelical humility whereby they empty themselves of their “own conventions and prejudices,” listen to one another, without judgments, finger pointing, or a sense of superiority.

The Pope concluded by reiterating that the function of the Synod is not to arrive at a consensus, nor is it a place of negotiations, agreements, or compromises.

Through apostolic courage, evangelical humility, and trustful prayer, he said, may the Holy Spirit “guide us, illuminate us, and cause us to put before our eyes with our personal opinions, faith in God, the good of the Church, and the salus animarum (salvation of souls).”

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VATICAN NEWS

Full text of Cardinal Erdo’s introductory report for the Synod on the Family

by CNA/EWTN News • October 6, 2015

The opening assembly of the Synod of Bishops, Oct. 5, 2015. (L’Osservatore Romano)

Vatican City — On Oct. 5, the opening day of the 2015 Synod on the Family, Cardinal Peter Erdo of Esztergom-Budapest — who is the synod’s relator general — gave an introductory speech to the synod fathers. Drawing from the working document for the synod as well as recent magisterial documents, Cardinal Erdo surveyed the work the assembly is called to do. He examined current challenges to the family and marriage, the vocation of the family, and the family’s mission today. The full text of his prepared remarks were published in Italian on the Vatican’s website. Please find below CNA’s English translation of the entirety of his remarks:

Introduction

Holy Father,

Most eminent and excellent synod fathers,

Dear brothers and sisters,

Jesus Christ is our master, our Lord, and the Good Shepherd. When, according to the evangelist Mark, he saw a great crowd, he had compassion on them: “and he began to teach them many things” (Mark 6:34). In this regard, Pope Francis has indicated the method and the program which in certain ways we too should follow in our work: “ … to see, to have compassion, to teach. We can call them the verbs of the Shepherd … The first and second, to see and to have compassion, are always found together in the attitude of Jesus: in fact his gaze is not the gaze of a sociologist or a photojournalist, for he always gazes with “the eyes of the heart”… From this tenderness is born Jesus’ wish to nourish the crowd with the bread of his Word, that is, to teach the Word of God to the people. Jesus sees, Jesus has compassion, Jesus teaches us.” (Pope Francis, Angelus, July 19, 2015). This vision corresponds with the three great themes of the instrumentum laboris, the fruit of an intense, collegial path. Without being able to mention in this introductory relation all the important themes which have emerged in the discussion and the document of the last synod, and since then, we try then to follow in particular only the principal themes.

I. Listening to the challenges to the family

I.1 The social-cultural context

In its first part, the instrumentum laboris speaks of a listening which is nothing more than “seeing”, an acknowledgement of the challenges currently facing the family. There seem to be in the world, in external circumstances, and in the discussions or in the mentality of peoples, at least two great sorts of problems. The first is traditional, seemingly constant, but which assumes in our globalized world new dimensions and new, unexpected consequences. These are the effects of climate and environmental change, and those of social injustice, of violence, of war, which push millions of persons to leave their homeland and try to survive in other parts of the world. If we look, for example, at the thousands of immigrants and refugees arriving daily in Europe, we see immediately that the vast majority is composed of rather young men, though they arrive, sometimes, with their women and children. Already from this picture it is evident that the migratory movement is disintegrating families, or at least makes it difficult to form them. In many parts of the world, young parents leave their home and their children to seek work abroad.

In not a few parts of the world persons work for a salary so low that it permits them to survive to continue to work, but it does not make it feasible to care for a family. In this context one cannot forget that commercial enterprises, too, have a responsibility in this situation.

It also happens that to ensure the so-called mobility of the “workforce”, entire families have to transfer to other cities or regions, ever lacerating the human and social structures of family, friends, and neighbors, school and work mates. So all this great mobility seems to be one of the factors which drive persons to individualistic attitudes and tendencies.

So the industrialization which began the 19th century, has arrived today to all parts of the world. The typical form of labor becomes one of dependence. The employee, working outside of his family, is payed for what he does outside his family, while the most precious work done inside the family community, such as the education of children and care of the sick and elderly at home, are but rarely recognized and aided by society. As Pope Francis has said: “We experience the shortcomings of a society programmed for efficiency, which consequently ignores its elderly. And the elderly are a wealth not to be ignored.” (General Audience, March 4, 2015)

I. 2 Anthropological change: fleeing from institutions

In the more wealth regions of the world, there is another elementary phenomenon, not independent of the first, and present now in other parts of the world, that is the so called “anthropological change”, which runs the risk of becoming an “anthropological reductionism.” (Pope Francis, address to participants in a seminar on his proposal for a “more inclusive economy”, July 12, 2014) The person, in seeking his freedom, often tries to be independent of any link, at times even of religion, which constitutes a link with God, or of social links, especially those which relate to the institutional form of life. The life of society, in fact, especially of those called ‘developed’, risks being ‘suffocated’ by bureaucratic formalism. A phenomenon which does not follow necessarily only from the complexity of economic and social structures or the complexity of scientific conquest, but which seems also to have another source – a change of attitude. If we do not have the confidence to know objective truth and objective values which are based on reality, then we risk looking for the guidelines of our social comportment on the basis of purely formal criteria, such as majority votes, independent of content, or the formality of proceedings, at various organizations, as the only justification for a choice. This phenomenon can push legislators to multiply juridical norms, and even to control information, for fear that otherwise there will not be a voluntary observance of laws, which can only come from a moral conviction, by a common, objective knowledge of reality. From this picture comes a notable alienation, which explains the instinctive flight of many people from institutional forms. So it seems we can explain the growth in the number of couples cohabiting seemingly stably, but without contracting any kind of marriage, neither religious nor civil. In certain countries the high percentage of this kind of choice shows a correlation with a high percentage of those who do not wish to bury their parents with any ceremony. Where the law allows it, they prefer to bring home their ashes, or to spread them without any formality. It is clear, here, that the fundamental escape from institutions also affects some forms of live which have per se a communitarian and institutional aspect. Marriage and family are not only for isolated individuals; rather, they transmit values, and offer a possibility of development to the human person, which is irreplaceable.

In all the crises of instiutions and of institutional forms for human relations, and not only in the sphere of marriage and the family, though there in a special way, there is manifest the internal tension of the human person and the question of what is the human being. Already, linguistic expression and speech involve an institutional element in communication. Using words with precise content, we come more easily to abstraction and logical reasoning, which relieve the single person of having to create always new ways of communicating. Following customs and institutional forms of society are easier and more secure ways of comporting oneself in many of life’s situations. Institutions, in general, seem to be ‘checks’ which facilitate, and lighten, interpersonal relationships. Even unwritten norms of social comportment have a similar function. One can communicate the ideal of just comportment by giving an example, a story told or represented in a film, but one can also express it in a verbally conceived norm – in a law. Jesus Christ was the greatest of communicators, the living Word of God, who was able to relate the parables and then to say “go and do likewise”, but was also able to speak as the Lawgiver.

Current anthropological change touches on the deepest layers of the human being. It comes in among planning the smallest details of a wedding, providing everything – the music, the menu, the tablecloths. You see young engaged couples totally preoccupied with these details, while at the same time neglecting the true significance of marriage.

In this ‘magnetic field’ of the necessity and the apparent inaccessibility of many institutional forms, is located the issue of the law, as well as those of marriage and the family. Before this current, and truly new situation, it seems providential that this present synodal assembly is dedicated to this theme. Let us then deal with the ambit of this synod, as Pope Francis has indicated: “… to read both the signs of God and human history, in a twofold yet unique faithfulness which this reading involves” (Instrumentum laboris 3).

I. 3 Institutional instability

In addition to the flight from institutions, there is growing institutional instability which is manifest also in the high rate of divorce. That people are getting married at a later age, and youths’ fear in assuming the responsibility of definitive commitments such as marriage and family, are seen in this context. Indeed, if one’s sole objective is to feel good in the moment, then neither the past nor the future have any importance; indeed there appears a certain general fear of the future, for one might not feel good anymore then. Thus it seems too perilous to make a definitive choice regarding career and family. It so happens that many do not even feel their own responsibility, either for the present or the future.

I. 4 Individualism and subjectivism

Thus, as Pope Francis reiterated in his discourse at Strasbourg: “Today there is a tendency to claim ever broader individual rights – I am tempted to say individualistic; underlying this is a conception of the human person as detached from all social and anthropological contexts, as if the person were a ‘monad’, increasingly unconcerned with other surrounding ‘monads’. The equally essential and complementary concept of duty no longer seems to be linked to such a concept of rights. As a result, the rights of the individual are upheld, without regard for the fact that each human being is part of a social context wherein his or her rights and duties are bound up with those of others and with the common good of society itself.”

“I believe, therefore, that it is vital to develop a culture of human rights which wisely links the individual, or better, the personal aspect, to that of the common good, of the ‘all of us‘ made up of individuals, families and intermediate groups who together constitute society.” (Pope Francis, Address to the European Parliament, Nov. 25, 2014)

Therefore the current tendency to pass off those things which are simply desires, often selfish ones, as true and proper rights, while denying the basic objective of all law, must be avoided.

“An aspect of great importance for our responsibility is the need to rethink the orientation of world systems through an ecological culture … which includes not only an environmental dimension but also those of society and economics, which allow sustainable development and a culture of creation” (Instrumentum laboris 16). It is in the light of our relationship with the Creator that we find the fullness of our responsibility and vocation.

In addition to these individualistic and anti-institutional tendencies, one can observe the phenomenon of confounding or rendering uncertain the continues of such fundamental institutions as marriage and the family. This also contributes to the growth of individualism, which ultimately results in both cause and effect.

I. 5 Biological and cultural aspects

With the development of the natural sciences, new possibilities have appeared regarding the biological relationship between persons and cultures. Consumer society has separated sexuality and procreation. This too is one of the causes of the falling birth rate. It stems at time from poverty, and in other cases from the difficulty of having to assume responsibility.

While in developing countries the exploitation of women and the violence done to their bodies and the tiring tasks imposed on them, even during pregnancy, are oftentimes compounded by abortion and forced sterilization, not to mention the extreme negative consequences of practices connected with procreation (for example, a womb ‘for rent’ or the marketing of embryonic gametes). In advanced countries, the desire for a child at any cost “has not resulted in happier and stronger family relationships.” (Instrumentum laboris 30) All things considered the so-called bio-technological revolution has introduced new possibilities for the manipulation of the generative act “… making it independent of the sexual relationship between man and woman. In this way, human life and parenthood have become modular and separable realities, subject mainly to the wishes of individuals or couples.” (Instrumentum laboris 34)

Immaturity and affective fragility are of great relevance here. First of all it is forgotten that these are the effects of a true lack of effective and affective education among families, in that parents do not have time for their children, or are divorced and the children are not able to see the example of adults, and are confronted only with the comportment of their peers. So the affective maturity remains held back and is not given permission to develop. Of prime importance in this context is pornography and the commercialization of the body, helped by a distorted use of the internet. Do not forget, however, that this more of a consequence than a cause of the current situation. Thus the crisis of couples destabilizes the family and weakens family links between generations. (cf Instrumentum laboris 33)

“Finally, there are theories according to which personal identity and emotional intimacy ought to be radically detached from the biological difference between male and female. At the same time, however, some want to recognize the stable character of a couple’s relationship apart from sexual difference, and place it on the same level as the marital relationship, which is intrinsically connected to the roles of a father and a mother and determined on the biological basis of child-bearing. The resulting confusion relegates the special bond between biological difference, reproduction and human identity to an individualistic choice. ‘The removal of difference [ … ] creates a problem, not a solution.’” (Instrumentum laboris 8)

II. The discernment of the family vocation

II. 1 Family and the divine pedagogy

The gaze of Jesus is that of mercy, of the mercy which is based on truth. Jesus’ teaching on marriage and family are from creation (cf Mt 19:3). The life of the human being and of humanity is part of a great project: that of God the creator. As in all aspects of life, we find our wholeness and our felicity if we can insert ourselves freely and consciously into this great project full of wisdom and love. If we seek the truth about marriage and family, according to the best of our natural capacities, and if we listen to the teachings of Jesus Christ, then we grasp it in all its fullness and all its holiness. So resplendent are marriage and family in their beauty, that Saint Paul said this is a great mystery which manifests the love of Christ for the Church (cf Eph 5:32). This beauty is not simply the meaning of something that attracts without interest, it does not have merely an aesthetic value, but is found to be a true and profound, objective interest in human existence, a true way to felicity, which in turn makes of sacramental marriage a means of sanctification and a font of grace.

“The truth [as the Council teaches] is that only in the mystery of the incarnate Word does the mystery of man take on light. [ … ] Christ, the final Adam, by the revelation of the mystery of the Father and His love, fully reveals man to man himself and makes his supreme calling clear” (Gaudium et spes 22). So we must understand, using a Christocentric key, also the rich and varied natural characteristics of marriage (cf Instrumentum laboris 40).

II. 2 Jesus and the family: the gift and task of indissolubility

“Jesus himself, referring to the original plan of the human couple, reaffirms the indissoluble union between a man and a woman, though saying to the Pharisees that ‘for your hardness of heart Moses allowed you to divorce your wives, but from the beginning it was not so’ (Mt 19: 8). The indissolubility of marriage (‘what therefore God has joined together, let no man put asunder’ Mt 19:6), is to be understood not as a ‘yoke’ imposed on persons but as a ‘gift’ to a husband and wife united in marriage. Jesus was born in a family; he began to work his signs at the wedding of Cana and he announced the meaning of marriage as the fullness of revelation that restores the original divine plan (Mt 19:3). At the same time, however, he put what he taught into practice and manifested the true meaning of mercy, clearly illustrated in his meeting with the Samaritan woman (Jn 4:1-30) and with the adulteress (Jn 8:1-11). By looking at the sinner with love, Jesus leads the person to repentance and conversion (‘Go and sin no more’), which is the basis for forgiveness.” (Instrumentum laboris 41)

This project of God for marriage and the family offers the possibility of fullness for the life of the person, relevant still today, despite the difficulties encountered in maintaining commitments forever. The virtues of marital and family life are, for example: “… respect and mutual trust; mutual acceptance and gratitude; and patience and forgiveness” (Instrumentum laboris 43).

II. 3 The family, image of the Trinity

Marriage and the family express in a special way that the human being is create in the image and likeness of God. In this context, Pope Francis recalled that: “… man alone is not the image of God nor is woman alone the image of God, but man and woman as a couple are the image of God. The difference between man and woman is not meant to stand in opposition, or to subordinate, but is for the sake of communion and generation, always in the image and likeness of God.” (General Audience, April 15, 2015). The complementary nature, in fact, of the unitive and procreative character in marriage is written into the divine plan in creation. (cf Instrumentum laboris 45).

Family and marriage have been redeemed by Christ (cf Eph 5:21-32), restored to the image of the Most Holy Trinity, the mystery from which comes every true love. This implies at the same time that they are, for the baptized, a gift and a special commitment.

II. 4 The family in the Magisterium of the Church

The Second Vatican Council emphasized the importance of the promotion of the dignity of marriage and of the family (cf Gaudium et spes 47-52), reiterating the fact that marriage is a community of life and love (cf GS 48). True love in fact is not reduced to some elements of the relationship but implies a mutual gift of self (cf GS 49). Thus the sexual and affective dimensions are built up during daily life. In the Creator the human couple is already a bearer of the divine blessing. In fact, in Genesis we read that: “God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. And God blessed them, and God said to them: ‘Be fruitful and multiply … ‘“ (Gen 1:27-28). In the incarnation, then, God assumes human love, purifies it and brings it to fulfillment and gives to the spouses, with his Spirit, bestowed already in the sacrament of Baptism, the capacity to realize it fully and through his grace, to build up the Body of Christ and to be a domestic Church (cf Lumen gentium 11; Instrumentum laboris 47).

II.5 The missionary dimension of the Family

The missionary dimension of the family is rooted in the sacrament of Baptism and is realized within the Christian community. The Christian family, a domestic Church based on the sacramental marriage of two Christians, by its nature tends to diffuse its faith by sharing it with others. The Christian family, in fact, are called to witness to the Gospel either by its life according to the Gospel itself, or by a missionary proclamation. Spouses mutually reinforce their faith and transmit it to their children, but the children, moreover, together with the other family members, are also called to share their faith. In the family you can experience who the spouses in their mutual love, reinforced bu the spirit of Christ, live their call to holiness. So the family constitutes, as Saint John Paul II said in Familiaris consortio, the way of the Church (cf FC 13). It is in this framework that the teaching of Blessed Paul VI fits, which highlights the intimate relationship between conjugal love and the generation of life (cf Humanae vitae). This truth seems to be particularly important today, when there are so many technical possibilities for separating procreation from conjugal love. The love lived in marriage and the family is the principle of life in society, as recalled by Benedict XVI in his encylical Caritas in veritate (n. 44). The family, in fact, is the place where a person learns to experience the common good (cf Instrumentum laboris 50). The teaching of the Popes deepens also the spiritual dimension of family life, beginning from the rediscovery of family prayer and listening in common to the Word of God. Equally fundamental is the rediscovery of Sunday as a sign of the profound rootedness of the family in the ecclesial reality. The spirituality of the family must be nourished by strong experiences of faith, in particular by participation in the Eucharist. (cf Instrumentum laboris 51; Lumen gentium 11). Above all in the Sunday Eucharist, the Christian family announces that great and definitive family to which we are all called in eternal life.

Pope Francis in his encyclical Lumen Fidei spoke of family ties and the faith, saying: “Faith is no refuge … 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).

The reciprocal gift constitutive of marriage, rooted for Christians in the grace of Baptism, stabilizes the fundamental alliance of each person with Christ in the Church. The engaged promise a total gift, fidelity, and openness to life, recognized as the constitutive elements of marriage and gifts given them by God, taking seriously their commitment in his name and before the Church. In sacramental marriage God consecrates the love of spouses and confirms indissolubility, offering them assistance to live their faithfulness, mutual complementarity and openness to life (cf Instrumentum laboris 54).

II. 6 The indissolubility of marriage and the joy of living together

The teaching of Christ on the indissolubility of marriage was very demanding, to the point of provoking a certain confusion among his own disciples (cf Mt 19:10). The Gospels and Saint Paul confirm equally that the repudiation of one’s wife, practiced first among the people of Israel, does not render possible a new marriage for either party. This affirmation, so unusual and so demanding, has continued through the course of centuries in the disciplinary tradition of the Church, constituting an element still to the point which draws people back to Christianity, a disciplinary question that matters nearly as much as monogamy and the indissolubility of marriage (cf Mt 19:1-10; Mark 10:1-12; Luke 16:18; 1 Cor 7:10-16).

This teaching of Christ regarding marriage is truly Good News and is a source of joy, as it is the full realization of the human person and of his vocation to gratuitous personal relationships, to giving himself, to be fully accepted (cf Instrumentum laboris 55).

II. 7 The project of the Creator and natural marriage

The Church, it should be remembered, has always recognized the existence of true, natural marriage between two unbaptized persons. Since the beginning of humanity such an alliance between a man and a woman has corresponded to the creative plan of God, and was blessed (Gen 1:27-28). So, among true marriages, even today there are in the world many natural marriages, and other marriages sacramental, contracted between the baptized, which involves a special grace (cf Instrumentum laboris 57). “The seriousness of adhering to this divine plan and the courage required to witness to it is especially to be esteemed in these times” (Instrumentum laboris 57).

II. 8 Mercy for wounded families: mission of the Church

In virtue of the sacrament of marriage the Christian family becomes a good for the Church, but its insertion into the ecclesial context is always good for the family being helped at the spiritual and communitarian levels despite difficulties, and helps to guard the marital union and to discern any respective obligations or eventual shortcoming.

The organic insertion of marriage and the family among Christians in the reality of the Church, requires also that the Church community pay realistic and merciful attention to the faithful who cohabit or who live in civil marriage only, because they do not feel prepared to celebrate the sacrament, given the difficulties that such as choice to result in today. If the community can prove to show itself welcoming to these persons, in the varied situations of life, and presents articulately the truth about marriage, it will help these faithful to arrive at a decision for sacramental marriage.

II. 9 Mercy and truth revealed

From this intimate connection between the sacrament of marriage and the reality of the Church it follows that the Church community has a vocation to help even those Catholic couples and families who find themselves in crisis. It has a duty to care for all those who cohabit or are in marital or family situations which cannot become a valid marriage, much less a sacramental one. “Conscious that the most merciful thing is to tell the truth in love, we go beyond compassion. Merciful love, as it attracts and unites, transforms and elevates. It is an invitation to conversion (cf John 8:1-11)” (Instrumentum laboris 67).

III. The mission of the family today

III. 1 The family and evangelization

Among the practical consequences and tasks regarding the mission, some require the Church’s commitment to families, others regard the family itself, and others require the concerted efforts of both.

Marriage preparation, which often engages the attention of engaged person at the exterior and emotional level, should be enriched by placing a proper accent on the spiritual and ecclesial character of marriage. In pastoral preparation for marriage we have to go deeply into the aspects underlining the essential properties of marriage at the natural and supernatural levels. It is extremely useful to have the joyous participation of the Christian community which welcomes the new family, which is to be a living member of the ecclesial family (cf instrumentum laboris 73; 103). Thus it is very useful for Catholic families to be involved in the preparation of engaged couples. The newlyweds can come to know a community of true friends, and from these encounters there can be born human relationships of enrichment, support, and help in difficult situations or in problems within the couple. Belonging to such a group, the faith of the couple can mature, especially if these communities of family meet regularly, read Sacred Scripture, pray together, and cultivate their faith in the light of the teaching of the Church, especially through the Catechism of the Catholic Church. Beside all this, and as its ‘fruit’, there is accomplished a mutual help in daily problems which are part of the life of every family. The formation of such groups of families seems to be a sign of the times. They often arise within new communities or ecclesial movements, but are also often rooted in the parish. It seems an urgent and fascinating task to form such communities, and promote them among all the dioceses.

It will often be good to animate these groups with the presence of a priest or a pastoral worker who is well prepared (cf Instrumentum laboris 75).

At both the level of small communities and of parish ministry and the mass media there is needed a “… conversion of language that it might prove to be effectively meaningful” (Instrumentum laboris 77-78). This constitutes a challenge for bishops, priests, and other ministers of the Word and requires, or may require, new forms of catechesis and testimony, in full fidelity to the truth revealed by Christ. If we speak from the depths of our heart, if we never tire of being accountable to ourselves and our faith, then we can turn to others with conviction and courage. If we speak frankly to others about what we believe, we don’t need to be afraid of being misunderstood, because we, too, are children of our time. While not everyone will accept what we announce, they will at least understand the proposal. This is confirmed especially by the experience of missionaries in large cities.

Beyond the joyous announcement of the Gospel, and within the context of announcing the good news of the family, it is necessary also to help those living in problematic and difficult situations to discern their living conditions in the light of the gospel. This discernment must not be content with subjective criteria, as a test for justification, but must bring together mercy with justice. The project of God in marriage and family is the way to happiness for the human being. In this work of announcing, the pastors of the Church, particularly where other worldviews or religions are present, should know such ways to conceive of and implement marriage and family to illuminate them with the light of the Gospel.

III. 2 Family, formation, and public institutions

In the preparation of both clergy and pastoral workers, and in their continuing formation, we must bear in mind that fact that their affective and psychological maturation is indispensable for the pastoral accompaniment of families. Diocesan offices and other structures for the family should collaborate in this regard.

“Given that the family is “the first and vital cell of society” (Apostolicam actuositatem, 11), the family ought to rediscover its vocation of involvement in all aspects of living in society. Essentially, families, in gathering together, need to find ways to interact with public, economic and cultural institutions so they can build a more just society” (Instrumentum laboris 91). Collaboration with public institutions is desired for the interest of the family. Yet in many countries and many institutions the official concept of the family is “… not in keeping with the Christian view or the sense of the family based on nature” (Instrumentum laboris 91). This mode of thinking influences the mentality of not a few Christians. Family associations and Catholic movements ought to work together to assert the real instances of the family in society (cf instrumentum laboris 91).

“Christians ought to engage directly in the socio-political life by actively participating in the decision-process and introducing the Church’s social doctrine into discussions with institutions. This commitment would foster the development of appropriate programs to assist young people and needy families at risk of social isolation and exclusion” (Instrumentum laboris 92).

Christians ought to try to create economic structures to support those families who are particularly affected by poverty, unemployment, job insecurity, lack of social and health care, or who are victims of usury. All of the Church community should try to assist those families who are victims of war and persecution.

III. 3 Family, accompaniment, and ecclesial integration

The mission of the Church is delicate and demanding regarding those who live in problematic marital or family situations. First are those who could be married in the Church but who are content with a civil marriage or simple cohabitation. If their attitude comes from a lack of faith or religious interest, it is truly a missionary situation. When, however, they have some relationship with the Church community, frequenting perhaps parish groups or ecclesial movements, a way is opened for their approach of sacramental marriage. The dynamics of pastoral relationships on a personal level can provide a solid basis for a sound teaching method which might foster the gradual opening of minds and hearts to the fullness of God’s plan (cf Instrumentum laboris 103).

Regarding the separated and the divorced who have not remarried, the community of the Church can help those who live these situations in a path of pardon and possibly of reconciliation, and can help the children who are victims of these situations and may encourage those left alone after such a failure, to persevere in faith and in the Christian life and also “to find in the Eucharist the nourishment they need to sustain them in their present state of life” (Instrumentum laboris 118).

It is important to have, at least at the diocesan level, listening centers which can in part help in moments of crisis, but also afterwards (cf Instrumentum laboris 117). Another kind of counseling, equally important, is offered to the divorced to help to clarify the possible invalidity of their failed marriage, as is previewed in the motu proprio Mitis Iudex.

Regarding the divorced-and-civilly-remarried, a merciful, pastoral accompaniment is only right – an accompaniment, however, which leaves no doubt about the truth of the indissolubility of marriage taught by Jesus Christ himself. The mercy of God offers to sinners pardon, but demands conversion. The sin in this case does not lie first and foremost in whatever comportment which may have led to the breakup of the first marriage. With regard to that failure it is possible that both parties were equally culpable, although very often both are to some extent responsible. It is therefore not the failure of the first marriage, but cohabiting in the second relationship that impedes access to the Eucharist. “Many parties request that the attention to and the accompaniment of persons who are divorced and civilly remarried take into account the diversity of situations and be geared towards a greater integration of them into the life of the Christian community” (Instrumentum laboris 121). What impedes some aspects of full integration does not consist in an arbitrary prohibition; it is rather an intrinsic demand of varied situations and relationships, in the context of ecclesial witness. All this requires, however, a profound reflection.

With respect to a way of penance, this expression is used in diverse ways (cf Instrumentum laboris 122-123). These ways need to be deepened and specified. It can be understood in the sense of St. John Paul II’s Familiaris consortio (cf n. 84) and referred to those who are divorced-and-remarried, who because of the needs of their children cannot interrupt their common life, but who can practice continence by the strength of grace, living their relationship of mutual help and friendship. These faithful will also have access to the sacraments of Penance and the Eucharist, avoiding the provocation of scandal (cf Instrumentum laboris 119). This possibility is far from being physicalist and does not reduce marriage to the exercise of sexuality, but recognizing its nature and purpose, is applied coherently in the life of the human person.

“In order to deepen in the objective situation of sin and moral culpability, the Letter to Bishops of the Catholic Church on the reception of Eucharistic Communion on the part of divorced and remarried faithful by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (Sept. 14, 1994) (should) be taken into consideration as well as the Declaration on the admissibility to Holy Communion of the divorced and remarried by the Pontifical Council for Legislative Texts (June 24, 2000),” (IL 123), as also said in the Post-synodal Exhortation Sacramentum Caritatis by Benedict XVI.

The integration of the divorced and remarried in the ecclesial community can be realized in various ways, apart from admission to the Eucharist, as already suggested in Familiaris consortio 84.

In the traditional practice of the Latin Church the penitential path could have signified for those who were not ready to change their living conditions, but who tried to communicate the desire for conversion, that confessors could hear their confession, giving them good advice and proposing penitential exercises, in order to direct them to conversion, but without giving them the absolution which was possible only for those who actually intended to change their lives (cf RI 5 in VI; F. A. Febeus, S. I., De regulisiuris canonici Liber unicus, Venetiis 1735, pp. 91-92).

True marriages among Christians of different confessions and those celebrated with the dispensation of the impediment from the disparity of worship, between a Catholic and a non-baptized individual, they are valid marriages, but present some pastoral challenges. “Consequently, dealing constructively with differences regarding the faith would necessitate paying particular attention to people who are actually living in these marriages and not simply to couples during the period of preparation before the wedding” (Instrumentum Laboris 127).

For what regards the reference to the pastoral practices of the Orthodox Churches, this cannot be properly evaluated using only the conceptual apparatus developed in the West in the second Millennium. It should be kept in mind (that there are) great institutional differences regarding the tribunals of the Church, as well as the special respect for the legislation of the States, which at times can become critical, if the laws of the State are detached from the truth of marriage according to the design of the Creator.

On the search for pastoral solutions for the difficulty of certain divorced and civilly remarried, it must be kept in mind that fidelity to the indissolubility of marriage cannot be linked to the practical recognition of the goodness of concrete situations that are opposite and therefore irreconcilable. Between true and false, between good and evil, in fact, there is no graduality, even if some forms of cohabitation bring in themselves certain positive aspects, this does not imply that they can be presented as good. However, that the objective truth of the moral good and the subjective responsibility of single persons stand out. There may be a difference between the disorder, ie. the objective sin, and the concrete sin realized in particular conduct that also implies, but not only, the subjective element. “The imputability and responsibility of an action can be diminished or even nullified by ignorance, duress, violence, fear, habits, inordinate attachments and by other psychological or even social factors” (Catechism of the Catholic Church 1735). This means that in objective truth good and evil are not given gradually (gradualness of the law), while at the subjective level the law of graduality can take place, and therefore the education of conscience and in the same sense of responsibility. The human act, in fact, is good when it is in every aspect (ex integra causa).

Both in the last synodal assembly and during the preparation of the present general assembly the question of pastoral attention to persons with homosexual tendencies was treated. Even if the problem doesn’t directly affect the reality of the family, situations arise when such behavior influences the life of the family. In every case the Church teaches that “‘There are absolutely no grounds for considering homosexual unions to be in any way similar or even remotely analogous to God’s plan for marriage and family.’ Nevertheless, men and women with a homosexual tendency ought to be received with respect and sensitivity.’ Every sign of unjust discrimination in their regard should be avoided’” (Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Considerations Regarding Proposals to Give Legal Recognition to Unions Between Homosexual Persons, 4, Instrumentum Laboris 130).

It reiterates that every person must be respected in their dignity independently of their sexual orientation. It would be desirable that dioceses devote special attention in their pastoral programs to the accompaniment of families where a member has a homosexual tendency and of homosexual persons themselves (Instrumentum Laboris 131). Instead, “Exerting pressure in this regard on the Pastors of the Church is totally unacceptable: it is equally unacceptable for international organizations to link their financial assistance to poorer countries with the introduction of laws that establish ‘marriage’ between persons of the same sex” (Instrumentum Laboris 132).

III. 4 Family, generativity, education

Openness to life is an intrinsic requirement of conjugal love. The generation of life, therefore, cannot be reduced to a variable of the plan of the couple or individual. The individualistic vision of procreation can contribute to the sharp fall in the birth rate, weakening the social fabric, undermining the relationship between generations and rendering the future more uncertain (cf Instrumentum Laboris 133).

We should therefore continue to make known the documents of the Magisterium of the Church which promote the culture of life in front of the increasingly widespread culture of death. Pastoral activity on behalf of the family should involve more Catholic bio-medical specialists in preparing couples for marriage and in accompanying married people (cf Instrumentum Laboris 134).

“Every effort should be made to establish a dialogue with international bodies and policy makers in order to promote respect for human life, from conception to natural death. In this regard, special care needs to be given to families with disabled children” (Instrumentum Laboris 135).

III. 5 Generative responsibility

For what regards generative responsibility: “… needs to start with listening to people and acknowledging the beauty and truth of an unconditional openness to life, which is needed, if human love is to be lived fully. This serves as the basis for an appropriate teaching regarding the natural methods for responsible procreation, which allow a couple to live, in a harmonious and conscious manner, the loving communication between husband and wife in all its aspects along with their responsibility at procreating life. In this regard, we should return to the message of the encyclical Humanae vitae of Blessed Pope Paul VI, which highlights the need to respect the dignity of the person in morally assessing methods in regulating births. The adoption of children, orphans and the abandoned and accepting them as one’s own is a specific form of the family apostolate (cf. AA 11), and has oftentimes been called for and encouraged by the Magisterium (cf. FC 41; Evangelium Vitae, 93)” (Instrumentum Laboris 136). It’s necessary to offer guiding paths which nurture conjugal life and the importance of the laity, which provide an accompaniment made with living witness (cf Instrumentum Laboris 139).

III. 6 Human Life, an Intangible Mystery

“Human beings are themselves considered consumer goods to be used and then discarded. We have created a “throw away” culture which is now spreading” (Evangelii gaudium 53). “In this regard, the task of the family, supported by everyone in society, is to welcome an unborn human life and take care of human life in its final stage” (Instrumentum Laboris 140).

Regarding the drama of abortion the Church reaffirms the inviolable character of human life. She offers advice to pregnant women, sustains teen mothers, assists abandoned children and is a companion for those who have suffered abortion and become conscious of their mistake. Equally the Church reaffirms the right to natural death, at the same time avoiding both aggressive treatment and euthanasia (cf Instrumentum Laboris 141). Death, in reality, is not a private and individual fact. The human person is not and should not feel isolated in the moment of suffering and death. In the world today, when families have become small and at times isolated and broken or headed by a single parent, their ability to care for their for their members has diminished, including the elderly, disabled and dying. Besides the great public social systems, often of the state, they (families) have great difficulties working, also due to the aging of society and the advancement of an exclusive market logic that considers social expenditures as factors which diminish competitiveness. In this context the Church is confronting a double challenge. On one part through her institutions and voluntary services seeking to make up for the deficiencies of the state welfare system and on the other hand the inability of families seeking to strengthen the human side of that service, offering more material aid, as well as human and spiritual support. Values which cannot be quantified with money.

III. 7 The challenge of education and the role of the family in evangelization

A special challenge the family must confront is that of education and evangelization. Parents are and remain the first ones responsible for the human and religious education of their children. All the crisis which threaten or weaken the family, however, impede the development of this task. However, many places “are witnessing a progressive weakening in the role of parents in upbringing, because of an invasive presence of the media in the family as well as the tendency to delegate this task to other entities. This requires that the Church encourage and support families in their vigilant and responsible supervision in a school’s academic and formative programs which affect their children” (Instrumentum Laboris 144).

In all this educative activity families can receive essential help from other families, especially from the community of Christian families, who seem to assume ever more certain important tasks of the Church, constituting a form of fundamental apostolate of the laity. In the context institutional crisis, they (laity) represent the community element in a providential way for single families and for the Church.

Conclusion

Listening to the Word of God, our response must give sincere and fraternal attention to the needs of our contemporaries, in order to transmit to them the liberating truth and being witnesses of the greatest mercy.

To face the challenge of the family today the Church must therefore convert and become more alive, more personal, more communitarian even at the parochial and small community levels. A certain reawakening seems to already be taking place in many places. So that this is more general and increasingly deeper, we ask for the light of the Holy Spirit, who indicates to us the concrete steps to make.

In this way the vocation and mission of the family in the Church and in the contemporary world, which is the theme of the current synod, appears in a serene and concrete light which makes us grow in hope and courage in the mercy of God. That mercy for which Pope Francis wanted to dedicate an extraordinary Jubilee. Let us thank the Holy Father for this choice of hope and entrust our work to the Holy Family of Nazareth.

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VATICAN NEWS

Cardinal Erdö’s emphatic defense of Church teaching marked synod’s first day

by Edward Pentin (National Catholic Register) • October 6, 2015

Cardinal Peter Erdo of Esztergom-Budapest, relator general of the Synod of Bishops, at a press briefing, Oct. 5, 2015. (Daniel Ibanez/CNA.)

Vatican City — Monday, the first full day of the Ordinary Synod of Bishops on the Family, was dominated by the introductory address of the synod’s general relator, Cardinal Peter Erdö of Esztergom-Budapest.

The entire text of Cardinal Erdö’s Oct. 5 speech was released only in Italian, but has been translated into English by the staff of Catholic News Agency. In his speech, Cardinal Erdö reasserted much of the Church’s teaching, and cast doubt on the prospect of a controversial proposal to readmit civilly remarried divorcees to Communion.

The proposal, first raised by Cardinal Walter Kasper, a German and the president emeritus of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, at a consistory in February 2014 and which is based on the practice of Eastern Orthodox Churches, was one of the most controversial issues at last year’s extraordinary synod on the family.

The current gathering, which runs until Oct. 25 and is being attended by 279 bishops and priests from around the world, is to discuss the theme “The Vocation and Mission of the Family in the Church and the Contemporary World.”

In his 2014 proposal, Cardinal Kasper said divorced-and-remarried Catholics could be readmitted to the sacraments after a period of penitence for their first marriage. Critics said it undermined the indissolubility of marriage, amounted to an attack on the sacrament of the Eucharist, and would precipitate many other abuses of Church teaching.

Cardinal Erdö, 63, whose position as general relator makes him responsible for underlining the goals of the synod at the beginning of the three-week meeting, stressed that civilly remarried Catholics “must be given merciful pastoral guidance,” but this “does not call into question the indissolubility of marriage as taught by Jesus Christ himself.”

He added that “God’s mercy offers forgiveness to sinners but requires conversion,” and, in this case, “a couple’s sin does not lie first and foremost in whatever behavior may have led to the breakup of the first marriage.” The reason they cannot receive the Eucharist “is not because of the failure of their first marriage, but because of the cohabitation in their second relationship,” he said.

Familiaris Consortio

He said not admitting divorced and civilly remarried Catholics to Communion is not an “arbitrary ban” and requires “careful reflection,” but stressed St. John Paul II’s approach, specifically article 84 of his 1981 apostolic exhortation Familiaris Consortio, which underlined the indissolubility of marriage. It also allowed for some divorced and remarried Catholics to receive Communion, provided that they live as brother and sister, in “continence,” and can access the sacraments “whilst avoiding scandal.” Cardinal Erdö also said the Orthodox Church’s model cannot be feasibly applied to the West, where there is “great institutional difference.”

The cardinal’s comments were given added weight by the fact that his assertion was reflective of wishes and concerns received by the synod secretariat in the time between the two synods.

“I was trying to bring together all the elements of the Church’s voice,” Cardinal Erdö told reporters afterward, adding that “most of the responses reflected a wish” for the magisterium’s existing documents on this issue to be “taken into consideration.” He also noted that the Gospel reading on Sunday, at the opening Mass of the synod, was providentially from Mark Chapter 10, in which Jesus says, “What God has united man must not divide.”

Pope Francis also referenced the Gospel reading for the day in his homily at the Mass that opened the synod, calling the marital union of a man and a woman the foundation for God’s plan for the family.

“This is God’s dream for his beloved creation,” the Holy Father said, “to see it fulfilled in the loving union between a man and a woman, rejoicing in their shared journey, fruitful in their mutual gift of self.”

Setting the Course

Although the words from the cardinal and the Pope do not completely put an end to Cardinal Kasper’s proposal (the Hungarian cardinal said the penitential path needs “further reflection”), one synod father told the Register on condition of anonymity that his speech “probably changes the direction of the synod.” Cardinal Kasper, he observed, was “stony-faced and didn’t applaud when it was read out.”

According to sources, a lively discussion reportedly followed in the synod hall in the afternoon.

Cardinal Reinhard Marx of Munich and Freising, president of the German bishops’ conference, told reporters Monday in Rome that he uttered his displeasure about Cardinal Erdö’s address during the afternoon session.

Asked if the Church is essentially back to the discussion before the consistory, in February 2014, when Cardinal Kasper first raised his proposal, Cardinal Marx replied, “Yes,” but that in terms of synodality, he felt the Church had moved forward. He said expectations have never been so high before a synod and that Pope Francis had contributed to that; but he stressed one should go with openness into the meeting and with preparedness to learn.

Cardinal Erdö’s speech contrasts with the one he gave last year, when Cardinal Lorenzo Baldisseri, secretary general of the Synod of Bishops, pressured him into changing up to 40% of its content.

Archbishop Joseph Kurtz of Louisville, president of the U.S. bishops’ conference, told the Register he wasn’t sure Cardinal Erdö’s address changed the synod’s course, but he thought it was “a good summary and gave a good, substantial direction.” Other synod fathers, speaking anonymously, said they thought the speech was very well executed.

Cardinal Erdö began his presentation, which he said “systemizes” the instrumentum laboris (working document) for the synod, by quoting Pope Francis’ Angelus from July 19. The Pope said the compassionate attitude of Jesus is “not the look of a sociologist or a photojournalist, because he always looks with ‘the eyes of the heart,’” Cardinal Erdö reiterated.

Observers said his words could be taken as a warning not to reduce theology to sociology, a common trait of many Western bishops and theologians, particularly in Germany, leading up to the synod.

He devoted the whole of the second part of his speech to spotlighting healthy families and upholding the ideal of the family before turning to irregular situations. He then discussed the challenge of listening to the family, warned of individualism and subjectivism and discussed the various challenges of the family vocation.

Humanae vitae

The cardinal underlined the importance of “openness to life,” called for the message of Blessed Paul VI’s encyclical Humanae vitae – which reaffirmed Church teaching with regard to responsible parenthood, married love and the rejection of artificial contraception – to be “rediscovered” and spoke about reasons for low birth rates and the threat of euthanasia, among other threats to the family.

Also mentioned was the missionary dimension of the family and the need to couple mercy with truth, such as in the case of cohabitation, a controversial topic of the last synod. He quoted in this context article 67 of the instrumentum laboris, which states: “Conscious that the most merciful thing is to tell the truth in love, we go beyond compassion. Merciful love, as it attracts and unites, transforms and elevates. It is an invitation to conversion.”

On the subject of same-sex relationships, Cardinal Erdö pointed out that they have nothing to do with marriage, but that such people need to be treated “with respect and sensitivity.”

In his homily at the Mass that opened the synod, Pope Francis exhorted participants to “assume apostolic courage of evangelical humility and of confident prayer” in order to give the Holy Spirit space to carry out his actions.

Pope Francis went on to say that unless the bishops open themselves to guidance by the Holy Spirit, their decisions will become mere “decorations” that serve to “cover and hide” the Gospel, rather than glorify it.

Synod Methodology

In his opening speech to the synod, Cardinal Lorenzo Baldisseri, secretary general of the Synod of Bishops, explained a new methodology of the synod, unveiled last Friday. He said the small-group dicsussions would help “foster more intense debate.”

But some synod fathers still have expressed concerns about some of the new rules. Archbishop Kurtz said “there are a lot of questions” on the new methodology, specifically regarding the 13 small language groups that will present reports at the end of each of the three weeks. Archbishop Kurtz wondered how they will “lead up to votes.”

“I still don’t have a lot of those answers. I don’t think any of the synod fathers have those,” he said, “but I think we’re going to have those at the end of the first week.” He also said details about whether a post-synodal apostolic exhortation would be published were also not ascertained.

“It didn’t come up today, and I’m eager to find that out,” said Archbishop Kurtz.

It’s still early in the process, but the archbishop is confident that the synod fathers will avoid the ideological agenda that threatened the 2014 synodal process and focus on strengthening Church teaching on marriage and the family.

“I’m entering the synod with a very spiritual mindset,” Archbishop Kurtz said. “The Holy Father is basically saying to all of us: ‘Speak frankly, but seek what God might be inspiring us to say for the sake of the Church and the family. Listen to one another, and be open to the Holy Spirit.’”

Edward Pentin is the National Catholic Register’s Rome correspondent.

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VATICAN NEWS

Pope Francis backs the new synod process in an unanticipated speech

by Andrea Gagliarducci (CNA/EWTN News) • October 6, 2015

Pope Francis attends the Synod on the Family, Oct. 5, 2015. (Daniel Ibanez/CNA)

Vatican City — In an unexpected speech at the synod on Tuesday, Pope Francis has stated that this gathering is in continuity with 2014 synod, which he said never called into question the Church’s teaching on marriage.

He also emphasized that the official documents of the 2014 synod are his two speeches, and its final report.

The full text of the Holy Father’s intervention has not made public, but Fr. Federico Lombardi, director of the Holy See press office, reported about it in his Oct. 6 press briefing.

Pope Francis’ speech came after Cardinal Lorenzo Baldisseri, secretary general of the Synod of Bishops, had taken the floor to give a long explanation about the synod’s new methodology, as there had been on Monday several synod fathers asking for explanations about the new process, which had alarmed not a few of them.

According to Fr. Lombardi, Cardinal Baldisseri explained the synod’s new method, presented the 10 member commission the Pope appointed in order to assist in drafting the synod’s final report, and underscored that the procedure was approved by the Pope Sept. 7, during one of the sessions of the Council of the Synod.

After Cardinal Baldisseri’s intervention, the Pope wanted to take the floor, Fr. Lombardi recounted.

According to Fr. Lombardi, the Pope wanted “essentially to clarify two issues.”

The first is that “this synod must be lived in continuity with last year’s extraordinary synod.” The Pope then stressed – ‘with these very words,’ Fr. Lombardi said – that “from the extraordinary session of the synod, three are the official documents: the Pope’s inaugural speech, the Pope’s final speech, and the final report.”

The final report was controversial because it also included the midterm report paragraphs that had not gained the supermajority of two thirds – that is, they did not reach a consensus. Customarily, the propositions that do not reach a consensus have been removed from the final documents of synods.

However, the Pope underscored – Fr. Lombardi recounted – that “the Council of the Synod looked into the 2014 synod’s final report in the time between the extraordinary and the ordinary synod, and that the report has been integrated with other contributions,” and that the Synod’s working document is a result of this effort taken between the 2014 and 2015 synods.

“The Pope said the working document has been approved by the Synod’s Council in meetings in which the Pope himself took part,” Fr. Lombardi stressed.

Then Pope Francis wanted to clarify a second issue: that “Catholic teaching on marriage has not been put into question by the previous synod, and that synod fathers should not be conditioned to circumscribe the Synod to only the issue of access to Communion for the divorced-and-remarried,” said Fr. Lombardi.

While it is not unusual for the Pope to take the floor during a synod – Benedict XVI having done so in those held in 2008 and 2012 – it is however the first time the Pope’s speeches at the synod are considered the official documents of the synod itself.

These contents will then be the guidelines of the upcoming discussions at this year’s synod. The synod fathers are now divided into small groups by language, to discuss particular issues, having been so divided the afternoon of Oct. 6.

In these first two days, 72 synod fathers took the floor. Fr. Lombardi said there were 10 interventions from Latin America, 7 from North America, 26 from Europe, 12 from Africa, 8 from Asia and Oceania, and 6 from the Middle East. Italian and English have been the most used languages.

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VATICAN NEWS

Archbishop Chaput: We need more accurate translations of synod docs

by CNA/EWTN News • October 7, 2015

Archbishop Charles Chaput of Philadelphia greets Pope Francis at Independence Hall, Sept. 26, 2015. (L’Osservatore Romano)

Vatican City — The Synod of Bishops’ English-language translations are not always accurate and some synod fathers are worried about whether they will understand the synod’s final document before they vote on it, Archbishop Charles Chaput of Philadelphia said Wednesday.

“Among English speakers, we don’t have typically the skills in as many languages as the French and the Spanish,” the archbishop said at an Oct. 7 press briefing at the Vatican.

“So one of the issues we’re dealing with is the official documents are in Italian, and the translations are more or less, accurate. Not always.”

Archbishop Chaput is a spokesman, also known as a relator, for one of the four English-language discussion circles at the synod. He said the English-speaking bishops have “the additional problem of trying to deal with very serious issues, in languages we don’t clearly understand.”

“As we move on to the process, there is a bit of worry in our group that when the final document is pronounced in Italian, and we’re asked to vote, we may not be very clear on what we’re voting for,” he said.

The archbishop faulted himself rather than Vatican personnel.

“That’s my problem, not the Holy See’s problem, because I don’t know languages as I wish I did, and perhaps I should.”

At the same time, the English-speaking bishops have asked for translations of the synod’s official documents, he said.

He noted that “we also have an English translation of Cardinal Erdo’s talk; but it’s not considered official, it’s just background information.”

An English translation of Cardinal Erdo’s Oct. 5 introductory speech to the synod fathers has been provided by the Catholic News Agency. The Vatican had released the text only in Italian.

Archbishop Chaput also noted the importance of the wording used in the original, definitive versions of synod documents – not only their translations.

“The language is a big issue, it’s not just sensitivity to the world but also sensitivity to the Gospel and the truth of the Gospel and we have to be careful in the language we use to protect both,” he said. “We must affirm the ninety-nine when we go looking for the one.”

During the press briefing, Fr. Federico Lombardi, the Holy See press officer, noted that while the statements, or interventions, of bishops at the synod will not be distributed by the press office, bishops are free to publicize the text of their own interventions at their will.

Archbishop Chaput in his Oct. 6 intervention suggested that the synod’s instrumentum laboris, or working document, appears to present “two conflicting views: pastoral despair or a decision to hope.”

“When Jesus experienced the pastoral despair of his apostles, he reminded them that for man a thing may seem impossible, but for God all things are possible,” the archbishop said.

He particularly reflected on paragraphs 7-10 of the working document, which discussed anthropological changes, cultural and social contradictions, and the weaknesses and strengths of the family.

While the archbishop praised these sections’ description of the condition of contemporary families, he worried that “overall, the text engenders a subtle hopelessness.”

“This leads to a spirit of compromise with certain sinful patterns of life and the reduction of Christian truths about marriage and sexuality to a set of beautiful ideals – which then leads to surrendering the redemptive mission of the Church,” he said. “The work of this synod needs to show much more confidence in the Word of God, the transformative power of grace, and the ability of people to actually live what the Church believes. And it should honor the heroism of abandoned spouses who remain faithful to their vows and the teaching of the Church.”

Archbishop Chaput cited the French writer George Bernanos’ definition of hope: “despair, overcome.”

“We have no reason to despair. We have every reason to hope. Pope Francis saw this himself in Philadelphia. Nearly 900,000 people crowded the streets for the papal Mass that closed the World Meeting of Families,” he added.

People attended the World Meeting of Families both because they love the Pope and because they believe in marriage and the family, he said. They were “hungry to be fed by real food from the Vicar of Jesus Christ.”

Archbishop Chaput made several recommendations to the synod.

“We need to call people to perseverance in grace and to trust in the greatness God intended for them – not confirm them in their errors. Marriage embodies Christian hope – hope made flesh and sealed permanently in the love of a man and a woman,” he said.

“This synod needs to preach that truth more clearly with the radical passion of the Cross and Resurrection.”

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VATICAN NEWS

‘Flawed, inadequate’ – bishops skewer synod’s working doc in new report

by Elise Harris (CNA/EWTN News) • October 9, 2015

Extraordinary assembly of the Synod of Bishops on the Family, Oct. 2014. (Mazur/catholicnews.org.uk)

Vatican City — A controversial working document for the Vatican’s synod on the family took a hard hit from numerous bishops who’ve called the text overly negative, unclear, and possibly inaccurate in its translations.

“While various elements of the (document) are admirable, we found much of the text to be flawed or inadequate,” says a new report from group “D” of the four English-speaking synod circles.

The document – officially called an Instrumentum Laboris – also fell short “especially in its theology, clarity, trust in the power of grace, its use of scripture and its tendency to see the world through overwhelmingly Western eyes,” the bishops said Friday.

The group added that they felt “limited” in their ability to respond to challenges of the family today because the audience of the instrumentum wasn’t clear – asking whether they were writing for the Pope, families or the world.

Pope Francis officially opened the 14th Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops Sunday, Oct. 4, with the event closing on Oct. 25.

Small groups are playing a larger role in this year’s gathering. While the groups’ individual reports were only published once last year, they are now being published after each of the three synod phases.

Divided into three parts, with each week dedicated to one of the three sections of the instrumentum. So far the bishops have spent the first week of the meeting discussing the document’s first section, titled “Listening to the challenges of the family.”

Afterward, discussion will shift to the second part, titled “Discernment of the family vocation,” before culminating with the third, “The mission of the family today.”

Divided by language into 13 groups with around 20 members each, one small group is in German, four in English, three in Spanish, two in Italian and three in French. Groups were determined by both the language of participants and the requests of the synod fathers.

In their report, the English-speaking “D” group said that rather than beginning with the failures and challenges of the family, the document ought to begin “with hope,” since many families are already successfully living the Gospel’s message about marriage.

They expressed concern that readers would ignore the document “if it begins with a litany of negatives and social problems” rather than a biblical vision of joy and confidence in the Word of God.

“The huge cloud of challenges pervading the first section of the text unintentionally creates a sense of pastoral despair,” they said, noting how many in their group suggested that the first and second sections of the instrumentum be switched.

“If marriage is a vocation, which we believe it is, we can’t promote vocations by talking first about its problems.”

Also noted by the group was the lack of serious reflection on gender ideology, the role of men and fathers as well as women, the destructive nature of pornography, the misuse of technology and pastoral care for the differently-abled.

With the instrumentum’s presentation appearing “chaotic, without inherent logic,” both Pope Francis “and the people of the Church deserve a better text, one in which ideas are not lost in the confusion,” they said.

Language was another topic the group found problematic, and in their report expressed concern that “the English translation may not be faithful to the official Italian text.”

Others, they said, “complained that many of the document’s statements were too general and not specific enough. Still others felt the text had many inaccurate generalizations, was verbose and repetitive.”

Members of group “D,” supported by various other English speaking groups, found the scope of the instrumentum to be “narrow” and “excessively inspired by West European and North American concerns, rather than a true presentation of the global situation.”

Terms such as “developing nations” and “advanced countries” were considered to be “condescending and inappropriate for a Church document.”

Others members said that the language was “too careful and politically correct,” and therefore made the content “unclear and sometimes incoherent.”

Group “A” echoed the concern, fearing that the document gave “an overly Euro-centric or Western mindset,” and suggested using a more cultural and global tone that is “open to the richness and real experiences of families today, in various nations and continents.”

Similarly, all of the other English-speaking groups referred to the document as too negative, and suggested that a greater emphasis be placed on hope and families who already strive to be faithful to the Gospel and their vocation.

The “C” group said that terms used in the instrumentum such as “the Gospel of the family” and “the domestic Church” that at first were seen as illuminating, have instead become “cliché” and unclear in their meaning.

“We felt that it may be a good thing if they were given a rest and if we chose instead to use a language which was more accessible to those unfamiliar with our particular speak,” the group said.

They stressed the need to beware of “a kind of Church speak of which we are barely conscious,” saying that the instrumentum “more than its share of it, and it would be good if the final document moved in a different and fresher direction.”

Group “B” also voiced the need for a more simple language, which is more accessible to families, and shows “that the synod fathers had listened to and heard their contribution and comments to the synodal process.”

Released in June, the synod’s Instrumentum Laboris builds on the final report of last October’s extraordinary synod, and incorporates suggestions from Church entities like bishops’ conferences and even individuals who freely sent their opinions.

The document will serve as a basis for this year’s synod report, which will be written at the end of this week and developed throughout the next synod phases. At the end of the process, a 10-member global commission nominated by Pope Francis will draft the final synod report.

However, many of the groups suggested a single editor review the final document for clarification, rather than a committee, in order to maintain clarity.

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VATICAN NEWS

From the synod: Mercy is not an abandonment of Church teaching

by Elise Harris (CNA/EWTN News) • October 10, 2015

Bishops exiting the Vatican’s Paul VI Hall during the Synod on the Family on Oct. 9, 2015. (Daniel Ibanez/CNA)

Vatican City — Mercy has emerged as a major theme in the synod of bishops, as discussion has moved forward with many participants emphasizing that while mercy is greatly needed, it must always be linked to truth.

“The question is not whether we’re here to change doctrine, but to make sure pastoral care takes account of real, actual, concrete situations of what each person is doing,” Fr. Thomas Rosica told journalists Oct. 10, quoting one of the synod participants.

“The proclamation of the Gospel and the embrace of God’s mercy are two equally valid and intrinsically related aspects of life.”

Fr. Rosica, the English-language assistant to the Holy See press office, read aloud snippets of the brief interventions given by unnamed synod participants in both last night’s and this morning’s general congregations during an Oct. 10 press briefing.

According to another synod father, “mercy toward sinners is not a form of weakness nor an abandonment of Church teaching.”

“Unless we acknowledge openly people’s situations, we will not be able to address those situations clearly,” they said, adding that “we have to learn to speak the truth in love in many situations, because in many situations people are completely powerless over what has befallen them.”

Yet another participant stressed that in order to view the Church’s doctrine on marriage in the light of mercy requires both “attention to the pastoral dimension and the application of the Church’s teaching.”

Others made such comments as: “mercy cannot be encountered unless it is measured against an eternal law,” and “one must seek truth in order to encounter mercy, and the Church must seek truth when confronting the theme of marriage.”

For another participant, “mercy means giving people a challenge; it is not covering reality with gift wrap.”

The overwhelming emphasis on the link between mercy and doctrine came as the synod fathers shifted into the second phase of their discussion.

Pope Francis officially opened the 14th Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops Oct. 4, with the event closing on Oct. 25.

Divided into three parts, each week dedicated to one of the three sections of the instrumentum laboris, or working document. Participants spent the first week of the meeting discussing the document’s section titled “Listening to the challenges of the family.”

The subsequent sections are “Discernment of the family vocation” and “The mission of the family today.”

In the briefing, Vatican spokesman Fr. Federico Lombardi, S.J., said that mercy was a theme “very spoken about” by the 75 synod fathers who made interventions in the previous two sessions.

Specifically mentioned was mercy as “closeness and tenderness” toward families and couples in difficulty, he said, but noted that “the truth of mercy and justice – don’t oppose mercy with the truth,” was also addressed.

Cardinal Baselios Cleemis Thottunkal, Major Archbishop of of the Syro-Malankar Archeparchy of Trivandrum, was also present at the briefing.

In response to a question from a French journalist on whether an in-depth examination of doctrine would take place during the synod, the cardinal said that the synod “in fact is destined to be a pastoral one.”

And not just this, he said, “but all synods, because it gives some guidelines to the pastors and the people around that pastoral community.”

He said that showing the mercy of God, given through Christ, is part of the family’s mission; but stressed that in his personal opinion, this mercy always demands conversion on the part of the other.

“When we speak about God’s mercy, it is also demanding a certain personal acceptance of being converted to that reception of mercy … it demands a point of conversion from the individual recipient.”

Cardinal Thottunkal explained that while it is important to understand and support each person in the reality they are living, it’s also necessary to help them receive God’s mercy “in a more conducive atmosphere of conversion to the Lord.”

The Gospel “demands this as a condition” when it says that “the Kingdom of God is at hand, be converted,” he said.

Christ gave the same message when he told sinners: “I forgive you, but don’t sin anymore,” the cardinal said, adding that the Gospel asks for everyone to have this disposition.

Other topics brought up by the synod participants were the indissolubility of marriage, the role of parents in educating their children, the importance of prayer and a missionary spirit within families, the importance of children, and a longer marriage preparation process.

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VATICAN NEWS

Proclaim the beauty of God’s plan for family, L.A. archbishop tells synod

by CNA/EWTN News • October 10, 2015

Archbishop Jose Gomez of Los Angeles speaks at the North American College, May 2, 2015. (Daniel Ibanez/CNA)

Vatican City — Archbishop Jose Gomez of Los Angeles addressed his fellow synod fathers on Saturday, encouraging the Church in sharing the beauty of the Creator’s plan for creation, the human person, and the family.

“I believe that the Church must present a new evangelical catechesis on creation, as an essential element of the new evangelization,” he said Oct. 10 in a brief address, known as an intervention, during the Synod on the Family.”

“We must proclaim the beauty of God’s plan of love for creation, for the human person, and for the human family. Our new evangelization must proclaim an integral human ecology that reveals the nature, vocation and teleology of the human person as created by God.”

Please find below the full text of Archbishop Gomez’ intervention:

Holy Father, Synod Fathers, brothers and sisters,

The Word of God reveals our Creator’s plan for his creation and for human history. This divine Word is the authentic starting point for understanding the family’s vocation and mission.

As the Instrumentum Laboris (nos. 39, 44), recognizes, we can discern a “divine pedagogy” in the history of salvation that unfolds in the Sacred Scriptures.

To strengthen marriage and the family in our time, I believe the Church must recover the divine pedagogy found in the Scriptures. Just a few weeks ago, when he was in the United States Pope Francis reminded us again — that God entrusted his loving plan for creation to the family.

And as I see it, the crisis of the family in our time is, to some extent, a crisis of anthropology. Our culture has lost its sense of the meaning of the human person and creation. This loss is rooted in the loss of God.

My perspective is shaped by my experience as the Archbishop of Los Angeles. The family of God in Los Angeles is made up of people from every continent and nationality.

Los Angeles is also the home of Hollywood — the place where the “virtual world” of movies, television programs, fantasy sports and all kinds of media products are created. So Los Angeles has a great influence on the perception of the human person and the family in contemporary society.

I believe that the Church must present a new evangelical catechesis on creation, as an essential element of the new evangelization. We must proclaim the beauty of God’s plan of love for creation, for the human person, and for the human family. Our new evangelization must proclaim an integral human ecology that reveals the nature, vocation and teleology of the human person as created by God.

The Church needs to recover and reflect on the “family” images found in the Scriptures and most ancient Tradition, and in the universal Church’s liturgy and popular piety:

• the human person as the imago Dei;

• the Church as “family of God”;

• the family as the “domestic Church”;

• Divine filiation and the Christian life as spiritual childhood.

In the face of the widespread crisis of the family, I believe our society needs to hear once more the beautiful truth about the human person and God’s loving plan for creation and history, a plan that is centered in the family.

Counting on the intercession of the Holy Family we need to illuminate, by our pastoral priorities and practice, how the family is the crucial “way” for the Church and for God’s plan for human society

And in the words of our newest American saint, St. Junipero Serra, we will go, siempre adelante!

Thank you very much.

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VATICAN NEWS

Disunity in the Church is perilous, Archbishop Chaput cautions at synod

by CNA/EWTN News • October 11, 2015

Archbishop Charles Chaput of Philadelphia speaks with CNA, Sept. 15, 2014. (Joaquin Piero Perez/CNA)

Vatican City — Archbishop Charles Chaput of Philadelphia spoke to the synod fathers on Saturday on the importance of precision in language, particularly regarding unity in diversity, and recalled the Protestant Reformation.

“Imprecise language leads to confused thinking,” the archbishop said Oct. 10 at the Vatican, giving “two examples that should cause us some concern”: ‘inclusive’ and ‘unity in diversity’.

Regarding the oft-used expression “unity in diversity”, he noted that “we need to honor the many differences in personality and culture that exist among the faithful. But we live in a time of intense global change, confusion and unrest. Our most urgent need is unity, and our greatest danger is fragmentation.”

“Brothers, we need to be very cautious in devolving important disciplinary and doctrinal issues to national and regional episcopal conferences – especially when pressure in that direction is accompanied by an implicit spirit of self-assertion and resistance.”

Then he referred to Erasmus, a priest of the early 16th century who called for reform in the Church, yet who opposed Martin Luther’s Protestant Reformation.

“Five hundred years ago, at a moment very like our own, Erasmus of Rotterdam wrote that the unity of the Church is the single most important of her attributes,” Archbishop Chaput said. “We can argue about what Erasmus actually believed, and what he intended with his writing.”

“But we can’t argue about the consequences when the need for Church unity was ignored. In the coming days of our synod, we might fruitfully remember the importance of our unity, what that unity requires, and what disunity on matters of substance implies.”

Please find below the full text of Archbishop Chaput’s Oct. 10 intervention, “Language and its Implications”, at the Synod on the Family:

Brothers,

The Holy Father has wisely encouraged us to be both fraternal and candid in speaking our thoughts during this synod.

Just as our thoughts shape the language we use, so too the language we use shapes our thinking and the content of our discussions. Imprecise language leads to confused thinking, and that can sometimes lead to unhappy results. I want to share with you two examples that should cause us some concern, at least in the English-speaking world.

The first example is the word inclusive. We’ve heard many times that the Church should be inclusive. And if by “inclusive” we mean a Church that is patient and humble, merciful and welcoming – then all of us here will agree. But it’s very hard to include those who do not wish to be included, or insist on being included on their own terms. To put it another way: I can invite someone into my home, and I can make my home as warm and hospitable as possible. But the person outside my door must still choose to enter. If I rebuild my house to the blueprint of the visitor or stranger, my family will bear the cost, and my home will no longer be their home. The lesson is simple. We need to be a welcoming Church that offers refuge to anyone honestly seeking God. But we need to remain a Church committed to the Word of God, faithful to the wisdom of the Christian tradition, and preaching the truth of Jesus Christ.

The second example is the expression unity in diversity. The Church is “catholic” or universal. We need to honor the many differences in personality and culture that exist among the faithful. But we live in a time of intense global change, confusion and unrest. Our most urgent need is unity, and our greatest danger is fragmentation. Brothers, we need to be very cautious in devolving important disciplinary and doctrinal issues to national and regional episcopal conferences – especially when pressure in that direction is accompanied by an implicit spirit of self-assertion and resistance.

Five hundred years ago, at a moment very like our own, Erasmus of Rotterdam wrote that the unity of the Church is the single most important of her attributes. We can argue about what Erasmus actually believed, and what he intended with his writing. But we can’t argue about the consequences when the need for Church unity was ignored. In the coming days of our synod, we might fruitfully remember the importance of our unity, what that unity requires, and what disunity on matters of substance implies.

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VATICAN NEWS

Cardinal Dolan reportedly among concerned bishops who wrote Pope about synod

by Ann Schneible (CNA/EWTN News) • October 12, 2015

Cardinal Timothy Dolan (right) speaks with bishops outside the Vatican’s Synod Hall on Oct. 13, 2014. (Bohumil Petrik/CNA)

Vatican City — New York’s archbishop is listed among the signatories in a letter last week to Pope Francis over whether this year’s Synod on the Family lacked the “openness and genuine collegiality” needed to accomplish its purpose, it was revealed Monday.

In the letter dated Oct. 5, Cardinal Timothy Dolan and the other prelates allegedly addressed the Pope with the aim of alerting him to concerns that new procedures imposed on this year’s gathering, in contrast to previous synods, could hinder the participants in their responsibilities.

The names of the thirteen prelates, along with the content of the letter, were published Oct. 12 by Sandro Magister. However, representatives of at least two of the prelates listed, Cardinal André Vingt-Trois and Cardinal Angelo Scola, have denied that the cardinals signed the document.

At an Oct. 12 press conference, Vatican spokesman Fr. Federico Lombardi said he had “nothing to confirm about the document, as it was a confidential one.”

Offered in a “spirit of fidelity,” the letter addresses the drafting of the final document to be submitted to the Holy Father at the conclusion of the synod, and the disproportionate degree of attention given to doctrinal and theological debates which take away the need to reinforce the dignity of marriage and family.

As a result of these procedural changes, there is “concern that the new procedures are not true to the traditional spirit and purpose of a synod,” the letter reads.

“It is unclear why these procedural changes are necessary. A number of fathers feel the new process seems designed to facilitate predetermined results on important disputed questions.”

One of the primary tasks of the synod fathers is to create the final document based in part on the Instrumentum Laboris (the “preparatory document”), parts of which the letter says require “substantial reflection and reworking.”

“The new procedures guiding the synod seem to guarantee it excessive influence on the synod’s deliberations and on the final synodal document.”

The letter highlights the way in which these procedures inhibit the production of the final document, as opposed to previous synods.

“In the past, the process of offering propositions and voting on them served the valuable purpose of taking the measure of the synod fathers’ minds,” the letter reads.

“The absence of propositions and their related discussions and voting seems to discourage open debate and to confine discussion to small groups; thus it seems urgent to us that the crafting of propositions to be voted on by the entire synod should be restored.”

It also expresses concern that vote on the final document will come too late in the process to allow for “full review and serious adjustment of the text.”

“The new synodal procedures will be seen in some quarters as lacking openness and genuine collegiality,” the letter reads.

The letter also cites the the manner in which the drafting committee of the final document has been organized, saying members are appointed rather than elected.

“The lack of input by the synod fathers in the composition of the drafting committee has created considerable unease,” the letter adds.

“Members have been appointed, not elected, without consultation. Likewise, anyone drafting anything at the level of the small circles should be elected, not appointed.”

The letter also cites concern that excess attention given to doctrinal and theological debates over Communion for the divorced and remarried could compromise the task at hand – examining the pastoral care of the family – in a way that could have wider repercussions for the Church’s mission.

“Various fathers have expressed concern that a synod designed to address a vital pastoral matter – reinforcing the dignity of marriage and family – may become dominated by the theological/doctrinal issue of Communion for the divorced and civilly remarried.”

“If so, this will inevitably raise even more fundamental issues about how the Church, going forward, should interpret and apply the Word of God, her doctrines and her disciplines to changes in culture.”

The signatories warned that the Church should take heed from the fate of other denominations which abandonment core Christian beliefs in the name of pastoral care.

“The collapse of liberal Protestant churches in the modern era, accelerated by their abandonment of key elements of Christian belief and practice in the name of pastoral adaptation, warrants great caution in our own synodal discussions.”

This year’s Synod on the Family, which runs from Oct. 4-25, is the second and larger of two such gatherings to take place in the course of a year. Like its 2014 precursor, the focus of the 2015 Synod of Bishops will be the family, this time with the theme: “The vocation and mission of the family in the Church and the modern world.”

Updated at 10:55 a.m, MST Oct. 12, 2015: Two additional cardinals have said they did not sign the letter: Péter Erdõ, archbishop of Esztergom-Budapest, Hungary, and Mauro Piacenza of Genoa, Penitentiary Major at the Vatican.

Updated at 11:55 am, MST Oct. 12, 2015 Cardinal Pell’s spokesman released the following statement:

“A spokesperson for Cardinal Pell said that there is strong agreement in the Synod on most points but obviously there is some disagreement because minority elements want to change the Church’s teachings on the proper dispositions necessary for the reception of Communion.

Obviously there is no possibility of change on this doctrine.

A private letter should remain private but it seems that there are errors in both the content and the list of signatories.

The Cardinal is aware that concerns remain among many of the Synod Fathers about the composition of the drafting committee of the final relatio and about the process by which it will be presented to the Synod fathers and voted upon.”

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VATICAN NEWS

Cardinal Pell responds to reports of synod letter

by Marco Mancini (CNA/EWTN News) • October 12, 2015

Cardinal George Pell leaves the Vatican’s Synod Hall after a session of the Synod on the Family on Oct. 13, 2014. (Bohumil Petrik/CNA)

Vatican City — The text of a letter allegedly written by 13 cardinals to Pope Francis is inaccurate, said Cardinal George Pell, prefect of the Vatican’s Secretariat for the Economy, adding that the contents of private documents should remain private.

“The list of signatories is wrong, and so is the content,” Cardinal Pell told CNA Oct. 12.

“I don’t know what they did, exactly. Perhaps they attributed incorrect signatures to a wrong text,” he continued, as to how the errors could have been inserted into the text. “I am not the head of any lobby, I am just a messenger.”

The cardinal’s comments come in response to a report that he was among the signatories of an Oct. 5 letter to Pope Francis over whether this year’s Synod on the Family lacked the “openness and genuine collegiality” needed to accomplish its purpose.

In the letter, 13 prelates allegedly addressed the Pope with the aim of alerting him to concerns that new procedures imposed on this year’s gathering, in contrast to previous synods, could hinder the participants in their responsibilities.

The names of the 13 prelates, along with the contents of the letter, were published Oct. 12 by Sandro Magister.

However, representatives of at least four of the prelates listed – Cardinal André Vingt-Trois, Cardinal Angelo Scola, Cardinal Péter Erdõ, and Cardinal Mauro Piacenza – have denied that they signed the document.

In an Oct. 12 statement, a spokesperson for Cardinal Pell said that while there is strong agreement on most issues within the synod, “there is some disagreement because minority elements want to change the Church’s teachings on the proper dispositions necessary for the reception of Communion.”

“Obviously there is no possibility of change on this doctrine,” it said.

“A private letter should remain private,” the statement continued, adding, “The Cardinal is aware that concerns remain among many of the Synod Fathers about the composition of the drafting committee of the final relatio and about the process by which it will be presented to the Synod fathers and voted upon.”

Asked about the letter at an Oct. 12 press conference, Vatican spokesman Fr. Federico Lombardi said he had “nothing to confirm about the document, as it was a confidential one.”

Offered in a “spirit of fidelity,” the letter released by Magister addresses the drafting of the final document to be submitted to the Holy Father at the conclusion of the synod, and the disproportionate degree of attention given to doctrinal and theological debates which take away the need to reinforce the dignity of marriage and family.

As a result of these procedural changes, there is “concern that the new procedures are not true to the traditional spirit and purpose of a synod,” the letter reads.

“It is unclear why these procedural changes are necessary. A number of fathers feel the new process seems designed to facilitate predetermined results on important disputed questions.”

One of the primary tasks of the synod fathers is to create the final document based in part on the Instrumentum Laboris (the “preparatory document”), parts of which the letter says require “substantial reflection and reworking.”

“The new procedures guiding the synod seem to guarantee it excessive influence on the synod’s deliberations and on the final synodal document.”

The letter highlights several ways in which signatories believe these procedures inhibit the production of the final document, as opposed to previous synods.

It voices concern over the absence of propositions, along with discussion and voting on them; the late timing of the vote on the final document, such that there will not be time for “full review and serious adjustment of the text”; the fact that members of the drafting committee for the final document were appointed rather than elected; and what is described as a disproportionate focus on the issue of Communion for the divorced and civilly remarried.

This year’s Synod on the Family, which runs from Oct. 4-25, is the second and larger of two such gatherings to take place in the course of a year. Like its 2014 precursor, the focus of the 2015 Synod of Bishops will be the family, this time with the theme: “The vocation and mission of the family in the Church and the modern world.”

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VATICAN NEWS

How the ‘shadow council’ is trying to influence the Synod on the Family

by Andrea Gagliarducci (CNA/EWTN News) • October 12, 2015

Cardinal Reinhard Marx of Munich and Freising (left) speaks at a press conference held by German bishops at the Teutonic College, Oct. 5, 2015. (Bohumil Petrik/CNA)

Vatican City — When the first week’s reports of the 13 small groups at the Synod on the Family were released on Friday, the influence of those who participated in May’s “Shadow Council” could be discerned in the report of the German speaking group.

The secretive May meeting was organized by the German, French, and Swiss bishops’ conferences; and while nearly all of the small groups strongly criticized the synod’s instrumentum laboris, or working document, the German report is different, as it praises the working document for both its method and contents.

The three French speaking groups have a more nuanced approach to the instrumentum laboris, given the varied compositions of each groups, though at least one of the French groups showed a positive attitude to it.

The German group’s positive assessment of the instrumentum laboris come from the attitude already experienced at the ‘shadow council’.

The German group praised the instrumentum laboris‘ methodology, saying, “the overall presentation of the text found unanimous agreement. We’re also very much in agreement with the order of the document, including the structuring of the three chapters. It takes the order of papers from earliest sentence and conferences which lead from seeing to judging and finally into action.”

The group emphasized that “as bishops, we take a stand on marriage and family,” while adding that “we also want to listen to the circumstances and challenges of their life, and to accompany and strengthen them with the loving regard of the Gospel.”

This sentence recalls one of the proposals of the ‘shadow council.” The participants in the May meeting advocated approval of contraception, homosexual acts, and admission to Communion for the divorced-and-remarried, after a consideration of the circumstances, and proposed a “narrative theology” based on personal experience – which is linked to rejecting the notion that any act can be intrinsically evil.

How did the experience of the ‘shadow council’ weigh in the working of the German group?

Among the shadow council participants, two were in the German speaking small group at the synod: Cardinal Reinhard Marx of Munich and Freising, who gave the final speech at the May 25 shadow council, and Archbishop Heiner Koch of Berlin, who in a February interview with a German newspaper called for changes in the pastoral care of homosexuals, saying that to “portray homosexuality as a sin is hurtful.”

Archbishop Koch is the group’s relator, working alongside its moderator, Cardinal Christoph Schoenborn of Vienna.

In a lengthy interview granted to the Jesuit-run magazine La Civiltà Cattolica in September, Cardinal Schoenborn stressed that since the social and cultural context has changed, the Church must find new ways of approach. He also proposed “personal penitential paths” for the divorced-and-remarried.

Cardinal Walter Kasper, president emeritus of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, is also part of the German group: his proposal for the admission of (some of) the divorced-and-remarried to Communion is well known.

The group also includes two ‘conservative’ cardinals of the Roman Curia: Cardinal Kurt Koch, president of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity and Cardinal Gerhard Mueller, prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.

A strong defender of Church doctrine on faith and morals, Cardinal Mueller seems to be virtually isolated in the German small group, as the positions of the “prelates of the shadow council” seem to be prominent.

The composition of the French groups are more balanced, which is mirrored in their final reports.

Out of three French language reports, only that of ‘French C’ – whose moderator is Bishop Maurice Piat of Mauritius, and whose relator is Archbishop Paul-André Durocher of Gatineau – completely backs the methodology of the instrumentum laboris.

The French C group underscored that the method of see, judge and act “is well adapted to our subject: it permits us to organize abundant material in a logical and productive way.”

The group also underscored that “the implicit anthropology of our modern culture is far from the Christian vision” of the family. The group also asked for a completely new introduction in the final report, which would “make explicit the link between the Synod and the New Evangelization, Evangelii Gaudium, and the Synod on the Family.”

The group also noted its concern over the emergence of gender ideology. The members consided that “many gender theories have been developed in sociology and philosophy, trying to analyze some human and social phenomenona in order to enrich our understanding of the world.”

However, the group stressed, when these theories “try to impose a point of view which denies the relation between the sexual identity and our actual sex, it dissolves the family, the parenthood, the human love.”

Meanwhile, the French A group (moderated by Cardinal Gerald Lacroix of Quebec and related by Archbishop Laurent Ulrich of Lille) includes two ‘shadow council’ participants: Bishop Jean-Luc Brunin of Le Havre and Bishop Jean-Marie Lovey of Sion.

This group asked the text to adopt “the point of view of family life, not limited to that of ckuples and marriage”, and lamented that “some (of the prelates) are worried that not all the amendments proposed, drafted and adopted after an intense discussion will not be taken in consideration.”

The group wants to underscore that “these amendments have been elaborated with much attention and with discussion that required a lot of energy and abnegation, in order to take into account the opinions of everyone.”

The three Italian and two Spanish speaking groups seemed uninfluenced by the shadow council, and the four English groups were emphatically opposed to its program – English D, for example, “found much of the text [of the instrumentum laboris] to be flawed or inadequate.”

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VATICAN NEWS

Diverse synod groups united in concern over ‘gender ideology’

by CNA’s Vatican Observer Andrea Gagliarducci (CNA/EWTN News) • October 13, 2015

(wong yu liang via shutterstock.com)

Vatican City — Despite the significant differences among the 13 small groups that are discussing the working document at the Synod on the Family, the majority are in agreement that gender ideology poses a serious challenge for families in the modern world.

Seven of the bishops’ working groups – which are divided by language – mention gender ideology as one of their major concerns and suggest that the synod’s working document does not sufficiently address the issue.

Gender theory or ideology is the idea that one’s ‘gender’ is chosen and need not correspond with one’s biological sex.

Pope Francis has tackled the issue at least once during his series of general audiences dedicated to family.

“I ask myself, if the so-called ‘gender theory’ is not, at the same time, an expression of frustration and resignation, which seeks to cancel out sexual difference because it no longer knows how to confront it,” the Pope said April 15 of this year. “Yes, we risk taking a step backwards. The removal of (sexual) difference in fact creates a problem, not a solution.”

The Holy Father’s concern is shared by bishops at the synod.

The small group known as “French B” noted in its first report that “a wide discussion within our group focused on gender theory. In particular, it was underlined that gender theory has the character of an ideology when it is spread, or better imposed, by some international organizations.”

The group referred to pressure exerted by some international bodies, making financial aid dependent on the adoption of regulations based on gender ideology. This phenomenon has been denounced by numerous African prelates during the Synod.

However, concerns about gender ideology were not limited to the prelates from Africa. In Italy, bishops have been constantly fighting over the past year against attempts to introduce textbooks into the nation’s schools that present gender theory as a fact.

It was no surprise, therefore, that the issue was also raised in two Italian small groups.

“For what concerns the anthropological and cultural context, it seemed necessary (that the synod text) would more widely refer to the risks of gender ideology, as well to the negative influence it has on scholastic programs of many countries,” said small group “Italian A.”

Small group “Italian B” presented a specific amendment on the issue, saying, “The group more clearly emphasized the ideological character of gender ideology, in order to lend families a hand so that they can take back their original right to educate children in a responsible dialogue with other educative agencies.”

Meanwhile, the group “English D” lamented that “there were a number of elements missing” from the working document, including “a serious reflection on gender ideology.”

And the “Spanish B” group mentioned the challenge of gender ideology among “the ongoing anthropological changes,” that are “deeper than what we can imagine.”

Also delving into the issue was the group “French C,” which underscored gender ideology as one of its top two concerns.

“We are concerned by the uprise of a new ideology that is often called gender ideology,” the group stressed.

It said that “several gender theories have been developed in sociology and philosophy, with the attempt to analyze some human and social phenomenon.” But “when these theories are taken as an absolute, they tend to create a unique thought that aims to sweep away everything else.”

“While (these theories) try to impose a view that denies the relation between sexual identity and the sex of individuals as we are, they dissolve families, parenthood, human love in its more noble and humanizing part,” the group concluded.

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VATICAN NEWS

Synod letter leak was intended ‘to sow strife’, says Cardinal Müller

by CNA/EWTN News • October 13, 2015

Pope Francis together with Cardinal Gerhard Müller, prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, at the General Audience in St. Peter’s Square, Nov. 19, 2014. (Bohumil Petrik/CNA)

Vatican City — Cardinal Gerhard Müller spoke with an Italian daily on Tuesday about the synod and about a letter allegedly sent to Pope Francis from a number of cardinals abouts its process, calling the leak of a private document scandalous.

“I’m not saying whether I signed or not. The scandal is that it makes public a private letter of the Pope,” the prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith told Corriere della Sera Oct. 13. “This is a new Vatileaks: the Pope’s private documents are private property of the Pope and no one else. No one can publish it, I do not know how that could happen.”

“The intention of those who willed its publication is to sow strife, to create tensions. I think that’s clear.”

The text of a letter, and a list of 13 cardinal signatories, were published by Vaticanista Sandro Magister the day before. Several of the prelates listed have denied having signed the document, and others have contested the text published by Magister.

Cardinal Müller is among the list of signatories published by Magister, as well as an alternate version published by Jesuit-run America magazine.

After discussing the letter with Corriere della Sera, the cardinal turned to larger issues of the synod, and Francis’ papacy.

He took umbrage at “those who sustain that in the Roman Curia there is opposition to the Pope. Those who say and write that there are wolves, that Francis is surrounded by wolves. This is an offensive expression, and criminal. I am not a wolf against the Pope.”

“I know who is the Pope and what is meant by his primacy a thousand times better than those who say these things. As prefect of the Congregation, I am the first collaborator of the Holy Father; not only myself but all those who are part of it. I will let no one put in doubt my obedience and my service to the Pope and the Church.”

Pope Francis had cautioned last week against a ‘hermeneutic of conspiracy’ surrounding the synod, and Cardinal Müller reflected that the ‘conspiracy’ would be “To say we are friends of the Pope, and they are the enemy!”

“I do not know anyone here who is against the Pope,” he affirmed.

Acknowledging that there has been concern expressed over the synod’s regulations, he said it “always discusses how to improve procedures, everyone has the freedom to say their opinion on this: the regulations are a human, not a divine law!”

Cardinal Müller spoke positively about the use of small groups for discussion at the synod, saying that “everyone has the freedom to express themselves more fully,” and that “in the [synod] hall there are only three minutes for each intervention, and a synthesis of all aspects cannot be done.”

“There was tension between doctrine and pastoral approach,” the cardinal said, “but it is the task of the synod to see these two aspects together. Every Catholic bishop, in his person, is a teacher of the faith and also shepherd of the flock.”

Regarding the link between doctrine and mercy, Cardinal Müller said, “Orthodoxy must be realized in pastoral care, and there is not a healthy pastoral care without doctrine: that is the teaching of Jesus, not an academic doctrine of theologians.”

He added that the debates should not be characterized as between “liberals” who are approved by the masses, and unpopular “conservatives” who defend the doctrine revealed by Christ.

“It is not as if one [bishop] is of the Ten Commandments, and another is of mercy. And the Gospel requires also the conversion of our lives. The door is narrow.”

Cardinal Müller then turned to the divorced-and-remarried.

“Persons are suffering because their marriage is broken, not because they cannot receive Communion. For us the center of the Eucharist is the consecration: each Christian has the obligation to attend Mass, but not to receive Communion. Concentrating only on this one point resolves nothing.”

He added that “a general rule” in this regard “is not possible.”

“Marriage is a sacrament, and the Church has not authority over a sacrament.”

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VATICAN NEWS

Violent marriages: A woman’s quest to help synod bishops grasp the issue

by Elise Harris (CNA/EWTN News) • October 13, 2015

(luxorphoto via shutterstock.com)

Vatican City — Christauria Welland is a clinical psychologist who’s worked with both victims and perpetrators of domestic violence – and with one in three women worldwide suffering from abuse at the hands of a partner, her goal is to make sure bishops know about the problem.

Often kept secret through shame or fear of stigma, the scourge of physical and emotional violence between couples is something the Catholics are anything but immune from, and Welland says she hopes to bring about healing and change through awareness and education.

After raising the issue with Vatican officials during last year’s extraordinary synod of bishops on the family, she’s seeking to push the issue even further onto radar of this month’s event by distributing booklets to all of the synod participants.

This year’s Synod on the Family runs from Oct. 4-25, is the second and larger of two such gatherings to take place in the course of a year. Like its 2014 precursor, the focus of this year’s synod is the family, this time with the theme: “The vocation and mission of the family in the Church and the modern world.”

A professor and author, Welland began working in the field of domestic violence 45 years ago, and has extensive experience working in Catholic communities.

She works in private practice in Solana Beach, Calif., with a hospital practice in the rehabilitation unit at Scripps Memorial Hospital Encinitas and Paradise Valley Hospital in National City. She is also an adjunct faculty member at Alliant International University in San Diego, where she teaches a licensure course on domestic violence.

For the first 25 years of her career, Welland focused on victims of domestic violence, however, for the past 20 years she has concentrated on abusive men.

She was in Rome during last year’s extraordinary synod of bishops on the family, where she met for the second time with the secretary of the Pontifical Council for the Family, Archbishop Jean Laffitte, to discuss possible initiatives designed to bring greater attention to the issue of domestic violence.

At the council’s request, Welland drafted a 100-page booklet titled “How Can We Help to End Violence in Catholic Families: A Guide for Clergy, Religious and Laity,” for the Philadelphia World Meeting of Families, where she was the only speaker to present on violence inside the home.

Addressing ways in which Catholics can both respond to and prevent domestic violence, as well as how to educate Catholic youth and couples on how to avoid it, the booklet is available in six languages and as of last week was distributed to all synod participants.

In an Oct. 13 interview with CNA, Welland said that domestic violence is “such a common problem that there’s probably at least one person in every extended family who’s gone through that experience.”

Although she said the issue has been gaining greater awareness in the public eye, it’s still a major problem, and that the numbers tend to be higher “in countries where women have fewer rights, where their legal rights are not equal to men’s rights.”

In terms of statistics, Welland said that worldwide one in three women are effected by some sort of physical or sexual abuse from their partners, while the number effected by emotional or other types of abuse could be higher.

While most countries don’t have stats on men, in the U.S. 28 percent are affected. So it’s “a very big problem worldwide,” she said, noting that, depending on the country, the lowest statistics read one in five women, whereas the highest are one in two.

She defined domestic violence – frequently referred to by research professionals as “Intimate Partner Violence” (IPV) to distinguish from other types of domestic abuse – as any “physical, sexual, emotional, economic abuse, isolation” and in general “the kind of control that one partner exerts over the other.”

Even though there are no specific studies exploring the frequency of IPV within Catholic families, Welland said that it still happens, and that Catholics “aren’t immune” from the phenomenon.

“I hear it every single day, from my Catholic and my non-Catholic patients, so I think it’s something we need to be really aware of,” she said.

Welland said she intentionally made her booklet short and easy to read so that people would actually take an interest, and expressed her hope that synod would “focus on this issue because it is so common in Catholic families.”

A recent example can be seen in a heart-wrenching open letter one Catholic woman wrote to the synod fathers, in which she tells the story of her husband’s dramatic anger problems and the failure of those around her – priests included – to provide adequate help.

One of the synod participants, Archbishop John Baptist Odama of Gulu and president of the Ugandan Episcopal Conference, has already spoken up about the issue.

Archbishop Odama told CNA that in his intervention during last week’s first round of general congregation discussions, he “defended the rights of women against violence whether it be in their homes or in society in general.”

“Violence done to women, or done to children or to anybody is a violence done to the family,” he said, adding that he knows well the toll that violence can take, since his area for 20 years was “bedeviled by internal insecurity and insurgency.”

What he saw during that time was “children suffering, but more the mothers who had given life to these children being put in a situation of stress and of pain.”

“I lived with it and I wouldn’t wish it to happen again, not only in our area but it shouldn’t happen again in any part of the world, in a society of humanity as a whole,” the archbishop said.

Archbishop Odama explained that his intervention at the synod was aimed not just at changing the situation in the specific context of Africa, but of humanity as a whole.

“In other parts (of the world), wherever it may be women suffer. So I’m addressing with a small local experience, but with a global issue … we live local but our vision of life should be global.”

Before speaking at the World Meeting of Families Welland spent a month in Africa promoting her booklet and other information surrounding IPV.

She said that after presenting information to various priests, religious, catechists and several bishops in Kampala, Uganda, she got “a very positive response,” and published the booklet there in both English and French.

In terms of African “there’s a very great interest,” she said. “I would say priests and bishops, sisters, anybody who is a pastoral worker is really looking for answers.”

“How do I deal with this, because it is so common and it does show up in your parish office, it shows up in the confessional, it shows up in your school, in your Catechism class.”

In terms of best practices in handling situations of violence in the home, even from a pastoral standpoint, the most important things are not to blame victim and to focus on the person who needs help.

“The first thing is don’t blame the victim. You don’t want to make trite comments, cliché’s like ‘you have to forgive and forget,’” Welland said, because when those comments are made “you can really put someone in danger and you don’t really help them process … you’re kind of discounting what their issue is.”

On the other hand, working with the person who is violent is crucial, because “that’s the person who has the power to change. He or she is the one who needs to make changes so the family will change.”

If a person has any sort of desire to change then the change is possible, she said, noting that the percentage of people who want no change at all is normally very low.

Welland said that while she’s not working with the Church directly, she leads a program in Latin America in Spanish that she developed while working with abusers in San Diego, and that most men have found her program “very effective.”

She voiced her hope that the synod fathers would give the issue the attention it needs and deserves during the synod, and that they would find her booklet helpful in terms of knowing how to handle situations of IPV on a pastoral level.

“If we want to have good marriages in the Church and happy families, if you take that through domestic violence you’re not going to get that goal, that’s never going to happen,” she said.

“So it’s really important to know how to be aware of it and help people prevent it, and if it shows up to know how to treat it and how to respond to it.”

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VATICAN NEWS

We need to be clear on what marriage actually is, synod bishops insist

by Elise Harris (CNA/EWTN News) • October 14, 2015

(Alex Studio via shutterstock.com)

Vatican City — Numerous bishops voiced alarm over the lack of a clear definition of marriage in the synod’s controversial guiding text, prompting a call for one based on scripture and Church teaching to be added.

“The Instrumentum Laboris nowhere defines marriage. This is a serious defect,” group “D” of the four English-speaking circles wrote in their second report, published Wednesday.

This lack of definition “causes ambiguity throughout the text,” the group wrote, suggesting a paragraph from the 1965 Second Vatican Council document “Gaudium et Spes” as a correction.

The Vatican II document states that marriage between a man and a woman has “been established by the Creator and qualified by His laws, and is rooted in the conjugal covenant of irrevocable personal consent.”

“By their very nature, the institution of matrimony itself and conjugal love are ordained for the procreation and education of children, and find in them their ultimate crown,” the document reads.

“Thus a man and a woman, who by their compact of conjugal love ‘are no longer two, but one flesh,’ render mutual help and service to each other through an intimate union of their persons and of their actions.”

Published Oct. 14, the prelate’s observations came in the second round of small group reports released during this year’s synod of bishops on the family.

Pope Francis officially opened the 14th Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops Sunday, Oct. 4, with the event closing on Oct. 25.

The gathering is divided into three parts, with each week dedicated to one of the three sections of the instrumentum. So far the bishops have spent the first week of the meeting discussing the document’s first section, titled “Listening to the challenges of the family.”

Discussion has moved onto the second part, titled “Discernment of the family vocation,” and will culminate next week with the third, “The mission of the family today.”

Divided by language into 13 groups with around 20 members each, small groups are playing a larger role in this year’s synod. While the groups’ individual reports were only published once last year, they are now being published after each of the synod phases.

One small group is in German, four in English, three in Spanish, two in Italian and three in French. Groups were determined by both the language of participants and the requests of the synod fathers.

Group “D” of the English speaking circles – led by Cardinal Thomas Collins of Toronto and Archbishop Charles Chaput of Philadelphia – said that while the text of the synod’s guiding document has “many good insights on marriage,” it could be clearer.

The part dedicated to Catholic doctrine on marriage “stretches over too many paragraphs. It needs to be brought together in a more concise, compelling way,” they said.

Likewise, English speaking group “B” – led by Cardinal Vincent Nichols of Westminster and Archbishop Martin Diarmuid of Dublin – said that a “renewed and deeper reflection on the theology of marriage should be one of the fruits of the Synod.”

They suggested that the reflection begin with the book of Genesis, “which already provides a definition of marriage as a unique union between a man and a woman, so total and intimate that because of it a man must leave his father and mother in order to be united with his wife.”

Along with a clear definition marriage, the passage also provides the three basic qualities of marriage as it was from the beginning, they said, naming the characteristics as “monogamy, permanence, and equality of the sexes.”

Many of the groups also expressed concern that the notion of marriage indissolubility was cast in a negative light, and suggested re-phrasing the paragraphs so that the concept is seen more positively, rather than “as a burden,” as group “D” put it.

English speaking group “C” – headed by Archbishop Eamon Martin of Armagh and Archbishop Benedict Coleridge of Brisbane – echoed the sentiment, underlining the need to speak about the indissolubility of marriage “as a gift from God rather than a burden.”

They said the Church must find a more positive way of speaking about the topic, “so that people can fully appreciate the gift,” and stressed that while Church teaching on the issue “has been constant,” the way it is articulated has not been.

Group “C” also said there is a need to express “heartfelt appreciation” for couples who are already living their marriage as a genuine vocation, and referred to their witness as “a unique service to the Church and the world.”

In the reports great attention was also given to the topic of women, specifically their role in the Church and those who face violence in the home.

The English group “D” said that violence against women “was a key part of the discussion,” and suggested that the instrumentum laboris “be more sensitive” to women abused either by their husbands or within their families.

Other topics touched on by the groups were education and prayer within the family, specifically the importance of participating in Sunday Eucharist together. Groups also pointed to the increasing phenomenon of youth who don’t marry, either out of fear or a general lack of confidence in marriage.

An increase in references to scripture was also proposed, specifically passages relating to the family such as the books of Tobit, Hosea and Luke Chapters 1-2.

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VATICAN NEWS

Read today’s report from the German small group at the Synod

by CNA/EWTN News • October 14, 2015

Cardinal Reinhard Marx of Munich and Freising at a press conference held by German bishops at the Teutonic College in Rome, Oct. 5, 2015. (Bohumil Petrik/CNA)

Vatican City — Read below the full text of the report released Wednesday by the German-speaking small group at the Synod on the Family. The reports of the 13 small groups, or circoli minori, were all released Oct. 14 in their own languages: four English, three French, three Italian, two Spanish, and one German. The text below is CNA’s translation of the German original:

We extensively debated the concepts – that are, again and again, considered to be opposites – of mercy and truth, of grace and justice, and their theological relationship to each other. In God, they are not opposites: because God is love, in God justice and mercy are one. God’s mercy is the foundational divine truth of revelation, which is not in opposite to other divine truths of revelation. Rather, it reveals to us the deepest foundation of revelation, since it tells us, why God emptied himself in his son and why Jesus Christ through his Word and through his sacraments is present and remains for our salvation in his Church. The mercy of God through this reveals to us the reason and the goal of the entire work of Redemption. The justice of God is his mercy, with which he makes us just.

We also considered what consequences this interpenetration has for how we accompany marriages and families. It precludes a one-sided, deductive hermeneutic, which subsumes concrete situations under a general principle. In the sense of Thomas Aquinas and also the Council of Trent, the application of foundational principles is expected to be applied with prudence and wisdom to each specific, often complex situation. This is not about exceptions, in which the Word of God would not apply, but about the just and proper application of the words of Jesus – for instance the words on the indissolubility of marriage – in prudence and wisdom. Thomas Aquinas illustrated this necessity of making a concrete application when he says: “to prudence belongs not only the consideration of the reason, but also the application to action, which is the end of the practical reason.” (STh II-II 47.3: “ad prudentiam pertinet non solum consideratio rationis, sed etiam applicatio ad opus, quae est finis practicae rationis”).

Another aspect of our discussion was the topic of gradually leading people to the sacrament of marriage as mentioned repeatedly in the third chapter of the second part [of the instrumentum laboris], from informal relationships to unmarried cohabiting couples to couples married by the state up to ecclesially valid, sacramental marriage. To accompany these people on the different steps pastorally, is a great pastoral responsibility, but also a joy.

It also became clear to us, that in many discussions and perceptions we think too statically and not sufficiently biographically-historically. The Church’s teaching on marriage has developed and deepened historically. At first it was about humanizing marriage, which led to the conviction of monogamy. In the light of the Christian faith, the personal dignity of the marriage partners was recognized more deeply and the image of God in man perceived through the relationship of man and woman. In a further step, the ecclesiology of marriage was deepened, and marriage understood as a domestic Church. Finally the sacramental nature of marriage became fully conscious to the Church. This historical path of deepening is also today reflected in the biography of many people. They are first touched by the human dimension of marriage, they are then convinced by the Christian view of marriage in the life of the Church, and from there find their way to the celebration of a sacramental marriage. Just like the historical development of the Church’s teaching on marriage took time, so the pastoral approach must give time to people to mature on their way toward sacramental marriage, and not act according to the principle of “all or nothing”. It is here that the thought of a “dynamic process” developing (FC 9) is to be brought further towards the present, which John Paul II already expounded in Familiaris consortio: “The Church’s pastoral concern will not be limited only to the Christian families closest at hand; it will extend its horizons in harmony with the Heart of Christ, and will show itself to be even more lively for families in general and for those families in particular which are in difficult or irregular situations.” (FC 65) The Church unavoidably finds herself in a situation of tension here, between on the one hand a necessarily clear teaching on marriage and family, and on the other hand the concrete pastoral responsibility to accompany people and convince them, when their lifestyle only partly complies with the basic principles of the Church. With them, the Church must walk on the path towards a life of marriage and family in fullness as the gospel of the family promises.

For this a pastoral care is required that is directed at the person, and that includes the normativity of the Church’s teaching and the personhood of the human being in equal measure, keeping an eye on a person’s ability to form a conscience and strengthening their responsibility. “For man has in his heart a law written by God; to obey it is the very dignity of man; according to it he will be judged. Conscience is the most secret core and sanctuary of a man. There he is alone with God, whose voice echoes in his depths.” (GS 16)

Furthermore, we request for the final version of the text to consider two aspects:

Any impression should be avoided that Holy Scripture is just used as a source of quotations for dogmatic, juridical or ethical convictions. The law of the New Testament is the work of the Holy Spirit in the heart of the faithful (cf. Catechism of the Catholic Church 1965 - 1966). The written word is to be integrated into the Living Word which dwells in the Holy Spirit in the heart of humankind. This gives Holy Scripture an extensive spiritual power.

Finally we struggled with the concept of natural marriage. In the history of humankind this natural marriage always is also shaped culturally. The concept of natural marriage can imply that there is a natural form of life for humankind without any cultural imprint. We therefore suggest to write instead: “marriage, as it is based in Creation”.

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VATICAN NEWS

Don’t ‘regionalize’ Church teaching on marriage, says Irish archbishop at synod

by CNA/EWTN News • October 15, 2015

The Opening Mass of the Synod on the Family, Oct. 4, 2015. (Martha Calderon/CNA)

Vatican City — Catholic teaching on marriage and the family is universal, not something local bishops’ conferences can decide for themselves, an Irish archbishop said Thursday.

Archbishop Eamon Martin of Armagh, the Primate of All-Ireland, said he did not support “the idea that somehow it’s up to individual bishops conferences to interpret the teaching of the Church.”

“I think if we are part of a universal teaching Church, then we do have a very clear vision for marriage and the family and I don’t think that should be subject to interpretation at the level of individual episcopal conferences,” he told The Irish Catholic Oct. 15.

Archbishop Martin moderates one of the four English-language discussion circles at the Synod of Bishops underway at the Vatican to discuss the vocation and mission of the family.

His remarks come after some bishops have indicated a desire to localize decisions on Church doctrine and practice. For example, in February Cardinal Reinhard Marx of Munich and Freising had indicated that the German bishops would take their own program of pastoral care for marriage and the family regardless of the synod’s outcome.

“We are not a branch of Rome. Each conference of bishops is responsible for pastoral care in its cultural context and must preach the Gospel in its own, original way,” Cardinal Marx said. He added that the German bishops are in communion with the Church on doctrine, while also trying to distinguish between doctrine and pastoral care.

Archbishop Charles Chaput of Philadelphia voiced concern about such proposals in his Oct. 10 intervention at the synod. He warned against devolving important disciplinary and doctrinal issues to bishops’ conferences, “especially when pressure in that direction is accompanied by an implicit spirit of self-assertion and resistance.”

Cardinal Gerhard Mueller, prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, has strongly criticized proposals to delegate doctrinal or disciplinary decisions on marriage and the family to bishops’ conferences.

The cardinal called this “an absolutely anti-Catholic idea that does not respect the Catholicity of the Church.”

“Episcopal conferences have authority on certain matters, but they are not a magisterium beside the Magisterium, without the Pope and without communion with all the bishops,” he said in a March interview with the French newspaper Famille Chretienne.

Many German bishops have favored allowing Catholics who have divorced and civilly remarried to receive Holy Communion. This would counter traditional Catholic practice and doctrine about the indissolubility of marriage and the worthy reception of the Eucharist.

Cardinal Mueller’s March interview warned that attributing independent authority to a bishops’ conference risks reawakening polarization between the local and universal Church.

The place of bishops’ conferences in doctrinal decisions was discussed by Pope Francis in his 2013 apostolic exhortation Evangelii Gaudium. He criticized excessive centralization as a barrier to evangelization.

He cited the Second Vatican Council’s desire that bishops’ conferences be in a position to advance a collegial spirit in the Church between the bishops and the Pope. Pope Francis said that this desire has not been fully realized and that the status of bishops’ conferences’ doctrinal authority has “not yet been sufficiently elaborated.”

However, the Pope also cited St. John Paul II’s 1999 motu proprio Apostolos suos, on the theological and juridical nature of episcopal conferences.

Apostolos suos discussed episcopal conferences’ doctrinal authority to issue catechisms and to approve Bible editions and translations. That document also emphasized the responsibility of bishops to follow the universal magisterium of the Church and to avoid interference in the work of bishops in other countries, given the worldwide reach of communications.

For his part, Archbishop Martin told The Irish Catholic he found it difficult to see how proposals to allow the divorced and civilly remarried to receive Holy Communion can be reconciled with the Catholic understanding of marriage and the Eucharist.

He also said there is “very much room” to reach out to couples whose marriages have not succeeded and “to make them feel welcome in the Church … We could be much more welcoming to couples and families who perhaps feel excluded completely from the life of the Church, because of what they perceive as the Church’s judgment of them. I think there is an awful lot of room in that for us to show a more welcoming and Christ-like pastoral approach.”

Archbishop Martin also said he finds its “difficult to be able to reconcile the idea of Communion for divorced and remarried with our understanding in the Church of the dissolubility of marriage and therefore also our understanding of the Eucharist as being in communion with the Church.”

In his interview, the archbishop also discussed the clerical sex abuse crisis, as well as domestic violence and abuse.

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VATICAN NEWS

A tough synod topic: The ‘silent martyrdom’ of incest, abuse in families

by Elise Harris (CNA/EWTN News) • October 16, 2015

Inside the Vatican’s synod hall on Oct. 14, 2015. (Daniel Ibáñez/CNA)

Vatican City — Violence, incest and sexual abuse within the family were among the issues addressed by synod fathers in their most recent talks, as well as the Church’s role in bringing light to difficult situations.

One of the synod bishops specifically referred to “the martyrdom of silence in many families where incest has taken place.” He said that in the midst of the horror of such situations, the Church “has to become the voice and give voice to the martyrs, those who have suffered the terrible evil of incest.”

The contributions of synod fathers during both yesterday’s evening session as well as today’s morning session were summarized in an Oct. 16 press briefing, led by Vatican spokesman Fr. Federico Lombardi.

Both the English and Spanish language assistants to the Holy See press office – Fr. Thomas Rosica and Fr. Manuel Dorantes – were there to summarize the interventions in their respective languages as well as Fr. Bernard Hagenkord S.J. in Italian, and Mrs. Romilda Ferrauto in French.

After 30 of the synod participants spoke yesterday evening, three auditors also gave their interventions, all of whom were couples. This morning all of the fraternal delegates and the rest of the synods’ 27 auditors, addressed the gathering.

Violence has been a consistent theme over the past few days of discussion, with various synod fathers discussing either violence against women or domestic abuse. Today, however, was the first time that incest and sexual abuse in the family came up during the briefing.

Human sexuality in general was a topic which seemed to be widely discussed, with several synod fathers expressing the need to refer to it in a more positive light.

Participants highlighted “the disastrous effects and results of very poor sex education programs in many countries, which are then transmitted through books, and then manuals and media,” Fr. Rosica said.

The Church is therefore “a mother and teacher of love who really has to be involved in the passing on of information on human sexuality.”

Fr. Dorantes said that the Spanish interventions echoed the need, and said that the Church must place a greater emphasis on sexual education, weighing in on the topic in a very clear way since the current sex education is often “negative and distorted.”

“Many parents of families don’t speak about the beauty of sexuality with their own children, leaving this responsibility to public entities,” he said.

“The Church still hasn’t entered this area, presenting the Good News of human sexuality as a path of love, and not as a path of sin.”

It was noted that married couples play a special role in educating on human sexuality, and that their perspective is enriching to the synod discussion.

Emphasis was also placed on the need to deepen in the teachings of Bl. Pope Paul VI’s historic encyclical Humanae Vitae and the strength of the marriage bond, with synod fathers stressing the link between God’s love and that of man.

Children were also a big topic of discussion coming from the African continent, with one participant specifically noting that children are frequently viewed as the recipients of pastoral care, but ought to also be considered “as subjects of promoting family relationships and family life.”

“They are not just the recipients, but they are the protagonists,” the synod father who spoke maintained.

Another point that came up was how in some Third World countries children are viewed more as liabilities rather than as a blessing.

In these countries the perspective must change, so that children are seen as “as a real sign of hope for the future of that country and also a sign of vitality for the culture of that country,” Fr. Rosica mentioned.

Many bishops also shared their experience of being moved and formed by the individuals whom they serve when, after setting out as pastor and teacher, they themselves were catechized by the couples they sought to form.

One particular synod participant observed that “it’s easy for us as priests and bishops to be drawn into ways of power and control as if we are the only ones who have to impart the knowledge, whereas working with couples and families is a mutual process of growth and holiness.”

Care of the elderly and their contribution to society were also brought up numerous times, particularly the feelings of isolation and uselessness which often accompany the ageing, and are frequently followed by despair and suicide.

Among the other topics synod participants touched on were globalization; social media; extractive industries; climate change; migration; parents who work multiple jobs; youth ministry; infertility; orphans; the role of family in creating peace and the need for a new, more modern pastoral adapted to the times, even in terms of the Church’s canonical rite.

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VATICAN NEWS

At synod, Cardinal Marx openly promotes Communion for divorced-and-remarried

by CNA/EWTN News • October 16, 2015

Cardinal Reinhard Marx at the Vatican Press Office on Oct. 17, 2014. (Daniel Ibáñez/CNA)

Vatican City — After years of both direct and indirect remarks on the subject, German Cardinal Reinhard Marx issued his most direct statement yet in favor of offering Communion to the divorced-and-remarried.

In an Oct. 14 address to his fellow bishops from around the world, gathered at the Synod in Rome, he said that “we should seriously consider the possibility – based on each individual case and not in a generalizing way – to admit civilly divorced and remarried believers to the sacrament of Penance and Holy Communion.”

This should be permitted, he continued, “when the shared life in the canonically valid marriage definitively has failed and the marriage cannot be annulled, the liabilities from this marriage have been resolved, the fault for breaking up the marital lifebond was regretted and the sincere will exists to live the second civil marriage in faith and to educate children in the Faith.”

Cardinal Marx’s statement follows years of increased calls from several of the German bishops for a change in the Church’s rules.

The Catholic Church acknowledges that marriage is indissoluble – that is, ended only by death, particularly in marriages between baptized persons, which are sacramental. The Church allows couples to seek an annulment in cases where they do not believe that a true marriage ever existed to begin with, for various reasons including immaturity, psychological illness and deception. However, if a sacramental marriage does exist, it cannot be broken by civil divorce.

Therefore, if a divorced person enters a new civil marriage – unless the Church has declared the nullity of their first union – they are in an adulterous union with their new partner, since they are still sacramentally bound to their original spouse. As a result, they may not receive sacramental Communion, as adultery is a grave sin.

Proposals to allow Communion for the divorced-and-remarried have surfaced numerous times in recent Church history. On at least four separate occasions in the last 50 years, Popes have rejected this idea, saying that the Church cannot change its teaching to go against the nature of the Sacrament of Holy Matrimony.

During his flight last month from Philadelphia back to Rome, Pope Francis told journalists onboard the papal flight that giving Communion to the divorced-and-remarried was an overly simplistic solution to the problem.

The Pope recently announced new procedures to streamline the annulment process, making the process of investigating the nullity of a marriage less timely and costly.

However, Cardinal Marx suggested that the Pope’s actions are not sufficient. Even greater pastoral care from the Church will not prevent divorce, he said and “(t)he new method for determining the nullity of a marriage cannot cover all cases in the right way.”

“Often the breakdown of a marriage is neither a result of human immaturity nor a lack of wanting to be married,” he said.

The cardinal acknowledged the Church’s understanding of why the divorced-and-remarried are unable to receive Communion.

“The reason given for this is that civilly divorced and remarried believers objectively live in continued adultery and thus in contradiction to what is shown symbolically in the Eucharist, the faithfulness of Christ to his Church,” he said.

However, he questioned, “does this response do justice to the situation of those affected? And is this necessary from a theological point of view of the sacrament? Can people who are seen to be in a state of grave sin, really feel that they wholly belong to us?”

Cardinal Marx said that the German bishops in recent months have discussed at length the problem posed by those who have entered into a second civil marriage while still sacramentally bound in their first marriage.

As an example of this discussion, he referenced a “study day” that has come to be known as a “shadow council,” organized together with the Swiss and French bishops’ conference, and which advocated an acceptance of homosexual acts, among other things.

“Even if a resumption of the relationship would be possible – usually it is not – the person finds themselves in an objective moral dilemma from which there is no clear moral-theological way out,” Cardinal Marx said in his address.

“The advice to refrain from sexual acts in the new relationship not only appears unrealistic to many. It is also questionable whether sexual actions can be judged independent of the lived context.”

The cardinal questioned whether sexual acts in the second union “without exception be judged as adultery? Irrespective of an appraisal of the concrete situation?”

He suggested consideration of Communion for the divorced-and-remarried as a solution for the problem.

Numerous bishops have spoken out against this proposal, saying that it violates the clear teaching of the Church and the words of Jesus, who said in Luke 16:18, “Everyone who divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery.”

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VATICAN NEWS

What will the Synod’s final document look like?

by Andrea Gagliarducci (CNA/EWTN News) • October 16, 2015

Inside the Synod Hall during the meeting of bishops and cardinals on Oct. 14, 2015. (Daniel Ibanez/CNA)

Vatican City — As the second week of the synod draws to a close, it remains to be seen what the final product from the global meeting of bishops will be.

The Synod on the Family, which gathers bishops from around the world for a three-week meeting in Rome, builds upon a previous gathering last year. The final document from last year, known as the Instrumentum Laboris, serves as this year’s starting point.

However, nearly all of the bishops’ small groups this year have asked for a substantial re-writing of the second part of the Instrumentum Laboris. As a result, it is not yet clear what the final report from this year’s meeting will say.

Once the synod fathers present their final report to Pope Francis, the Holy Father will have the option of issuing a post-synodal exhortation, though no decision has yet been made.

Fr. Antonio Spadaro, who is one of the Synod delegates personally appointed by Pope Francis, included the request for a post-synodal document among the 40 key points he highlighted from the small group reports.

“The final document will have some limitations. A Holy Father’s post-synodal exhortation could be imagined,” Fr. Spadaro wrote in his notes.

The drafting committee for the Synod’s final report met Oct. 14, in order to harmonize all the ‘modi’ (amendments) the groups proposed for the working document.

At the moment, it is still unclear what the final report will look like: it is possible that it will be an amended version of the starting document, or it could be primarily a brand new text.

However, 11 out of 13 small groups advanced requests for a substantial re-writing of the second part of the working document, titled “The Family and the Socio-Economic Context.” Almost all of the small groups asked that the document include more abundant references to the Holy Scriptures. One of them went further, and formally asked for a magisterial document about the Church’s teaching on the family.

Small group English A directly advanced this request for a post-synodal exhortation, recognizing “the limitations of a document that will be approved at the conclusion of this Synod.”

The small group known as French A said that the second part of the working document “is not firmly enough grounded on the Holy Scriptures,” and asked for a more in-depth description of the Divine Pedagogy. The group also asked that the document will “speak more broadly of fidelity and indissolubility as a gift and a call, rather than as a duty.”

The same concerns were expressed by the small group French B. The bishops of this group wished that the text of the working document would “make more use of the language of Biblical theology;” they unanimously observed that the “first part of the first chapter needs a deep revision and a complete rewriting,” and for this purpose “amendments are not appropriate.”

Furthermore, the group requested that the final text be “the clearest and simplest possible,” avoiding “ambiguities that would be of detriment for the understanding of the vocation and mission of the family.”

The group French C asked for a “more unified approach” that would avoid “false oppositions,” like those “between theology and pastoral care, between the fullness of the vocation and the wound, between truth and mercy.” For this reason, the group wrote a full new paragraph, in order to give “a framework” which helps to read through the other paragraphs.

English group B discussed the need for Divine Pedagogy as a lens to understand “our ministry as mirroring God’s patience and mercy,” while the group English C stressed “the need to present the indissolubility of marriage as a gift from God rather than a burden,” and “to draw more deeply and richly from the Scripture, not just citing Biblical text, but in presenting the Bible as a matrix for Christian married and family life.”

The group English D identified the lack of a definition of marriage as “a serious defect,” which “causes ambiguity throughout the text.”

Italian group A made a call to “fill the text of the working documents on the presentation of doctrine with the spiritual and Holy Spirit dimension.”

The Italian B small group suggested a substantial re-writing of the text. The group’s report recounts that the bishops asked to cut some paragraphs, and to adjust others with the purpose of creating “a more cohesive and incisive text.”

The group also noticed “the lack of references to God’s Word and the complete lack of reference to the Church’s tradition.”

However, the group was conscious that the Synod’s final report might have some limits. “(T)here is the need on one side to ask for a magisterial document on the issue, and on the other side to make further pastoral verifications” on marriage and family, it said.

The group Italian C provided a wide, theological reflection on the text, and asked that “the Synod would return to the springing source of the message of Jesus” and to its “ability to accompany the stages of the family life.”

All of these concerns will be analyzed by the drafting committee for the final report. Composed by ten people personally appointed by the Pope, the drafting committee is called to harmonize all the amendments presented – at the moment, the text has received some 700 amendments – in a new text that will be submitted for the Synod’s approval.

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VATICAN NEWS

Pope Francis: 50th anniversary of Synod renews the call to discipleship

by Ann Schneible (CNA/EWTN News) • October 17, 2015

Pope Francis walking out of the Paul VI Hall after Synod sessions during the Synod of Bishops on October 9, 2015. (Daniel Ibanez/CNA)

Vatican City — Pope Francis presided over celebrations marking 50 years since the establishment of the Synod of Bishops, in which he reflected on the role of the synod in fulfilling our call as disciples to be servants.

“Never forget! For disciples of Jesus, yesterday and today, the only authority is the authority of service; the only power is the power of the Cross,” the Pope said Saturday to the Synod fathers gathered in the Vatican’s Paul VI hall.

Citing Matthew’s Gospel in which Jesus says “whoever would be great among you must be your servant, and whoever would be first among you must be your slave,” the Pope added:

“You shall not be so: In this expression we arrive at the heart of the mystery of the Church, and we receive the light needed to understand the hierarchical service.

Pope Francis was speaking on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the Synod of Bishops, established September 15, 1965 under the pontificate of Paul VI at the close of the Vatican II council. Since its establishment, there have been fourteen ordinary general synods, and three extraordinary synods.

This year’s Synod on the Family, which runs from Oct. 4-25, is the second and larger of two such gatherings to take place in the course of a year. Like its 2014 precursor, the focus of the 2015 Synod of Bishops is the family, this time with the theme: “The vocation and mission of the family in the Church and the modern world.”

Over the course of his Oct. 17 address, the Pope spoke on the nature of “synodality” within the context of the Church’s mission.

“The world in which we live, and which we are called to love and serve even in its contradictions, the church requires the strengthening of synergies in all areas of her mission. The journey of synodality is the journey which God expects from the Church in the third millenium.”

Pope Francis observed that the concept of lay persons, pastors, and the bishop of Rome journeying together is an “easy concept” to express, but less so to put into practice.

He spoke of the establishment of the duel synods on the family over the course of a year, and whether or not it is possible to examine this theme without input from families.

“But, how is it possible to speak on the family without consulting families, listening to their joys ad hopes, their sufferings and agonies?”

This was made possible, he said, by the questionnaires sent to the particular Church in order to consult these families.

Pope Francis went on to explain the importance of reciprocal listening within a synodal Church, explaining that listening is “more than feeling,” citing the Vatican II document Gaudium et Spes.

“It is a reciprocal listening in which everyone has something to learn,” be they the faithful, the college of bishops, or the bishop of Rome himself.

“The Synod of Bishops is the point of convergence of this dynamism of listening conducted at all levels in the life of the Church.”

Pope Francis added: “Through the Synod fathers, bishops act as authentic stewards, interpreters and witnesses of faith of the entire Church, who must be able to carefully distinguish the frequently changing public opinion.”

Here, the Pope cited his words at the vigil held before the Synod, in which he reminded the synod fathers of the gift of listening to God in order to do his will.

That the Synod always acts both cum Petro et sub Petro (both with Peter and under Peter), “is not a limitation of freedom, but a guarantee of unity,” the Pope said.

Citing the concept of “ierarchica communio” (hierarchical communion) adopted during Vatican II, he explained: “Bishops are joined with the Bishop of Rome by the bond of episcopal communion (cum Petro) and are at the same time are hierarchically subject to him who is the Head of the College (sub Petro).”

“Synodality, as a constitutive dimension of the Church, offers us the most appropriate interpretive framework for understanding the same hierarchical ministry,” he said.

The Pope went on to explained how Jesus established the Church with the Apostolic College as its head, and Peter – the “rock” – serving as its base. He used the example of an “inverted pyramid,” with the summit being at the base.

Pope Francis elaborated on the pontiff’s place within the synodal Church.

“The Pope is not, by himself, above the Church; but (he is) within it as a baptized person among the baptized, and within the episcopal college as a bishop among bishops, called to at the same time – as the successor of the Apostle Peter – to guide the Church of Rome, which presides in love over all the Church.”

Pope Francis concluded: “As a Church which ‘walks together’ with men, participating in the travails of history, cultivating the dream which is the rediscovery of the inviolable dignity of peoples and the function of authoritative service, can help even civil society establish itself, in justice and fraternity, generating a more beautiful world (which is) more worthy of man for generations which come after us.”

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VATICAN NEWS

Cardinal Pell: Catholic means universal, not continental

by Ann Schneible and Walter Sanchez Silva (CNA/EWTN News) • October 19, 2015

Cardinal George Pell at the Vatican Press Office, Oct. 19, 2012. (Matthew Rarey/CNA)

Vatican City — In a wide-ranging interview, Australia’s leading prelate affirmed his alliance with Pope Francis, and also stressed that, in a universal church, doctrine does not change from one country to the next.

“You cannot have two people in the same situation with the same dispositions; one goes to Communion and it (is) a sacrilege and in the country next-door it is a cause of grace,” said Cardinal George Pell, prefect of the Vatican secretariat for the economy, in an exclusive interview with CNA.

“‘Catholic’ means ‘universal,’ not ‘continental’,” he said.

Although the former archbishop of Sydney did not mention the German bishops’ conference by name in Saturday’s interview, some members of that conference have stated they would pursue their own pastoral approaches regarding marriage and the family regardless of what the Synod decides.

Speaking on his perceptions of the Synod on the Family, which has just entered its third and final week, the cardinal also put to rest claims that he is at odds with Pope Francis.

The Pope is “a very good listener,” he said, adding that the two are on the same page when it comes to the protection of doctrine at the Synod.

“One of my concerns is for doctrine, and the Pope has said the doctrine will not be touched. I am not a rebel or an opponent of the Pope,” Cardinal Pell said.

The Australian prelate gave a good-humored response to the media buzz surrounding the letter to Pope Francis, a version of which was leaked Oct. 12, in which 13 cardinals allegedly expressed their concerns over the new Synod procedures.

“I think one of the reasons was that there was not much excitement in the first week, and the press wanted some excitement,” he said, suggesting that the controversy surrounding the letter had been overblown.

He explained that it is not unusual for a cardinal to write letters to the Pope, adding that he did not believe any of the 13 signatories were responsible for releasing the letter to the press.

This year’s Synod on the Family, which runs from Oct. 4-25, is the second and larger of two such gatherings to take place in the course of a year. Like its 2014 precursor, the focus of the 2015 Synod of Bishops will be the family, this time with the theme: “The vocation and mission of the family in the Church and the modern world.”

The full transcript of Cardinal Pell’s interview with CNA is below:

What is your evaluation of this Synod at the beginning of the third week?

Cardinal Pell: I think that we have worked hard at the Synod. We have made substantial progress. We are about to vote on the third part of the document. On the first two parts, on the overwhelming majority of issues, there was a very strong consensus.

Are you still concerned about the methodology and about the commission in charge of writing document?

Cardinal Pell: No, I think our concerns have been substantially addressed: the Holy Father said doctrine will not be touched; there will be a final document; we will vote on that document paragraph by paragraph. And, the Holy Father said there will be no manipulation.

With regard to the voting: It will be just paragraph by paragraph, or will it also be for the full document?

Cardinal Pell: I’m not quite sure. Now, I think just paragraph by paragraph.

Turning to the letter signed by thirteen cardinals: Why do you think that this letter has created so many negative reactions?

Cardinal Pell: I think one of the reasons was that there was not much excitement in the first week, and the press wanted some excitement.

A big part of the cardinal`s duty is to write letters to the Pope. I’ve written quite a few letters to the popes over the years. Why was it leaked? I do not know. None of the thirteen signatories leaked it, I’m quite sure.

You have been described by some as being opposed to the Pope? Is this the case?

Cardinal Pell: Certainly not. I work very closely with the Pope. I help look after the finances. I’m a member of the C9 (Council of Nine Cardinals that advises the Pope).

The Pope has asked for free discussion. He’s a very good listener. You can make your case to him and he will listen. And, the Pope lines up with me; one of my concerns is for doctrine, and the Pope has said the doctrine will not be touched. I am not a rebel or an opponent of the Pope.

Would you say there an atmosphere of freedom in the Synod?

Cardinal Pell: Yes, of course. Yes. People are able to speak what is in their minds and are doing that.

We have the A group in English. We have a very good atmosphere, complete freedom to speak. We vote. There are clear divisions once in a while. But, it’s a mature, adult, Christian community and conversation.

Coming as you do from the “peripheries” of Oceana – specifically Australia – what are your expectations of the Synod?

Cardinal Pell: Whether it is the periphery of the world depends on where you start. We think our part of the world is the center, and perhaps in South America you do also.

What do I expect? What I would like is a list of the best practice; examples from all around the world of strategies and practices that help the church. For example, in the Syro Malabar church so much of their family life over the years is celebrated with prayers in the family.

Also, I think we need some clear teaching from the Synod, and then hopefully from the Holy Father, because there is some measure of confusion and we want to be clear about mercy and truth that lie at the heart of the Christian moral teaching, and Christian sacramental teaching, which have to be at the heart of family life.

What were your thoughts after hearing what the Pope said (Saturday) morning?

Cardinal Pell: I think the Pope said very little that was new. It was the 50th anniversary of the Synod. We often emphasize the deficiencies of the Synod, but the Synod is a wonderful invention. Universality of the church is on view with diversity of pastoral approaches. It was wonderful to hear the witness of the testimonies from the (laypersons). They were much more interesting, I think, than we bishops were. So, I think the Synod has basically been going well.

There is this controversial issue of Communion for divorced and remarried or not, but what is important is to emphasize that doctrine is one; there are many theologies. So, you cannot say that in Germany they will believe in the Divinity of Christ and in Poland they will say Christ is not Divine. You cannot have two people in the same situation with the same dispositions; one goes to Communion and it (is) a sacrilege and in the country next-door it is a cause of grace.

Cardinal Arinze said you cannot nationalize right and wrong. We have one creed, one baptismal formula, one faith. One God, one faith, one baptism. “Catholic” means “universal,” not “continental”. We are not ruled by synods. We are led by individual bishops and led by the Holy Father and the Holy Father (Saturday) morning emphasized the central role of the Successor of Peter. He emphasized, too, that he is the authentic guarantee of the tradition. We only can live and work within the tradition, the essentials of the tradition.

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VATICAN NEWS

Strengthen marriage with truth and mercy, Venezuela’s Cardinal Urosa tells synod

by CNA/EWTN News • October 20, 2015

Cardinal Jorge Urosa Savino of Caracas speaks with CNA, Feb. 13, 2015. (Bohumil Petrik/CNA)

Vatican City — Both truth and mercy can be found in consistent Catholic teaching on marriage, Cardinal Jorge Urosa Savino of Caracas told the Synod of Bishops on Thursday.

“United to Christ, who has overcome the world, the Church is called to maintain the splendor of truth even in difficult situations,” he said in his Oct. 15 intervention. “Mercy invites the sinner and it becomes forgiveness when one repents and changes one’s life. The prodigal son was greeted with an embrace from his father only when he returned home.”

Cardinal Urosa said the synod “must indicate lines of action that strengthen marriage, making it more attractive to young people, and keeping it alive in the hearts of the spouses over time.”

He said Catholic teaching provides mercy “to assist more effectively those in irregular situations to alleviate their moral suffering and to better live their Catholic faith.”

“We are all driven by the desire to find a better solution to this painful situation. We must do it with the spirit of the Good Shepherd and the truth that sets us free,” he continued.

The cardinal’s comments to the Synod of Bishops come amid continued debate over access to Communion for Catholics who have divorced-and-remarried civilly. The Church has taught, as in Familiaris consortio, that those persons are unable to be admitted to Communion because “their state and condition of life objectively contradict that union of love between Christ and the Church which is signified and effected by the Eucharist” and because “if these people were admitted to the Eucharist, the faithful would be led into error and confusion regarding the Church’s teaching about the indissolubility of marriage.”

Cardinal Urosa stressed the need for repentance and the need for the synod to show “the strength and continuity” of Catholic teaching.

He cited St. John Paul II’s 1981 post-synodal apostolic exhortation Familiaris consortio, the 1992 Catechism of the Catholic Church, Benedict XVI’s 2007 apostolic exhortation Sacramentum Caritatis, and the 2007 ‘Aparecida document’ of the Fifth Conference of Latin American and Caribbean Bishops. These all reaffirmed pastoral care for couples in an irregular situation, while acknowledging that they may not receive Communion.

The Aparecida document was approved by then-Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio, who would be elected as Pope Francis in 2013.

“Can we contradict those teachings?” Cardinal Urosa asked.

The cardinal said the synod must work “in the light of the revealed truth and with eyes of mercy.” He said the synod is called “to reflect very clearly the teaching of the Gospel and of the Church through the centuries about the nature and dignity of Christian marriage” and to reflect “on the greatness of the Eucharist” and the need for those who receive Communion to be rightly disposed.

Cardinal Urosa noted the synod’s working document discussions about providing a “penitential journey” for those who have divorced and remarried. He said this penitential journey should end in conversion and a firm decision for the penitent to amend his or her life and to live in continence.

Please find below the full text of Cardinal Urosa’s Oct. 15 intervention at the synod:

The Proposal of Admission to the Eucharist for the Divorced and Remarried

I refer to numbers 121, 122, and 123 of the Instrumentum Laboris in which is considered the proposal for the acceptance to the table of the Eucharist – counting on certain conditions been met, among them a penitential journey – or the divorced and remarried, yet maintaining the conjugal life .

We are all driven by the desire to find a better solution to this painful situation. We must do it with the spirit of the Good Shepherd and the truth that sets us free. In the evangelical spirit of mercy, I think the penitential journey should conclude in conversion and the purpose of amendment and to live in continence, as taught in other words by Saint John Paul II in Familiaris consortio 84.

I wonder: Can we forget the words of the Lord in the Gospel, Matthew 19, and the teaching of Saint Paul (Rom 7:2-3; 1 Cor 7:10; Eph 5:31) and of the Church over the centuries? Can we dismiss the teachings of John Paul II in his 1981 apostolic exhortation Familiaris consortio? This document, published a year after the 1980 Synod on the Family, seriously considered and consulted by the Pope over many months of study and reflection, in communication with experts from various theological disciplines, clearly rule out this possibility (FC 84) .

We also have the teachings of the Catechism of the Catholic Church in 1992 with the traditional doctrine on the conditions for access to Communion and the Church’s teachings on sexual morality. (CCC 1650) We also have the Letter of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith of September 14, 1994, written specifically on this issue. Can we forget the concluding document of the Fifth Conference of Latin American and Caribbean Bishops in Aparecida, which asks us: “Accompany with care, prudence and compassionate love, following the guidelines of the magisterium, couples who live together out of wedlock, bearing in mind that those who are divorced and remarried may not receive communion.” (n. 437)

Can we contradict those teachings? Can we forget the very recent statement by Pope Benedict XVI in his 2007 apostolic exhortation on the Eucharist, Sacramentum Caritatis, reiterating the practice of the Church, rooted in Sacred Scripture (cf. Mk 10: 2-12) of not admitting to the sacraments the divorced and remarried, since their state and their condition of life objectively contradict that union of love between Christ and the Church which is signified and made present in the Eucharist? (n. 29)

United to Christ, who has overcome the world (cf. Jn 16:33), the Church is called to maintain the splendor of truth even in difficult situations. Mercy invites the sinner and it becomes forgiveness when one repents and changes one’s life. The prodigal son was greeted with an embrace from his father only when he returned home.

This Synod, without a doubt in the light of the revealed truth and with eyes of mercy, is called to reflect very clearly the teaching of the Gospel and of the Church through the centuries about the nature and dignity of Christian marriage, on the greatness of the Eucharist and on the need of having the necessary dispositions to be in union with God to be able to receive Holy Communion; on the need for penance, repentance and the firm purpose of amendment for the repentant sinner to be able to receive Divine forgiveness; and the strength and continuity of both dogmatic and moral truth of the ordinary and extraordinary Magisterium of the Church. It provides as well lights inspired by mercy to assist more effectively those in irregular situations to alleviate their moral suffering and to better live their Catholic faith.

Furthermore, the Synod must indicate lines of action that strengthen marriage, making it more attractive to young people, and keeping it alive in the hearts of the spouses over time. In this matter it will provide Pope Francis with very important elements to promote an intense evangelization of the family, and a re-appreciation of the sacrament of marriage.

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VATICAN NEWS

That notorious 2014 synod report? We got it an hour after the media did, cardinal says

by Elise Harris (CNA/EWTN News) • October 20, 2015

Cardinal Wilfird Napier speaks at the Vatican Press Office on Oct. 14, 2014. (Bohumil Petrik/CNA)

Vatican City — Cardinal Wilfrid Napier says the highly controversial midterm report from last year’s synod gave weight to issues discussed by only “two or three” people, and was unseen by most synod fathers until after it hit mainstream media.

He also alluded to an agenda in the writing of the final report from last year’s synod, which he was involved in drafting, saying that in the process some issues were once again “being pushed in a certain direction.”

At an Oct. 20 press briefing, the cardinal was asked by a journalist if his recent endorsement of the book “The Rigging of a Vatican Synod? An Investigation of Alleged Manipulation at the Extraordinary Synod on the Family” by journalist Edward Pentin was somehow in opposition to his assertion at the beginning of the briefing that the African bishops are “optimistic” about this year’s new methodology.

In response, Cardinal Napier said that “I think the first thing to say is that there were certain individual items that were of concern at last synod, and one in particular was the presentation of the interim report as if it had come from the synod, as if it was part of the synod’s deliberation.”

“That was not true because we received the document about an hour after you guys had received it in the media, and we only then started reading it,” he said.

Controversy erupted during last year’s Extraordinary Synod of Bishops on the Family when halfway through the midterm report was published, containing strikingly open language in regards to homosexuality and a penitential path to the sacraments for divorced and civilly remarried Catholics.

“Homosexuals have gifts and qualities to offer to the Christian community,” the document read, asking: “Are our communities capable of providing that, accepting and valuing their sexual orientation, without compromising Catholic doctrine on the family and matrimony?”

The question of homosexuality, it continued, “leads to a serious reflection on how to elaborate realistic paths of affective growth and human evangelical maturity integrating the sexual dimension.”

The document, which served as a basis for last year’s final report, drew stark criticism from the majority of synod fathers, particularly during the small group sessions, with many calling for drastic changes to be made for the final report.

Although the 62 paragraphs of the final report reflected some changes, including a clearer affirmation of Church teaching and doctrine on the debated issues, as well as more references to scripture, the only paragraphs not to receive the two-thirds majority in the voting process were those addressing the topics of homosexuality and communion for divorced and civilly remarried Catholics.

In his comments at the briefing, Cardinal Napier said that when last year’s midterm report was published, it was “already saying things which I know were only said in the hall by at the most two or three people,” and presenting them “as if they were the reflection of the synod.”

“Now that certainly gives you the impression that the synod is being pushed in a certain direction,” he said, noting that he also served on the commission charged with drafting the final document, “and there were certain issues that once again, were being pushed in a certain direction.”

“So in that sense that a particular ideology or agenda, whatever you would like to call it, seemed to have been in operation.”

When asked about his involvement with a letter leaked last week that was sent to Pope Francis from 13 cardinals expressing concern for this year’s synod process, the cardinal said that it was a private letter between the cardinals and the Pope.

The text of the letter as well as a list of 13 cardinal signatories, of whom Napier is said to be one, were published by Vaticanista Sandro Magister Oct. 13. In it, the signatories expressed concern that this year’s Synod on the Family lacked the “openness and genuine collegiality” needed to accomplish its purpose.

In the letter, dated Oct. 5, prelates allegedly addressed the Pope with the aim of alerting him to concerns that new procedures imposed on this year’s gathering, in contrast to previous synods, could hinder the participants in their responsibilities.

Cardinal Napier didn’t comment specifically on his involvement in the letter, but said it was “written in the spirit of what Pope Francis had said at the beginning of last year’s synod when he said please speak openly and honestly, but listen with humility. And it was said to him in that spirit.”

Pope Francis responded the next day, when, addressing the synod participants on the first day of discussion, he cautioned against “a hermeneutic of conspiracy” surrounding the gathering.

“That made a huge difference then in the scale of confidence and of trust that the concerns had registered, they were being taken care of, and therefore from there on everyone was going to work in the synod with all they’ve got,” the cardinal said.

“I think that’s what I’ve experienced, and that has been why I feel this synod takes up where that first week of the last one had left off, where we were all optimistic and looking forward to really working together on the issues as a team.

The synod, he said, is moving forward in a spirit of “collegiality and synodality,” where participants are “walking together as colleagues in the direction of what’s best for the Church.”

Others in attendance at Tuesday’s briefing were Cardinal Lluis Martinez Sistach of Barcelona and Cardinal Alberto Suarez Inda of Morelia, Mexico.

Among the issues addressed by the panel were the unanimous call for a longer, more thorough marriage preparation process, the need to act more swiftly in declaring cases of marriage nullity, families who suffer due to organized crime, accompaniment of couples already married, cohabitation, single parent families, homosexuality, drug and alcohol addiction and child-headed households.

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VATICAN NEWS

Marriage doesn’t take away your freedom – quite the opposite, Pope says

by Ann Schneible (CNA/EWTN News) • October 21, 2015

Newly married couples meet Pope Frnacis in St. Peter’s Square during the general audience on Sept. 9, 2015. (L’Osservatore Romano)

Vatican City — Pope Francis on Wednesday said that contrary to modern notions, fidelity in marriage does not rob us of personal freedom but instead is a fundamental attribute of all human relationships based on love.

“Freedom and fidelity are not opposed to each other,” the Pope said in his latest catechesis on the family, delivered during his weekly general audience in St. Peter’s Square Oct 21.

The strength and beauty of love, including in the context of friendship, come from the fact that the persons involved are connected without loss of freedom, he said.

“Without freedom there is no friendship; without freedom, there is no love; without freedom, there is no marriage.”

Pope Francis observed that the sense of “honor” in being faithful appears to be undermined in modern times. He attributed this to the “misunderstood right to seek ones own satisfaction at all costs and in any relationship, which is exulted as a non-negotiable principle of freedom.”

Rather, he said, “Fidelity to promises is a true masterpiece of humanity! No loving relationship – no friendship, no form of love, no happiness in the common good – arrives at the height of our desire and hope” without “this miracle of the soul.”

The Pope also appealed for prayers for the bishops participating in the Synod on the Family, which is in its third and final week in the Vatican.

“May the Lord bless their work, conducted with faithful creativity,” with faith that the “Lord is faithful to his promises,” he said.

This year’s Synod on the Family, which runs from Oct. 4-25, is the second and larger of two such gatherings to take place in the course of a year. Like its 2014 precursor, the focus of the 2015 Synod of Bishops will be the family, this time with the theme: “The vocation and mission of the family in the Church and the modern world.”

In his Oct. 21 address, Pope Francis recalled how last week’s catechesis on the family centered on the importance of promises parents make to their children, whereas this week’s reflection centers on man and woman’s fidelity to each other.

The entire family is founded upon a promise, the Pope said. The fidelity between husband and wife brings with it the responsibility to love and educate children, to care for elderly parents, and to protect and care for the “weakest members of the family.”

“The marital promise broadens to share the joys and sufferings with all fathers, mothers, and children, with generous openness toward human coexistence and the common good.”

In contrast, the Pope said, “a family that is closed in on itself,” is a “contradiction” of that same promise.

Fidelity is a self-fulfilling promise, a faith which “wants to be truly shared, and a hope which wants to be nurtured together.”

Honor and fidelity “cannot be bought or sold,” he said.

“No other school can teach the school of love if the family cannot. No law can impose the beauty and heritage of this treasure of human dignity, if the personal connection between love and generation is not written on our flesh.”

Pope Francis appealed for fidelity in love to be seen as honorable in society once again.

“This principle of fidelity to the promise of love and generations is written in God’s creation as a perennial blessing, which is entrusted to the world.”

The Pope reflected on the family in the context of Saint Paul’s words on the union between Christ and his Church.

“Love for the human family, in good times and bad, is a point of honor for the Church!”

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VATICAN NEWS

Synod finds strong support for Church teaching in communion debate

by Elise Harris (CNA/EWTN News) • October 21, 2015

Bishops meet at the Vatican’s Synod Hall on Oct. 21, 2015. (L’Osservatore Romano)

Vatican City — Despite pastoral challenges posed by divorced-and-civilly-remarried Catholics, many synod fathers are in favor of current Church teaching and practice according to a new round of small group reports.

“The majority without full consensus affirmed the current teaching and practice of the Church regarding the participation in the Eucharist of those who are divorced and civilly remarried,” reads a new report from group “A” of the four English-speaking synod circles.

“We acknowledged that this pathway may be difficult, and pastors should accompany them with understanding, always ready to extend God’s mercy to them anew when they stand in need of it.”

The vast majority of the group’s members affirmed the current pastoral practice regarding the reception of communion by divorced-and-civilly-remarried individuals.

Members also stressed that the decision as to whether or not persons in such circumstances should be allowed access to the sacrament “ought not to be left to individual episcopal conferences,” as has been suggested by some.

“To do so would risk harm to the unity of the Catholic Church, the understanding of her sacramental order, and the visible witness of the life of the faithful.”

Published Oct. 21, the prelates’ observations came in the third set of small group reports released during this year’s synod of bishops on the family. There are 13 languages groups, which include English, Spanish, Italian, French and German.

The strongest advocates of Church teaching and current pastoral practice were found among the Italian and English-speaking groups. Spanish-speaking groups were unclear, and the German group voiced support for change. Although the topic came up within the French-speaking groups, it was not a major point of discussion – rather than focus on access to communion, they touched on the Pope’s revamped annulment process.

Pope Francis officially opened the 14th Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops Sunday, Oct. 4, with the event closing Oct. 25.

The gathering is divided into three parts, with each week dedicated to one of the three sections of the instrumentum. So far the bishops have spent the first two weeks discussing the document’s first section, “Listening to the challenges of the family, and the second, titled “Discernment of the family vocation.”

In the final week participants have turned to the third part, “The mission of the family today,” which has been the most widely discussed section so far.

In the report for the English speaking group “C,” participants noted that there was general agreement among them that a “more effective pastoral accompaniment” was needed for divorced and civilly remarried persons.

However, the group said there was “little enthusiasm” when it came to the penitential path proposed by the meeting’s guiding document, called the “Instrumentum Laboris.”

When the group cast a vote on whether further study on the question would be possible in order to see if the Church could move in that direction, “the vote was evenly divided.”

In the end the group said they voted to replace paragraphs 122-125 of the Instrumentum Laboris “with an affirmation of the Church’s current discipline” in terms of the reception of communion, and they recommended “the forms of participation mentioned in Familiaris Consortio, 84.”

Paragraph 84 of St. John Paul II’s 1981 Apostolic Exhortation is dedicated entirely to the situation of divorced and remarried persons, and was mentioned by several of small groups as a text that ought to be have greater reference in the final report.

Group “D” of the English language circles relayed that they had “a long exchange” on pastoral approaches to divorced persons, whether civilly remarried without an annulment or not remarried.

Members expressed “significant concern” that no matter what is decided, it “should not lead to greater confusion among our people.”

It was noted that one bishop in the group said the topic of opening access for divorced and remarried persons without an annulment to the Eucharist was a matter of such serious doctrinal substance that “it could only be handled at an ecumenical council and not at a synod.”

Distinction was also made on the expressions used when referring to people in such difficult marital situations, with some synod fathers stressing the need to say these persons must “abstain” from receiving the Eucharist, rather than saying they are “excluded” from it.

The word “abstain,” they said, “is more accurate and not as negative.”

Group “D” emphasized that life in the Church can’t be reduced to just receiving communion, and cited catechumens – those preparing to enter the Church – as one example of the “huge segments” of faithful who throughout the history of the Church did not receive the sacrament, yet were “clearly considered” full members.

A call was made within the group for a special commission that would study the issue of admittance to communion for the divorced and remarried “over a longer period of time with greater theological precision.”

A suggestion was also made for a more thorough study of the idea of spiritual communion – the desire to seek spiritual union with Christ in the Eucharist.

Likewise, the English speaking group “B” suggested that during the upcoming Jubilee for Mercy, a special commission be established to do an in-depth study of “the ways in which the disciplines of the Church which flow from the indissolubility of marriage apply to the situation of people in irregular unions.”

On the topic of spiritual communion, the group said noted that there are likely many situations in which people living in irregular unions and who are therefore living “in contradiction with the full meaning of the Eucharist” are not necessarily living in a continuous state of sin.

These people “may thereby rightly have a loving desire for Eucharistic union with Christ,” they said, observing that while “their objective state may prevent them from receiving the Body and Blood of Christ, they may properly develop the practice of Spiritual Communion, and thereby become more open to the saving grace of Jesus Christ and union in the Church.”

On the pastoral care of divorced and civilly remarried individuals, group “B” proposed a path of discernment and “reverential listening” that begins by listening to those in search of support.

“The first purpose of this attentive accompaniment would be to foster deeper discipleship with Christ based on the enduring bond of baptism, rather than addressing the question of admission to the sacraments of penance and Holy Communion,” they said.

Certain points involved in such a process, they explained, would include listening to the story of the first marriage and its possible invalidity, attending to the wounds caused by divorce to all individuals, taking into account the stability and responsibility of the second marriage and a focus on spiritual formation and growth.

A big discussion point for most groups was the topic of pastoral care for families with homosexual members as well as homosexual individuals themselves.

While some groups opted to remove any references to homosexuality from the final report, the “C” group said this solution “won little support” for them.

They asked that the section of the report dedicated to homosexuality be briefer, and that “a clear statement of Church teaching that same-sex unions are in no way equivalent to marriage.”

Other groups felt that the topic of pastoral care for persons with homosexual tendencies and their families deserved an entire synod meeting on its own.

Group “A” asked specifically that the synod “affirm and propose anew the entirety of Church teaching on love and chastity,” and encouraged parents and families to be confident in the teaching as they walk with each other “in responding to the Gospel’s call to chaste living.”

Many groups also addressed the topic of the gifts and challenges mixed marriages present, and stressed the need to have a more complete, comprehensive marriage preparation with couples playing a greater role in forming other couples.

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VATICAN NEWS

Church unity and truth serve the family, Archbishop Gomez says from synod

by CNA/EWTN News • October 21, 2015

Archbishop Jose Gomez at the Pontifical North American College on May 2, 2015. (Daniel Ibanez/CNA)

Vatican City — The Catholic Church needs “a new missionary confidence and courage” that draws on Church unity and the recognition of God’s unwavering vision for the family, Archbishop Jose H. Gomez of Los Angeles has said.

“We need to find creative, positive ways to proclaim God as Creator and to show the beauty of his plan for the human person and the family,” he said in an Oct. 20 column for L.A.’s Angelus News.

“With the unity of our doctrine and practice, and the rich diversity of our local traditions of popular piety, the Church has tremendous resources to resist pressures and worldly powers and to proclaim the Gospel to a new generation.”

He said it was striking for him to realize “that the Church today is able to truly pray, teach and evangelize in one voice – as one family of God, drawn from every nation, people and language, united in our faith in the Gospel and our communion with the Holy Father in Rome.”

Archbishop Gomez is currently at the Synod of Bishops, which is meeting at the Vatican Oct. 4-25 to consider the vocation and mission of the family in the Church and the world.

The archbishop reflected upon the Sunday joint canonization of Louis and Zelie Martin, a nineteenth-century French married couple whose daughters included St. Terese of Lisieux. He praised their “humble, hidden life” rooted in daily Mass and the duties of everyday life.

They knew love, joy, suffering and sadness, he said, adding that such saints are not rarities.

“There are holy spouses and holy families in every part of the world today – ordinary men and women trying to live faithfully by the Church’s teachings and the grace of her sacraments,” he said.

“This is what the Synod on the Family is meant to be all about – helping spouses in their vocations as husbands and wives, helping them to meet the challenges they confront in society, inspiring them to live out God’s beautiful plan for their lives.”

The archbishop cited Pope Francis’ description of marriage as “God’s dream for his beloved creation.”

“Jesus Christ revealed this dream by coming into the world in a human family,” Archbishop Gomez continued. “The Holy Family of Nazareth shows us that every family is meant to be an ‘icon’ of God, an image of the Holy Trinity in the world.”

Archbishop Gomez said marriage and the family are gifts from God inscribed in the order of creation. He stressed the marital vocation of men and women to “a communion of love that is faithful for life and fruitful in creating new life.”

“These basic truths of creation are the source for everything that the Church believes, teaches and practices about marriage and family,” he said. “The Church is called to proclaim these truths to the world in all their fullness and in all their beauty.”

Archbishop Gomez suggested that media coverage can distort Catholic teaching to depict it as a political policy or position.

“Catholicism is a vision of creation, a vision of the human person and the human family, a vision that is grand and transcendent,” he countered. All Church teaching, practices, and discipline flow from this vision, “given to us by God in the Scriptures and the Church’s living Tradition.”

The archbishop reflected on the state of the family.

“At the root of the family crisis is a crisis of confidence in God – a loss of the sense that he is our Father and Creator, and that he has a plan, a ‘dream’ for his creation, a plan for our lives. The family today is threatened by the same ‘anthropocentric’ and ‘technocratic’ mentality that Pope Francis warns about in ‘Laudato Si,’ his encyclical on creation,” Archbishop Gomez said.

This mentality rejects the realities of creation and human nature and sees nature, social institutions and the human body and mind as material to be engineered.

The archbishop suggested that some Catholic bishops’ sense of urgency and even anxiety at the synod drew on the sense of the “profound” family crisis and the economic, cultural and ideological threats to the family.

For Archbishop Gomez, these threats include forced sterilization and abortion, embryonic experimentation, contraception, the redefinition of marriage and the “surgical manipulations of femininity and masculinity.”

“In confronting this broad cultural crisis of the family, the Church needs to proclaim once more the beautiful truth about the human person and God’s loving plan for creation and the family,” Archbishop Gomez said, adding: “if we lose the family, we lose God’s plan for our lives and for the world.”

Archbishop Gomez did not ignore non-Catholics and inconsistent Catholics.

“The Church is also called to reach out with tenderness to those who are having trouble understanding and living these truths,” the archbishop said.

He also noted Pope Francis’ call after the 2014 synod not to sacrifice truths in order to “please the people.” He recalled the Pope’s warning against a deceptive view of mercy that “binds wounds without first curing them.”

Archbishop Gomez said that “kindness and compassion can never be separated from God’s plan.”

“A person’s conscience is sacred. But our conscience is only reliable if it is formed according to the truth that God has written into our hearts and the loving plan he has for our lives,” he said.

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VATICAN NEWS

The problem of porn – are bishops talking about it?

by Elise Harris (CNA/EWTN News) • October 23, 2015

(Catholic News Agency)

Vatican City — It hasn’t gotten a lot of media coverage so far, but the rampant effects of pornography on families worldwide have sparked concern and dialogue among the synod’s bishops – particularly the Americans.

“Porn demeans the best in the male spirit. It addicts them to a kind of cheap junk food, when real women with minds and hearts, beliefs and hopes, are much more interesting,” Archbishop Charles Chaput of Philadelphia told CNA Oct. 19.

“Happiness is built on reality, with all of its warts and joys – not on illusions. Pornography is nothing but illusions.”

The Vatican’s synod on the family was opened by Pope Francis on Oct. 4, and it will run until Oct. 25. This year’s event follows the theme “The vocation and mission of the family in the Church and the modern world,” and follows 2014’s extraordinary synod on the family, which focused on pastoral challenges regarding family life.

So far, this year’s discussion has tended to be reduced in Western secular media to two issues: communion for divorced-and-civilly remarried, and Church teaching and pastoral care regarding homosexuality.

However, actual topics brought up during meetings have been much broader, with synod fathers touching on themes such as domestic violence, violence against women, incest and abuse within families, marriage preparation and pornography.

Archbishop Chaput is a member of the synod’s English-speaking “D” small group, which has been one of the most vocal about the need to include greater reference to the harm done to families by the use of pornography.

Other members of the group include Cardinal Thomas Collins of Toronto, who serves as moderator for the group, Cardinal Daniel Di Nardo of Galveston-Houston, Archbishop Jose Gomez of Los Angeles as well as a number of African and Asian prelates.

In his comments to CNA, Archbishop Chaput said that although pornography has typically been a largely male problem, it’s something that many women struggle with as well.

Porn, he said, “does huge damage to families. It isolates individual family members by creating private sexual obsessions. And it wrecks the intimacy between husbands and wives with notions of ‘perfect’ sex that bear no relation to real human beings.”

“It’s a terrible cheat,” he said, adding that it robs husbands and wives of “the richness of a long-term, mutually rewarding sexual friendship … and substitutes a shabby replacement that can never really feed the human heart.”

And the damage isn’t just isolated to individual families – it affects the larger family of the Church, he noted.

“The number of our Catholic clergy who struggle with this problem is very unsettling, and it has nothing to do with celibacy,” the archbishop said, noting that protestant ministers and Jewish rabbis contend with the same issue.

“Pornography’s always been a problem. Ancient Rome was famous for it. Sex is powerful and fascinating, and people have always abused its appeal … It’s an epidemic; or more accurately a pandemic. Anyone with an internet connection anywhere in the world can find all the porn he or she wants,” he said.

Cardinal Daniel Di Nardo backed the concern in an Oct. 20 interview with CNA, saying that no matter where a person lives, pornography is still a major issue due to the easy access provided by the internet and social media.

“The problem came up with all the bishops,” he said, referring to the synod. But in the United States the problem is such a major issue that the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops is currently drafting a statement to address it, he said.

Pornography “represents the dark side of what can happen in terms of the internet and so many forms of social media that this also becomes a breeding ground for so many distortions of human sexuality,” the cardinal said.

Whether the person using porn is young, middle aged or older, it’s “a major issued for families nowadays.”

Cardinal Di Nardo noted that he often hears from the priests in his diocese that when families who are in difficulty come to them for help, frequently “you find out that part of the issue started with someone in pornography.”

“We worry about our young people, but this even happens in terms of married couples. It’s so pervasive, that’s the problem. It’s very pervasive. So we think it’s an important issue to deal with.”

Archbishop Jose Gomez also spoke to CNA about the issue Oct. 20, reflecting that the phenomenon of pornography is not “a victimless or private activity,” but is “truly a social sin.”

“Pornography is a scourge in every country, it is being fueled by globalization through the Internet and global travel,” the archbishop said. “Everyone knows there are links between the porn industry and prostitution and human trafficking and child abuse.”

Another important point the archbishop stressed is the fact that pornography is a corporate phenomenon with large, big-name companies across the globe both promoting the use of porn and profiting from it.

“Obviously, there are cable television companies and the cable networks, and global hotel chains – many of them are making pornography available in every room.”

One example of those companies is the Hyatt Hotel chain, which recently decided to cut off access to on-demand video pornography in all their locations across the globe.

Archbishop Gomez stressed that “there are a lot of other companies involved in this. We need to start a conversation with the business community and get them thinking about ‘divesting’ from pornography as a dimension of their corporate responsibility.”

Many of these companies have policies not to support environmental pollution or discrimination, so “we have to help them to see how pornography promotes injustice and cruelty against women and children and how it is polluting the human ecology, the moral ecology,” he said.

Married Brazilian auditors in the synod Pedro and Ketty de Rezende also spoke to CNA Oct. 20, sharing their concerns surrounding pornography as both a married couple, and as parents.

Ketty affirmed that pornography “was definitely a topic” in the synod discussion, and voiced her concern that “with the easy access kids have to all of the media, they can very easily access pornography.”

She and her husband noted that the problem with pornography is not just its harmful effects, but that it “goes way beyond that” to the commitment to live in chastity that every baptized person makes.

“When we are baptized we assume a commitment to chastity, because that’s the only way you can entirely participate in the communion of the Church,” Pedro said.

“Any form that involves the person in a context that’s against the morals taught by the Church is not just negative for the person, but also negative as in what that person can bring to society. Pornography is just one of the forms.”

Ketty emphasized the importance of educating one’s family on chastity. Quoting Bl. Pope Paul VI, she said that “contemporary man values more witness than teachers, and if he listens to teachers it’s because they’re witnesses.”

“The whole family has to witness virtues, they all have to live it and when they all live it the children naturally pick it up … That’s one of the virtues we really have to make clear in the world today,” she said.

“So what I really think is one of the major issues in the synod is a call to chastity.”

The couple also shared some of the ways they have found to be effective in terms of teaching their children about chastity, naming the use of scripture and just being with their children and being aware of what they are exposed to as two key points.

“First we live our faith by reading the Word of God. I think the Word of God is one of the first to call us to chastity, right? Only the pure will actually see God,” Ketty said.

She emphasized the need to remember that “our faith is a meeting with a person, it’s meeting Jesus. And that’s the first call to a chaste life.”

Other than that, “it’s being with our kids, warning them also, ‘look maybe this book isn’t something that’s good for you to read, this film isn’t really appropriate,’” she said, adding that it’s also helpful to show kids other options that “don’t harm their souls or their minds with unchaste things.”

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VATICAN NEWS

Gay Catholic to Synod: Please protect teaching on homosexuality

by Ann Schneible (CNA/EWTN News) • October 23, 2015

(jclk8888 via Pixabay CC0)

Vatican City — With the pastoral care of homosexual persons on the agenda of the Synod on the Family, one man with same-sex attraction has appealed to the synod fathers to protect the Church’s teaching on this issue.

“I would love (the synod fathers) to know that we exist, that we are so concerned that culture is going to change the truth in the Catholic teachings about same-sex attraction,” said Paul Darrow in a recent interview with CNA.

Paul, whose story is featured in the 2014 documentary Desire for the Everlasting Hills, produced by the Courage apostolate, had given his testimony at an Oct. 3 conference aimed at reaching out to bishops preparing for the Synod on the Family.

As he recounts in the documentary, Paul had become involved in the New York City gay scene in the 1970s, working as an international fashion model. After years of moving from one partner to the next, maintaining hatred for the Catholic Church, he settled in Sonoma County with his partner, Jeff. He attributes his ultimate conversion to Catholicism to Mother Angelica after coming across one of her programs on EWTN.

He is now a member of Courage, an apostolate which offers pastoral support for men and women with same-sex attraction. Courage organized the Oct. 3 event, and is active in prison ministry and the pro-life movement.

The question of homosexuality has arisen several times over the course of the three-week Synod on the Family, which wraps up later this week. Running from Oct. 4-25, it is the second and larger of two such gatherings to take place in the course of a year. Like its 2014 precursor, the focus of the 2015 Synod of Bishops is the family, this time with the theme: “The vocation and mission of the family in the Church and the modern world.”

Paul Darrow spoke to CNA about the Synod on the Family, homosexuality, and his conversion to Catholicism. The text of the interview is below:

What do you want to communicate to the Synod Fathers?

Paul: In a nutshell I would love to communicate to them that there is a group of Catholics, men and women, who care so much about the Lord that they seek in every way to follow the Lord’s teachings: A group with same-sex attraction. And this particular group – many of us are Courage members – who love God so much, we’re not asking for him or for the Catholic Church or for the Synod to make any changes regarding the teachings on same-sex attraction.

Having lived that lifestyle for a lifetime, I’ve been at other places in my life where I would have loved to say: Well, it would be great if same-sex marriage was accepted by the Church; it would be great if they would not have a problem with people who are not monogamous; or it would be great for the Church to accept promiscuity …

I would love (the Synod fathers) to know that we exist, that we are so concerned that culture is going to change the truth in the Catholic teachings about same-sex attraction.

Having been informed by your past experiences, what does it now mean for you to love another person?

Paul: When I was six years old, I thought I was in love with Linda Dixon. We promised that we would marry each other. When I was 13 years old, I was in love with another girl. But, I also really liked these guys. So, as we all know, who we loved at 15 or 14 or 13, in a lot of cases, in most cases – although there are exceptions – we weren’t really mature enough to understand what love really meant. So, having lived the homosexual lifestyle in a very promiscuous, self-indulgent, self-serving way, I thought I was in love with so many men. I realize now that it was of course the conquest, because as soon as a man loved me back, I was looking for another man.

It was an immature love. I’m not saying in any way that people with same-sex attraction are immature. But I’m saying: basing love, as much as it is in the homosexual lifestyle, as much as it is based on sexual intimacy, makes it immature.

Now that I’ve opened my heart to Jesus and have become a devout Catholic, I realize I wasn’t even capable of loving anyone except myself.

I realize in hindsight that, when I was a child I knew true love. I really knew how to love somebody, like my mother. But, that type of ability to really be able to love somebody evaporated when I fell into the same-sex attraction lifestyle of just using people, and manipulating them. I had a manipulative type of love. I loved them as long as they would think I was wonderful, as long as they would do what I wanted to do. Again, that wasn’t love.

Now, my love has changed.

… Now when I (do prison ministry), I literally love these men as human beings, because so many of them were in a situation that so many of us could be in if we had just followed our desires just a little bit more.

I just understand now what love is. My heart was really closed to true love, to real love, selfless love, until I realized that Jesus had selfless love for me. That changed everything.

Groups like Courage offer pastoral care to persons with same-sex attraction in the context of the Church’s teaching on chastity. However, there are other groups who believe pastoral care should include support for those living in homosexual relationships. What impact does this latter approach have, especially on young people who are still unsure about their sexuality?

Paul: A word comes to my mind, and it’s counter-culture … (which) means, going against the culture.

Some (of these other groups) I’m familiar with. I’ve been part of some of those groups before I came to the Catholic Church, many years ago. I call these other groups “counter-Catholic.” Each one of those groups, as I look at them, are asking the Catholic Church to do something that is for their benefit – not for their spiritual benefit; not for their spiritual growth – rather, simply because it’s a worldly thing they want to have incorporated into the Catholic Church.

Some of these groups would like to have gay marriage approved by the Catholic Church, because they feel: We’re together, we love each other, etc. They just want it to be sanctified by the Church. They’re requesting something that makes their life easier. They’re not requesting to carry a cross, like husbands and wives who are faithful to the Church have to do every day; carry a cross for their children, put their children’s benefit before their own out of love for their children; put their wives’ needs before their own because of their love for their wives, etc.

From my experiences from these types of groups, they just want us to change for them.

The thing that amazes me is that there are so many churches that have given in since Martin Luther’s time. There are so many churches that accommodated people’s desire to not follow the teachings of the Lord. I think I would prefer that they go to other churches, and change the other churches. They’d probably have better luck at it, because the other churches seem to cave in more easily … whereas our Church has been true for thousands of years to truth.

If that were to change, many people (like myself) would be so devastated, because then it takes the truth out of our Church, and our Church wouldn’t be the Church that we love.

Many among the millennial generation, including otherwise devout and well-formed Catholics, have a difficult time understanding why the Church teaches what it does on the question of homosexuality. Based on your life experiences, having lived this lifestyle, why do you think younger people have such a difficult time?

Paul: It’s the younger people, but it’s also the parents, the cousins, some of the sisters and brothers, the whole family unit. When someone comes to a family, especially a young person, and says: “I have this thing that is different, and I want you to accept it, it’s the way I want to live because I was born that way,” the family caves in because they love their children so much. Even if it isn’t in their own family, they know children like that in other families, and they will think: What’s so bad about that? Why can’t the Church just accommodate them? They’re good people. I know them. They take care of my grandmother. They feed my dog. They bring me things when I need help.

But again, it’s one of those situations that has nothing to do with truth. Where do you stop going down that slippery slope? You could be one step away from saying: We want to be able to have abortions. We want to be able to have birth control. All of these things are about human desire. But the value of life, and the purpose of a man and a woman, the purpose of marriage, the purpose of the Temple of the Holy Spirit being our body, those things aren’t changing.

It’s communication. They need to hear it from people who do understand, who can speak about it. People like myself who’ve lived both sides. If they only knew how much we love them!

What message would you give to a young person struggling with their sexuality, perhaps having dappled in the lifestyle?

Paul: (It depends) if they were a Christian, if they were Catholic, if they believed in God. I heard a very wise priest once, who’s a theologian at a Catholic university. Someone asked him a question: “A lot of these fellows are older; these women and men who are living these chaste lives. I’m 22 years old. Are you telling me that I have to go an entire lifetime without sexual intimacy?” The response was: “No, you cannot have that type of intimacy because that’s not the type of intimacy that Jesus ever spoke about.” That is so crystal clear. Now, if it’s an atheist, it would have to be a different approach.

But that makes it very clear, very black and white, why it’s an issue.

Hopefully the parents and the teachers who understand the truth would educate themselves to what exactly would you say, and what are the mistruths.

Hearing about God’s incomparable love, endless mercy, had a lot to do with me thinking the Catholic Church wasn’t maybe as bad as I thought it was, and maybe led me to hate the Catholic Church a little less than I did.

The more I heard about that love, and mercy, and compassion, the more I understood it. Then, when I went into a Catholic Church, and saw all of the love and compassion, and how different these people were living than the people I hung out with most of my life, it opened up my heart. But, that would have fallen short had I also not learned about the spiritual truth, and the spiritual truth really does exist.

They’re not mutually exclusive, but a lot of people think that it has to be all about love and compassion. But, (for example, they) can have love and compassion for a woman who (goes) through an abortion. It’s such a sad thing: they need to be loved, and need to have compassion, but somewhere, somebody should probably tell them a little bit about life. But also, God often intervenes.

You can change on a dime once you hear the truth.

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VATICAN NEWS

Pope Francis: Synod was about affirming family, indissoluble marriage

by CNA/EWTN News • October 24, 2015

Pope Francis at the Wednesday General Audience in St. Peter’s Square on June 24, 2015. (Daniel Ibanez/CNA)

Vatican City — At the conclusion of the 2015 Synod on the Family, Pope Francis emphasized that the gathering had been about recognizing that society is founded on the family and marriage as the permanent union of one man and one woman.

The synod, the Pope said in his closing message, “was about urging everyone to appreciate the importance of the institution of the family and of marriage between a man and a woman, based on unity and indissolubility, and valuing it as the fundamental basis of society and human life.”

This year’s Synod on the Family, which runs from Oct. 4-25, is the second and larger of two such gatherings to take place in the course of a year. Like its 2014 precursor, the focus of the 2015 Synod of Bishops is the family, this time with the theme: “The vocation and mission of the family in the Church and the modern world.”

The Pope explained that the gathering “was not about finding exhaustive solutions for all the difficulties and uncertainties which challenge and threaten the family, but rather about seeing these difficulties and uncertainties in the light of the Faith, carefully studying them and confronting them fearlessly, without burying our heads in the sand.”

Rather, he said, it was about listening to the voices of families and pastors, and seeing reality through God’s eyes to offer hope and encouragement in a world of growing crisis and pessimism.

Throughout the synod, Pope Francis said, the expression of differing opinions allowed for “rich and lively dialogue” and “offered a vivid image of a Church which does not simply ‘rubberstamp,’ but draws from the sources of her faith living waters to refresh parched hearts.”

“It was about showing the vitality of the Catholic Church, which is not afraid to stir dulled consciences or to soil her hands with lively and frank discussions about the family.”

The Church’s duty is to proclaim God’s mercy and love, calling call men to conversion and salvation, the Holy Father said.

However, this does not detract from the importance of formula, laws and divine commandments, he said.

“Indeed, it means upholding all the more the laws and commandments which were made for man and not vice versa.”

Pope Francis also referenced the 1985 Synod, speaking of the need for an “inculturation” that transforms cultural values by integrating them in Christianity. Such inculturation, he said, “does not weaken true values, but demonstrates their true strength and authenticity, since they adapt without changing; indeed they quietly and gradually transform the different cultures.”

In addition, the pontiff noted “dogmatic questions clearly defined by the Church’s Magisterium” and spoke of the importance of “defending the family from all ideological and individualistic assaults.”

Concluding, he quoted the words of St. John Paul II and Pope Benedict XVI in emphasizing the role of mercy in the Church.

“In effect, for the Church to conclude the Synod means to return to our true ‘journeying together’ in bringing to every part of the world, to every diocese, to every community and every situation, the light of the Gospel, the embrace of the Church and the support of God’s mercy!”

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VATICAN NEWS

Final synod document strongly backs Church teaching, beauty of family life

by Elise Harris (CNA/EWTN News) • October 24, 2015

Pope Francis in the Synod Hall in the Vaitcan on Oct. 21, 2015. (L’Osservatore Romano)

Vatican City — With a two-thirds majority vote, the more than 200 bishops gathered for the Vatican’s synod on the family supported Church teaching on hot-button issues such as homosexuality and communion for divorced and remarried persons.

The Vatican’s synod on the family was opened by Pope Francis Oct. 4, and it will close Oct. 25. This year’s event follows the theme “The vocation and mission of the family in the Church and the modern world,” and follows 2014’s extraordinary synod on the family, which focused on pastoral challenges involved in family life.

This year’s discussion tended to be reduced in Western secular media to two issues: communion for divorced-and-civilly remarried, and Church teaching and pastoral care regarding homosexuality.

However, actual topics brought up during meetings were much broader, with synod fathers touching on themes such as domestic violence, violence against women, incest and abuse within families, marriage preparation and pornography.

A closing news conference at the Vatican Oct. 24 reported a sense of collegiality among the global bishops. Only two of the 94 paragraphs showed a disparity in the voting, both of them surrounding the topic of pastoral care for divorced and remarried persons.

Despite the calls by some for the Church to change its doctrine by allowing divorced and civilly remarried Catholics without an annulment to receive communion, the synod’s final report upheld current Church teaching and practice on the issue.

“It’s therefore the responsibility of pastors to accompany the persons concerned on a path of discernment according to the teaching of the Church and the guidelines of the bishop,” paragraph 85 read.

While there was an overall support for the Church’s teaching and current pastoral practice to remain in place, the document also stressed that divorced and remarried couples are baptized persons who must be “more integrated into the Christian community,” while “avoiding every occasion of scandal.”

“The logic of integration is the key to their pastoral accompaniment,” paragraph 84 said, explaining that their involvement in the Church “can be expressed in different ecclesial services.”

Synod fathers emphasized a process of careful discernment in considering which of the areas of exclusion in the liturgy, pastoral, educational and institutional framework of the Church can be done away with for divorced and remarried Catholics.

In some countries, for example, divorced and remarried persons are not only asked to abstain from communion, but also from teaching catechesis and from being godparents.

Divorced and remarried individuals were encouraged to make an examination of conscience, asking themselves “how they behaved toward their children when the marriage entered into crisis; if they were tempted to reconcile; what the situation is for the abandoned partner; what consequences does the new relationship have on the rest of the family and the community of faithful; what example this offers to the youth who must prepare for marriage.”

Pastoral discernment and accompaniment of such individuals must direct them “to the awareness of their situation before God.”

In paragraph 86, it was noted that consulting with a priest helps form a correct judgement “on what hinders the possibility of full participation in the life of the Church and on the steps that can foster it and make it grow.”

Also affirmed in the document was the Church’s stance on homosexuality, which was one of the most contested issues of last year’s synod, particularly in the final document.

This year, however, the topic of homosexuality was almost completely removed, apart from one paragraph on the pastoral care of families who live with persons that have homosexual tendencies.

“A special attention” ought to be given to accompanying families in such situations, paragraph 76 of the document said.

It reiterated that “every person, independently of their sexual tendency, must be respected in their dignity and welcomed with respect,” but clarified that “there is no foundation whatsoever to assimilate or establish analogies, even remotely, between homosexual unions and God’s design for marriage and the family.”

Synod fathers called ideological colonization in this regard “unacceptable in every case,” as well as the pressure local Churches often face to succumb to the secular push allowing for gay “marriage.”

The final document also backed Church teaching on life issues, such as abortion and contraception.

In paragraph 33, it is reiterated that all human life “is sacred because, since its beginning, it involves the creative action of God.”

“The biotechnical revolution in the field of human procreation has introduced the ability to manipulate the generative act, rendering it independent of the sexual relationship between a man and woman,” the document read.

By undergoing this manipulation, “human life and parenthood have become modular and separable realities, subject mainly to the wishes and desires of individuals or couples, not necessarily heterosexual and in a regular marriage.”

Only God “is the Lord of life from it’s beginning to it’s end,” the document continued. “No one, under any circumstance, can claim for themselves the right to directly destroy an innocent human being.”

Openness to life was also underlined as an “intrinsic requirement of married love.”

While an unfortunate mentality has diffused in society which reduces procreation “to individual gratification or that of the couple,” the synod fathers stressed that children are always a blessing, and are especially loved by Christ.

The beauty of marriage and the family was expressed throughout the document, with strong references to marriage indissolubility from the beginning to the end.

Quoting Pope Francis’ Oct. 4 homily for the opening of the synod, paragraph one of the document emphasized that “God didn’t create the human being to live in sadness or to be alone, but for happiness, to share his path with another person that is complimentary.”

“From the beginning of creation God made them male and female; because of this man will leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two will become one flesh.”

It recalls how “God united the hearts of man and woman who love each other and unites them in unity and indissolubility. This means that the goal of married life is not only to live together forever, but to love each other forever!”

“In the freedom of the ‘yes’ exchanged between a man and woman in marriage, the love of God is experienced and made present,” the document continued, explaining that it is God who sustains this union through the Holy Spirit, even when it fails.

Emphasis was placed up front on the indispensable role families play in the Church, with paragraph 2 of the document recalling Pope Francis’ words to families Sept. 27 while at the World Meeting of Families in Philadelphia.

“So much was God’s love that he began to walk with humanity, he began to walk with his people, until it came time to mature and he gave the greatest sign of his love: his Son,” the document read.

“And where did he send his Son? To a palace? To a city? To make an impression? He sent him to a family. God entered the world in a family.”

In paragraph four, synod fathers said that the family, founded on the marriage of a man and woman, is the “magnificent and in-substitutable place” of love and the transmission of life.

Synod fathers said they are able to see the reality of families today across the globe with “renewed freshness and enthusiasm” when looking back with the gaze of Christ.

With the help of the Holy Spirit, pastors, in the knowledge that no family is perfect, can discern “the paths with which to renew the Church and society in their commitment for the family founded on the marriage between a man and woman.”

“The Christian announcement that concerns the family is truly a good news,” they said.

On Saturday a spokesman for Cardinal George Pell – head of the Vatican’s economy secretariat – said in a statement that the prelate was “very pleased with the document.”

“It expresses well what the current pastoral practice and teaching of the Church are on sexuality, marriage and families,” the statement read.

“No doctrinal developments, no doctrinal surprises, no doctrinal backflips. No changes in praxis or discipline,” but rather a “beautiful commendation of large families and of the witness of happily married spouses and their children as agents of evangelization.”

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VATICAN NEWS

Walk alongside your people, Pope Francis tells bishops at synod’s close

by Ann Schneible (CNA/EWTN News) • October 25, 2015

Pope Francis presides at the closing Mass for the Vatican’s Synod on the Family on Oct. 25, 2015. (Daniel Ibáñez/CNA)

Vatican City — Pope Francis Sunday officially brought the Synod on the Family to a close at Mass in St. Peter’s, warning against a “spirituality of illusion,” and reminding pastors of their duty to accompany the faithful and be bearers of God’s mercy especially in times of suffering and conflict.

“Jesus’ disciples are called to this, even today, especially today: to bring people into contact with the compassionate Mercy that saves,” he said.

“Moments of suffering and conflict are for God occasions of mercy. Today is a time of mercy!”

This year’s Synod on the Family, which ran from Oct. 4-25, is the second and larger of two such gatherings to take place in the course of a year. Like its 2014 precursor, the focus of the 2015 Synod of Bishops will be the family, this time with the theme: “The vocation and mission of the family in the Church and the modern world.”

Pope Francis centered his reflection on the day’s Mass readings which, he said, demonstrate God’s compassion and fatherhood as “definitively revealed in Jesus.”

The day’s first reading from Jeremiah depicts the prophet Jeremiah declaring that “the Lord has saved” the people of Israel who have been “deported by their enemies” because “he is their Father.”

“His fatherhood opens up for them a path forward, a way of consolation after so many tears and great sadness,” the Pope said.

So long as the people persevere in their fidelity and in seeking God, despite being in a foreign land, “God will change their captivity into freedom, their solitude into communion.”

Pope Francis turned to the day’s Psalm, reflecting on the difficulties and joys by pastors in their work.

“A believer is someone who has experienced God’s salvific action in his life,” he said. “We pastors have experienced what it means to sow with difficulty, at times in tears, and to rejoice for the grace of a harvest which is beyond our strength and capacity.”

The Pope then turned to the second reading taken from the Letter of the Hebrews, which demonstrates Jesus’ compassion, leading him to take on all human weaknesses and temptations save sin.

“For this reason he is the mediator of the new and definitive covenant which brings us salvation.”

Pope Francis turned to the Gospel reading from Mark which depicts the healing of the blind man, Bartimaeus, a passage which he said links back to the first reading from Jeremiah.

“As the people of Israel were freed thanks to God’s fatherhood, so too Bartimaeus is freed thanks to Jesus’ compassion,” the Pope said.

As the story recounts, Jesus had left Jericho on his way to Jerusalem when he responded to the Bartimaeus who was begging. The Pope observed that rather than offering the blind man alms, he sought to encounter him, asking: “What do you want me to do for you?”

Although “it might seem a senseless question: what could a blind man wish for if not his sight?” Pope Francis said, it indicates Jesus’ desire “to hear our needs.”

“He wants to talk with each of us about our lives, our real situations, so that nothing is kept from him.”

The Pope observed Jesus’ confidence in Bartimaeus and admiration for his faith.

“He believes in us, more than we believe in ourselves.”

Pope Francis observed how the disciples, having been sent by Jesus to call Bartimaeus, say to him “Take heart!” and then “Rise” – expressions only used by Jesus in the rest of the Gospel.

“Indeed, only an encounter with Jesus gives a person the strength to face the most difficult situations,” the Pope said.

The Pope said it is the disciples’ duty to lead people to Jesus in a way that is encouraging and liberating.

Pope Francis went on to warn against two specific temptations to which Jesus’ followers are susceptible. He refers to the first of these as a “spirituality of illusion,” whereby we walk alongside Jesus, but to avoid being bothered with the problems of others.

“We can walk through the deserts of humanity without seeing what is really there; instead, we see what we want to see. We are capable of developing views of the world, but we do not accept what the Lord places before our eyes.”

“A faith that does not know how to root itself in the life of people remains arid and, rather than oases, creates other deserts.”

Under this first temptation, we do not think like Jesus, despite being with him the Pope said. “Our hearts are not open. We lose wonder, gratitude and enthusiasm, and risk becoming habitually unmoved by grace.”

“We are able to speak about him and work for him, but we live far from his heart, which is reaching out to those who are wounded.”

The second temptation is what Pope Francis refers to as a “scheduled faith,” whereby we walk with God’s people but follow our own agenda for the journey, expecting others to “respect our rhythm,” and being bothered by every problem.

The Pope observed that this temptation makes us like the “many” people in the Gospel who “lose patience and rebuke Bartimaeus, with the mindset: “whoever bothers us or is not of our stature is excluded.”

“Jesus, on the other hand, wants to include, above all those kept on the fringes who are crying out to him,” he said.

The Pope concluded by thanking the Synod Fathers for their participation in the three-week gathering, which officially concluded Sunday.

“Thank you for the path we have shared with our eyes fixed on Jesus and our brothers and sisters, in the search for the paths which the Gospel indicates for our times so that we can proclaim the mystery of family love,” he said.

He called for us to follow the path the Lord wants us to follow, asking “him to turn to us with his healing and saving gaze, which knows how to radiate light, as it recalls the splendour which illuminates it.”

“Never allowing ourselves to be tarnished by pessimism or sin, let us seek and look upon the glory of God, which shines forth in men and women who are fully alive.”

After the conclusion of Mass, Pope Francis delivered his weekly Angelus address from the Papal palace overlooking a St. Peter’s Square which was overflowing with pilgrims.

Here, he continued his reflection on the Synod, which means “to walk together.” The Pope said that God himself is “the first to desire to walk together with us, to make a ‘synod’ with us.”

He added that his “dream” was to establish a people which did not exclude the poor, the disadvantaged, or the elderly, but rather is a “family of families,” where “those who struggle are not marginalized, are not left behind.”

Jesus offers an example of such families, the Pope added: “He was made poor with the poor, little with the little, the last among the last.”

Pope Francis added that Jesus did not become this way to exclude the rich, the great, and those who are first, but rather the reverse: “This is the only way of saving even them.”

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VATICAN NEWS

Pope Francis grieves loss of life in Afghanistan-Pakistan quake

by Elise Harris (CNA/EWTN News) • October 27, 2015

A car damaged in Srinagar, India because of the Oct. 26, 2015 earthquake in northern Afghanistan, with tremors felt as widely as Pakistan and northern India. (Yawar Nazir/Getty Images)

Kabul, Afghanistan — After a massive earthquake rocked Pakistan and Afghanistan yesterday killing hundreds, Pope Francis on Tuesday voiced his sorrow and solidarity for victims and their families, assuring them of his prayers.

“His Holiness Pope Francis was deeply saddened to learn of the tragic loss of life in Afghanistan and Pakistan as a result of the earthquake in the region,” an Oct. 27 telegram addressed to Archbishop Ghaleb Bader, apostolic nuncio to Pakistan, read.

Signed by the Vatican’s Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the letter relayed the Pope’s “heartfelt solidarity with all those affected by this disaster,” and assured Francis’ prayers for the dead, injured, and those still missing.

“Upon all those who mourn the loss of loved ones and upon the civil authorities and emergency personnel involved in the relief efforts, Pope Francis invokes the divine blessings of consolation and strength.”

The 7.5 magnitude earthquake tore through north-eastern Afghanistan Oct. 27. The quake’s epicenter was in the country’s Badakhshan province, an estimated 220 miles northeast of Kabul. The quake has so far killed more than 300 people, 12 of whom are schoolgirls who tried to escape their building.

Most of the casualties have taken place in Pakistan’s northern mountainous regions, BBC News reports. Authorities on the ground have said that in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province alone, at least 179 people were known to have died, with more than 1,800 injured.

The death toll is expected to rise in both countries, since the places most affected are remote areas where communication has been cut off. Tremors were also felt in surrounding countries, including India and Tajikistan.

With a depth of 200km – 124 miles – in the earth, yesterday’s quake marks the latest in a series of serious earthquakes in South Asia this year.

In April eastern Nepal was devastated when a 7.8 magnitude quake ripped through the country, which was followed by a 7.3 magnitude aftershock in May. On record, 9,000 people were killed, and roughly 900,000 homes were damaged or destroyed.

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VATICAN NEWS

A prayer from the Pope – may Christians not be forced out of the Middle East

by CNA/EWTN News • October 28, 2015

Refugee children at the Sharia Al Haman Hope Refugee Camp in Duhok, Iraq on March 28, 2015. (Daniel Ibanez/CNA)

Vatican City — The sufferings of the Chaldean Catholic Church were the focus of Pope Francis on Monday when he addressed a synod of Chaldean bishops. He prayed for Middle East Christians and again called for international work to secure peace.

The Pope told the Chaldean bishops: “may God’s mercy soothe the wounds of war afflicting the heart of your communities, so that no one may feel discouragement in this time when the outcry of violence seems to drown out our heartfelt prayers for peace.”

Pope Francis lamented the effects of the “fanatical hatred sown by terrorism.” He described the exodus of Christians “who leave the lands of their fathers, where they grew up firmly rooted in the furrow of tradition.”

“I pray that Christians will not be forced to abandon Iraq and the Middle East – I think especially of the sons and daughters of your Church, and their rich traditions,” he said to the Chaldean bishops Oct. 26.

The Chaldean bishops’ synod is taking place in Rome Oct. 24-29.

The Chaldean Catholic Church has a presence in Iraq, Iran, Syria, Lebanon, Turkey, Israel and Egypt, as well as France and the U.S. There are over 400,000 Chaldean Catholics around the world, the Catholic Near East Welfare Association reports.

Violence in Iraq after the 2003 U.S. invasion and the rise of the Islamic State group in Iraq and Syria have resulted in the targeted killings of many Christians. The violence has caused millions of people, including hundreds of thousands of Christians, to flee their homes in the region.

Pope Francis said that in the lands of the Chaldeans, Christians bore witness to the Gospel and contributed to the growth of society “over centuries of peaceful coexistence with our Islamic brothers and sisters.”

“Sadly, these are times which are instead marked by countless examples of persecution, and even martyrdom,” he told the Chaldean synod.

Pope Francis said the situation in the Middle East “clearly undermines the vital Christian presence in that land.” He noted their lands’ role in Biblical history: Chaldean lands witnessed the start of the Patriarch Abraham’s journey, heard the Prophets during the exile of the Israelites, and saw “the foundation of the first Churches upon the blood of many martyrs.”

The Pope noted the needs of the Chaldean diaspora and voiced the Apostolic See’s complete support for the common good of the entire Chaldean Church.

He encouraged the bishops to build unity in all Iraq, to heal existing divisions and to prevent new divisions from arising. He endorsed efforts to foster dialogue and cooperation in public life.

“Your visit enables me to renew my heartfelt appeal to the international community to adopt every useful strategy aimed at bringing peace to countries terribly devastated by hatred, so that the life-giving breeze of love will once more be felt in places which have always been a crossroads for peoples, cultures and nations,” the Pope said.

Reflecting on the nature of a bishops’ synod and noting the recent 50th anniversary of the Catholic Church’s Synod of Bishops, he encouraged the Chaldean bishops to embrace a view of authority as service.

Citing St. Paul’s Letter to Philemon, he encouraged the bishops to act with mercy, humility, patience and mutual acceptance.

“May the work of the Synod reflect a sense of responsibility, participation and service. Keep always before you the image of the Good Shepherd who is concerned for the salvation of his sheep, and is especially concerned for those who have strayed,” he said.

The Pope encouraged the bishops to be zealous in seeking the good of the souls of priests as well as laity.

“I encourage you to be a father to your priests and all consecrated men and women, who are your primary collaborators, and, in respect for tradition and canonical norms, to be accepting of them, benevolent and understanding of their needs, discerning ways to help them be ever more aware of the demands of their ministry and service to the faithful.”

The Pope said that this will “bridge distances and discern the response to be given to the pressing needs of the Chaldean Church today.”

He urged the bishops to fulfill their pastoral responsibilities “with fraternal communion and a missionary spirit.” Concluding, he entrusted the Chaldean Church to the Virgin Mary and asked the bishops to convey his words to the faithful.

“I ask all of you, their pastors, to bring my words of encouragement to the faithful of the Chaldean Church,” he said. “May they echo on your lips as a caress from the Pope which warms their hearts.”

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VATICAN NEWS

Prayer is the treasure of all religions, says Pope

by Ann Schneible (CNA/EWTN News) • October 28, 2015

Pope Francis greets a rabbi at the General Audience in St. Peter’s Square, Oct. 28, 2015. (L’Osservatore Romano)

Vatican City — Pope Francis marked Wednesday’s anniversary of the Second Vatican Council’s declaration on the relation of the Church to non-Christian religion by saying the world looks to religious believers for their ability to pray.

“Prayer is our treasure, to which we draw in accordance with our respective traditions, to ask for the gifts for which humanity yearns,” he said at his Oct. 28 general audience at St. Peter’s Square.

The world looks to believers for answers in many areas, the Pope said, such as peace, hope, environmental crisis, violence committed in the name of religion, and crises in the family and the economy.

“We believers have received these problems, but we have one great resource: prayer. And we believers pray. We must pray!”

Pope Francis’ remarks came on the 50th anniversary of the release of Nostra aetate, and his general audience was focused on inter-religious dialogue. Other speakers included Cardinal Jean Louis Tauran, president of the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue, and Cardinal Kurt Koch, president of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity.

The Pope extended a special welcome to those individuals and groups present in St. Peter’s Square representing other religions.

He cited the the Second Vatican Council as an “extraordinary time of reflection, dialogue, and prayer for renewing the Catholic Church’s gaze upon itself and on the world.”

“A reading of the signs of the times, in view of an update oriented by due loyalty: loyalty to the tradition of the Church, loyalty to Church tradition, and loyalty to the history of men and women in our times.”

Pope Francis recalled the various interreligious initiatives and events that have sprung up in the years following Nostra aetate‘s release.

He noted in particular the interreligious encounter in Assisi in 1986, the fruit of a meeting between St. John Paul II and a group of young Muslims in Casablanca a year earlier.

“The flame, ignited in Assisi, has spread around the world, and is a permanent sign of hope,” he said.

Pope Francis made particular mention of the transformation in the relationship between Christians and Jews which has come about over the last fifty years. “Indifference and opposition have turned into collaboration and goodwill: from enemies and strangers, we have become friends and brothers.”

Nostra aetate led the way in saying “yes” to rediscovering “Christianity’s Jewish roots,” and “no” to “every form of anti-Semitism,” while condemning “every insult, discrimination, and persecution which comes with it.”

The Pope noted that Nostra aetate promoted renewed relations not only with the Jewish people, but also with persons of other religions, especially Muslims.

He cited passages from the document which acknowledge the points of commonality between Christianity and Islam: reference to the paternity of Abraham, the veneration of Jesus as prophet, esteem for Mary, as well as such practices as almsgiving and fasting.

The aim and condition of interreligious dialogue is “mutual respect”, Pope Francis said: “respect for the right to life of others, to physical integrity, to fundamental freedom – namely, freedom of conscience, of thought, of expression, and of religion.”

Pope Francis spoke of the “violence and terrorism” which has led to religion becoming the object of suspicion and condemnation.

While there is always the risks of fundamentalism or extremism in any religion, he said, we must nonetheless “look at the positive values which they live and propose, and which are sources of hope.”

The Pope reflected on the various areas of collaboration possible between persons of different religions: serving the poor, the elderly, migrants, caring for creation, etc.

“All believers of every religion! Together we can praise the Creator for having given us the garden of the world to cultivate and protect as a common good,” he said, and also work together to “combat poverty and ensure secure conditions of a dignified life for every man and woman.”

The Pope went on to remind those present that the upcoming Year of Mercy, beginning in December, will offer an opportunity for those works of charity.

“But the mercy to which we are all called embraces all of creation,” he said. “God has entrusted (creation) to us because we are stewards, not exploiters or – worse still – destroyers.”

Pope Francis concluded the audience with an appeal for victims of the earthquake which struck Pakistan and Afghanistan on Monday.

The Guardian reports that more than 370 people have been killed and thousands injured in the 7.5 magnitude quake which also affected the Kashmir region. Scores of homes have also been destroyed, causing concern with the approaching winter months.

“We pray for the departed and their families, for all the wounded and without shelter, imploring from God relief in suffering and courage in the adversity.”

“May our concrete solidarity not be lacking for our brothers and sisters.”

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WORLD NEWS

Gay Catholics tell synod to promote chastity – for everyone

by Ann Schneible (CNA/EWTN News) • October 3, 2015

Opening Session of the Extraordinary Assembly of the Synod of Bishops at the Vatican on Oct. 6, 2014. (Mazur/catholicnews.org.uk CC BY-NC-SA 2.0)

Rome, Italy — Same-sex attracted Catholics who have turned away from a homosexual lifestyle are urging participants at the upcoming Synod on the Family to defend the Church’s teaching on chastity for everyone – including for divorced and remarried.

“I fear that chastity does not have enough of a voice at the Synod,” said Rilene Simpson, a member and spokesperson of Courage, an apostolate which offers pastoral support for men and women with same-sex attraction. She told CNA: “We need to have the Church’s support.”

“We’re talking about chastity for everybody. We’re talking about chastity for people with same-sex attraction. We’re talking about chastity within the confines of marriage. We’re talking about chastity for people who are divorced, and remarried.”

“It is a beautiful, beautiful virtue, it’s a grace from God, it’s a way to become closer to him, and we need to hear more about chastity,” she said.

Rilene, whose story is featured in the 2014 Courage-produced documentary Desire for the Everlasting Hills, was one of the main speakers at a conference held Friday in Rome aimed at presenting the Church’s pastoral resources for persons with same-sex attraction.

The international gathering, entitled “The Ways of True Love – Pastoral Approaches to Welcome and Accompany those Living with Homosexual Tendencies,” was held Friday at the Pontifical Thomas Aquinas University, also known as the Angelicum.

Organized by Courage, Ignatius Press, and the Napa Institute, the gathering was intentionally scheduled to take place as close to the Synod on the Family as possible.

“What I am hoping from the Synod fathers … (is) that they can see the truth and not buy into the lies,” said David Prosen, a Catholic therapist at a Franciscan University in Steubenville, who also shared his testimony at the Oct. 2 gathering.

Having himself lived a homosexual lifestyle before embracing the Church’s teaching on chastity, David – whose story is featured on the 2014 documentary The Third Way – told CNA he had once been told by a priest it was “okay to be in an intimate relationship with a man as long as you love him.”

“This is so harming,” he said. “So, what I hope is that the Synod fathers will really look at the truth that we, all of us, all men and women have gifts that God has given us because we are created in his image and likeness and because we are his sons and daughters – not because of who I’m attracted to.”

David’s presentation at Friday’s gathering was entitled “I am not gay … I am David,” and touched on his own struggles with identity during his youth.

“I know for myself, when I was in the culture, that whole sense of identity to me meant belonging,” he told CNA.

“I didn’t really fit in in high school. Finally I felt like I belonged somewhere but it wasn’t giving me what I really needed. I found out years later that the reason is because that’s not who I am. I was embracing something that wasn’t true.”

David explained how in high school he had admired traits in other people that he felt he lacked in himself.

“I was looking at my peers and going ‘gosh if only I looked like him, if I was athletic like him, or popular then maybe I would fit in,’ and there was this shame,” he said. “In puberty, that piece became exaggerated and that’s when I believed something that really wasn’t true.”

“I wasn’t really affirmed in my gender and that’s what I was looking for all along.”

David explained he has since learned to establish fulfilling and chaste friendships with other men, largely through the help of the Courage apostolate.

“There is a profound joy and peace in living a chaste life,” he said.

Friday’s conference comes partly in response to the 2014 Extraordinary Synod on the Family, in which persons with same-sex attraction did not have an adequate voice, according to organizers.

At least two of the Synod fathers will take part in the event: French Guinea’s Cardinal Robert Sarah, prefect of the Pontifical Council for Divine Worship, and Australia’s Cardinal George Pell, prefect for the Secretariat for the Economy.

In brief remarks given to journalists at the conference, Cardinal Pell stressed that the Church has long offered support to persons with same-sex attraction. “It’s happening already … in many places,” he said.

“No non-government institution offers more avenues of care of, say, HIV people, in parishes, communities, groups like Courage, Christian families,” etc. “We’re obliged to. Because we’re Christians.”

The conference also featured a presentation by Monsignor Livio Melina, president of Rome’s John Paul II Institute on Marriage and the Family, who spoke on the Christian anthropological understanding of homosexuality.

Other experts included Dr. Paul McHugh of Johns Hopkins; Dr. Timothy Lock, a clinical psychologist; and Dr. Jennifer Morse of the Ruth Institute.

Friday’s conference comes one day ahead of another gathering in Rome entitled Ways of Love, whose organizers support a form of pastoral care which does not necessarily preclude sexually intimate relationships between same-sex couples.

This year’s Synod on the Family, to be held on Oct. 4-25, will be the second and larger of two such gatherings to take place in the course of a year. Like its 2014 precursor, the focus of the 2015 Synod of Bishops will be the family, this time with the theme: “The vocation and mission of the family in the Church and the modern world.”

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WORLD NEWS

Paris archbishop says ‘there will be no spectacular revolution at the synod’

by Andrea Gagliarducci (CNA/EWTN News) • October 5, 2015

Archbishop Bruno Forte, Cardinal Andre Vingt-Trois, Cardinal Peter Erdo, and Fr. Federico Lombardi at the press briefing on the Synod on the Family, Oct. 5, 2015. (Daniel Ibanez/CNA)

Vatican City — There are no “spectacular revolutions” in the offing at the Synod of Bishops, and those expecting one will be disappointed, one of the three president delegates of Synod of Bishops said Monday in a press briefing.

Cardinal André Vingt-Trois of Paris underscored that the “discussion at the synod was coloured, even filtered, by inaccurate media reports” but that “the Pope and the synod do not want to listen to what is floating in the air, and fashionable, today.”

The Pope and the synod want rather to listen to “the signs of times, that is, the discernment we have learned from the Second Vatican Council.”

The cardinal rejected the notion of a Church divided into two parties, as did Archbishop Bruno Forte of Chieti-Vasto, who is serving as special secretary of the Synod of Bishops.

“The media depicted a Church divided into two poles … but this is not the perception we have from inside the synod hall,” Archbishop Forte said.

In the morning, Cardinal Oscar Rodriguez Maradiaga of Tegucigalpa made the same remarks.

Cardinal Rodriguez said the synod fathers have been “sometimes saddened by the way the world has ignited this synod, thinking that we have come has two opposite gangs in order to defend irreducible positions.”

Cardinal Rodriguez stressed that instead, “each of us is looking for a unanimity that comes from dialogue, not from ideas to be defended with a vengeance.” And he underscored that the Church “is not a Church endangered,” and nor “is the family, though it is under threat.”

Cardinal Vingt-Trois had also given an initial address to the synod assembly.

Speaking shortly before Pope Francis, Cardinal Vingt-Trois identified in the reform for the procedures of declaration of nullity and in the Jubilee of Mercy two guidelines for the spirit of the synod.

The motu proprio that reformed the procedures for the declaration of nullity is – according to Cardinal Vingt-Trois – “a precious indication of the spirit in which we should approach” the synod’s work.

“Without questioning the sacramental tradition of our Church or her doctrine on the indissolubility of marriage, you invite us to share our pastoral experiences and to better implement the paths of mercy by which the Lord invites those who so wish and who are able to enter a process of conversion with a view to receiving pardon,” he said.

The year of mercy is – in Cardinal Vingt-Trois’ words – a “sign of hope for those who are overcome in the path (of life) and hope to know a real liberation.”

Cardinal Vingt-Trois also hoped that “these three weeks of intense work will be an important experience of the Church.”

“Despite the differences among ourselves, we do not want to live these times as a showdown between a few people, whose judges are microphones and cameras. We want to live this as a time of common conversion, with the strength of Communion under you, Holy Father, Guardian and Servant,” concluded Cardinal Vingt-Trois.

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WORLD NEWS

More scheming outside the synod? Soros foundation rep attends LGBT lobby event

by Kevin Jones (CNA/EWTN News) • October 14, 2015

(Guillaume Paumier via Flickr CC BY 2.0)

Rome, Italy — Attendees at an LGBT activist event lobbying the Synod of Bishops included an official from George Soros’ Open Society Foundations, one of the most influential funders in the world.

“Open Society Foundations program officer Peter Matjasic was one of the participants of the Global Network of Rainbow Catholics assembly,” Antonia Zafeiri, the foundations’ European communications officer, confirmed to CNA Oct. 13.

Zafeiri said the assembly was “an opportunity to discuss with civil society representatives sharing similar values” in line with the foundations’ mission to “promote equality and combat discrimination of minority groups.”

The newly launched Global Network of Rainbow Catholics held its first assembly in Rome Oct. 1-4. It drew together several dissenting Catholic groups engaged in LGBT activism. The gathering claimed representatives from 30 countries.

Matjasic is a program officer for the Open Society Initiative for Europe, a branch of the Open Society Foundations established by the politically active billionaire investor George Soros. The foundations’ website said they expended about $827 million globally in 2014.

On his Twitter account, Matjasic praised the Global Network of Rainbow Catholics’ discussions about their mission statement, approach, and structures.

The global network’s assembly also included the Ways of Love conference, which advocated that the synod adopt LGBT activist groups’ “best practices” in pastoral ministry. The conference included journalist Robert Mickens’ live interview with former Irish president Mary McAleese, a vocal critic of Catholic teaching.

Matjasic said on his personal Twitter account that McAleese gave “a compelling condemnation of Roman Catholic doctrine on homosexuality.”

Open Society Foundations did not respond to CNA questions about whether it financially supported the groups involved.

The European Forum of LGBT Christian Groups, a founding member of the Global Network of Rainbow Catholics, has received funding from the Open Society Institute for a project to document and oppose “religion-based intolerance in Eastern Europe.” The European Forum’s annual report said it also took part in an Open Society institute conference in Barcelona in September 2014 about reaching the “movable middle” and made a presentation about “combating religion-based opposition.”

The Global Network of Rainbow Catholics has advocated that the 2015 Synod of Bishops revive controversial language on homosexuality from previous synod documents. The synod is meeting at Vatican City Oct. 4-25.

The U.S.-based LGBT activist group Human Rights Campaign also had a representative at the global network’s founding assembly: Lisbeth Melendez Rivera, director of the campaign’s Latino and Catholic Initiatives.

In 2014 the Human Rights Campaign launched an activist effort that stressed the synod’s importance as “the opportunity to create a precedent for change.” The group has been critical of the late Cardinal Francis George of Chicago, as well as synod delegates Archbishop Charles J. Chaput of Philadelphia and Archbishop Joseph Kurtz of Louisville, Ky.

The Human Rights Campaign is very influential in American life, as major corporations compete to score high on its corporate equality index. Its corporate partners include American Airlines, Apple, Google, Microsoft, Bank of America, Northrop Grumman, Chevron, Lexus, Goldman Sachs, and Coca-Cola. The organization did not respond to a request for comment by deadline.

The Global Network of Rainbow Catholics issued a message to the synod that claimed that many in the Church “thought that they were serving God by hating us, and some still do, especially among the hierarchy.”

The activists said they launched the network to share information, counter falsehood, encourage each other and strengthen their families. They rejected criminalization of LGBT activities, especially countries where some actions result in execution.

In addition, the network claimed to be reaching out to bishops.

“We want to set up our network in such a way that we can even be useful to you, though we know from long experience how frightened many of you are of communicating with us discreetly, even less talking to us on the record!” its message said.

The Ways of Love 2015 conference included a keynote speech from Mexico’s Bishop Raul Vera, who was the center of controversy several years ago for his support of a homosexual ministry that rejected aspects of Catholic teaching. The 2014 conference’s keynote speaker was Bishop Geoffrey Robinson, a retired auxiliary bishop of Sydney who authored a book which was rebuked by Australia’s bishops for doctrinal problems.

The Global Network of Rainbow Catholics includes Dignity USA and New Ways Ministry, two U.S. groups that have recently called for same-sex marriage to be recognized as a sacrament. Other members include the LGBT Catholics Westminster Pastoral Council, the Polish group Wiara I Tecza, the Italian group Nuova Proposta, the Chilean group PADIS and the Maltese group Drachma.

In a related effort, the European Forum for LGBT Christian Groups lobbied the synod bishops. The forum’s Catholic coordinator, Michael Brinkschroeder, in September sent e-mails to several bishops inviting them to the Ways of Love conference. His e-mail included a series of written interviews with self-identified LGBT Catholics from several west African countries. He said they face exclusion from family, loss of work, and blackmail.

That interview project was funded by the Swiss Catholic Lenten Fund and the U.S.-based Arcus Foundation in response to “the extremely negative influence from bishops from Western Africa on the final document of the Family Synod 14,” according to the European Forum’s 2014-2015 activities report

The Arcus Foundation has poured hundreds of thousands of dollars into LGBT activist projects related to the synod. These projects include European Forum efforts to respond to “homophobic Catholic church family synod decisions” and efforts to help the forum “pursue its successful strategy of shifting traditional views.” The foundation grants also funded the drafting, testing and use of “a counter-narrative to traditional values” in contexts like the 2015 Synod on the Family, according to the forum’s annual report and grant announcements from the foundation.

The Arcus Foundation is a partner of the U.S. State Department’s Global Equality Fund. Ford Foundation president Darren Walker sits on the Arcus Foundation’s eight-member board of directors.

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WORLD NEWS

For German bishops mercy comes at a price, critics charge

by CNA/EWTN News • October 19, 2015

(PKpix via shutterstock.com)

Berlin, Germany — As controversy continues to swirl around proposals by the German bishops at the Synod on the Family, the German bishops themselves have faced heightened criticism in recent years.

Critics point out that while Cardinal Walter Kasper and most of his fellow German bishops have been leading the charge to allow those in “irregular” marital situations – those who are divorced and remarried – to receive Communion, they have simultaneously denied the sacraments, including even Confession, to those who opt out of paying Germany’s “church tax”: a position seen by critics as hypocritical.

In both cases, the German position is at odds with Church teaching: admitting to Communion those formally not allowed, and forbidding those whom the Vatican says can validly receive the sacraments.

The German definition of mercy, critics say, is a “pay to pray system” that has its “financial” limits.

The bishops in Germany “are notoriously the most merciful in wishing to grant Communion to the divorced and remarried, but at the same time are the most ruthless in de facto excommunicating those who refuse to pay the church tax, which in their country is obligatory by law,” Sandro Magister wrote last October in his “Settimo Cielo” blog for L’Espresso.

The church tax earned the Church in Germany an income of more than $7 billion in both 2012 and 2013.

Critics charged that the German bishops are on one hand saying that mercy demands Communion be given to those living in what Christ called adultery, while simultaneously banning those who may be living according to Church teaching, but for whatever reason choose not pay their church tax, from all the sacraments.

“In Germany the church tax (kirchensteuer) is obligatory, such that to be able to not pay it, one must declare their departure from the church to which they belong, whether Catholic or Protestant, by a public act made before a competent civil authority,” Magister explained.

When Germans register as Catholic, Protestant, or Jew on their tax forms, the government automatically collects an income tax from them which amounts to 8 or 9 percent of their total income tax, or 3-4 percent of their salary.

The “church tax” is given to the religious communities, rather than those communities collecting a tithe. The Church uses its funds to help run its parishes, schools, hospitals, and welfare projects.

Many Germans have de-registered in recent years, so as to avoid paying the additional tax. Magister noted that the number of persons declaring their departure from the Church has been substantial – in 2010, the figure was more than 180,000.

The number of de-registrations has been heightened this year, as the church tax is now being withheld from capital gains, as well as from salary.

Many of those who have de-registered from the Church on the German government’s forms continue to practice the faith, and have de-registered to avoid the tax altogether, or to support the Church with private tithes.

In response to the numbers de-registering, the German bishops issued a decree in September 2012 calling such departure “a serious lapse” and listing a number of ways they are barred from participating in the life of the Church.

The decree specified that those who do not pay the church tax cannot receive the sacraments of Confession, Communion, Confirmation, or Anointing of the Sick, except when in danger of death; cannot hold ecclesial office or perform functions within the Church; cannot be a godparent or sponsor; cannot be a member of diocesan or parish councils; and cannot be members of public associations of the Church.

If those who de-registered show no sign of repentance before their death, they can even be refused a religious burial.

While these penalties have been described as “de facto excommunication,” the Pontifical Council for Legislative Texts, wrote in a March 13, 2006 document that opting out of taxes in a civil situation was not the same as renouncing the faith, and thus excommunication did not apply to such persons.

The German group Union of Associations Loyal to the Pope has said it is ironic that one could reject Church teaching on any number of issues, including the indissolubility of marriage, and still be considered Catholic – as long as one paid the church tax.

The group charged that the “selling of sacraments” through the tax system was even worse than the abuses protested by Martin Luther at the start of the Protestant Reformation.

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WORLD NEWS

With a child’s touch, sculpture seeks to comfort those who mourn abortion

by Elise Harris (CNA/EWTN News) • October 24, 2015

Memorial for Unborn Children, by Martin Hudacek. (Daniel Ibanez/CNA)

Rome, Italy — Five years ago a young Slovakian artist set out to create a statue that would offer hope and healing to post-abortive women suffering from pain and regret – and the project would touch hearts around the world.

The statue portrays a suffering mother in imitation stone. She is grieving with her face buried in her hands. She is approached by her aborted baby, depicted in a young child’s transparent form. The child reaches up to touch the woman’s head in a tender gesture of forgiveness and healing.

Sculptor Martin Hudacek, the statue’s creator, has seen its impact.

“Many people said ‘wow, it is me.’ They were crying, so many people said that sculpture touched their heart,” he told CNA.

Hudacek created the sculpture, named “Memorial for Unborn Children,” while still a student. He hopes the piece will help to heal men and women suffering after an abortion.

The monument, located in Slovakia, has been praised for its depiction of the pain, sorrow and regret felt by women who have had abortions.

Hudacek presented a replica of the original statue to Pope Francis during the Pope’s Oct. 21 general audience. He was assisted by the Wisconsin-based Family Life Council, Inc.

He told CNA that a friend inspired the project.

“It all began when on my way back home from my friend’s place who prays and meditates a lot, (and) he told me I have to carve a statue” that depicts the effects of post-abortion syndrome, “a big problem and there is no such statue regarding this issue.”

Hudacek said that he was “touched in such way that I wanted to make a monument for the unborn children,” but he had no idea where to start. He asked people to pray.

“I was praying and many people came to me and said I need a picture of forgiveness,” he said. As time passed, the image became clearer and clearer in his mind: “it looked like a crying mother and a child who forgives her.”

Many people have come to him to tell how the statue speaks directly to their problem. When they look at the statue, “they see and experience what they needed to see and experience,” the artist said.

In the end, Hudacek said the statue seeks to fulfill the need for mercy. It speaks about healing by way of a child that comes to a mother who “really needs forgiveness, she needs the mercy of God.”

Despite the success of his sculpture, the artist said that it’s not really his work, but God’s. He said he often asked people to pray for him while he was working on it. For him, their prayers made the long process a bit easier.

“It is not my work, I am only a sculptor and I must work with the material,” he said. When he prayed and asked others to pray for the statue, “the work was not so hard.”

Two weeks ago Hudacek completed a third version of the “Memorial for Unborn Children” statue. This edition is seven feet tall. But there is an addition: it shows a father alongside the grieving mother and their aborted child.

This statue now sits inside a cemetery in Wroclaw, Poland, where it has been placed above the crypt of a child who died before birth. This particular statue was done “only for the people in Wroclaw,” explained the artist, who currently lives in the small Slovakian village of Telgárt.

He said that while Jesus is the only one who can heal, he hopes that his sculpture can offer “a small healing” for post-abortive women. He hoped that when they look at it, they think about forgiveness more.

“It is interesting to see my statue on the internet or in many places being presented in diverse ways,” Hudacek said, explaining that he can tell the sculpture is bearing fruit in reports from around the world.

“I see it is a world issue, thus I am personally impressed and I am glad I can participate in God’s work,” he said.

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WORLD NEWS

In Myanmar, Salesians celebrate seminary’s 25th anniversary

by Antonio Anup Gonsalves (CNA/EWTN News) • October 25, 2015

Bishop Philip Za Hawng of Lashio says Mass at a celebration of the 25th anniversary of the Salesian seminary and parish in Hsipaw. (Fr. Leo Mang)

Lashio, Burma — In the tribal hills of Myanmar’s (Burma’s) far northern Shan State, Catholics celebrated an important double anniversary for two Salesian institutions.

Spiritual catechesis and cultural celebrations commemorated the silver jubilees of both the Salesian Parish in the Diocese of Lashio and the Don Bosco Seminary in the town of Hsipaw, located almost 50 miles southwest of Lashio. Both were established in 1990.

“We thank the Lord for these twenty five years. It is a remarkable length of time which could be taken as the lifespan of a generation,” said Fr. Leo Mang, S.D.B, head of social communications of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Myanmar.

Fr. Mang explained that the Salesian missionaries and their friends have stood strong in faith despite the difficult moments of trials, persecutions and the lasting effects of World War II.

“The Don Bosco Seminary in Hsipaw had truly sown seeds of vocations which are now flourishing throughout the country wherever the Salesians are serving the Church in various regions in the service of youth,” Fr. Mang further added.

The seminary has educated 21 priests, two lay brothers and many other people.

Cardinal Charles Bo, who is now the Archbishop of Yangon, has a history in the area. He was the apostolic administrator of the region, then named apostolic prefect. He was then appointed as the first bishop of the Diocese of Lashio in 1990.

Bishop Philip Za Hawng of Lashio presided over the thanksgiving Mass with Fr. Charles Saw, SDB, the provincial of the Salesian in Myanmar. Over 25 priests, religious, seminarians, novices attended the celebrations, which included the liturgy, traditional cultural processions, and prayer dances in the events held Oct. 16-17.

Bishop Philip’s homily asked the parish to be united in faith. He further encouraged the community to keep the faith alive.

He thanked the Salesians missionaries who had cared for the Lashio diocese “from its inception.” He praised the Salesians as benefactors of the region.

The celebrations also marked the inauguration and the blessing of a memorial hall.

The Salesians of Myanmar have been active in youth formation, skill development and education in one of Asia’s poorest regions, known for its hilly terrain. The people there have suffered under the military junta and have faced religious persecutions. The country will hold elections in November.

The Salesian missionaries arrived in what was then called Burma in 1939. They gradually established their mission. They lost their schools in a period of nationalization when the government took control of all Christian-run schools in 1965. All foreign missionaries serving in the country were asked to leave the country.

Since then, the local church has grown. It makes a significant contribution to the country through its work in education, healthcare and social welfare.

Myanmar is home to about 800,000 Catholics who live in 16 dioceses. Several thousand committed catechists carry on the work of evangelization and help the Church to serve families and the faithful.

In recent years the Catholic Church in Myanmar celebrated the 500th anniversary of the arrival of Christianity in the country.

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WORLD NEWS

Catholics in Mexico thankful Hurricane Patricia did not cause major damage

by CNA/EWTN News • October 26, 2015

Hurricane Patricia is seen approaching Mexico on Oct. 23, 2015; Baja California Sur is seen at the lower left. (IEOSDIS/NASA satellite via Wikimedia)

Mexico City, Mexico — During Mass on Sunday at the cathedral of Mexico City, the celebrant thanked God that Hurricane Patricia – the strongest recorded in the Western Hemisphere – did not in the end cause major damage to Mexico, as was anticipated.

Fr. Julián López Amozurrutia, a canon at the cathedral, thanked God Oct. 25 because “he had mercy on our country in the way Hurricane Patricia landed.”

Hurricane Patricia made landfall in the Mexican state of Jalisco late on Oct. 23. It had been a Category 5 storm, with sustained winds of 202 mph; massive devastation was expected.

But the storm struck a lightly populated area, and was downgraded to a Category 2 tropical storm by the morning of Oct. 24. Six people are confirmed to have died from the storm, though 400,000 people are believed to live in vulnerable areas, and subsequent landslides and flash flooding were feared.

“A prayer of gratitude and petition to the Lord who had mercy on our country by the path Hurricane Patricia took through the states that were threatened to be affected, and also for the people who suffered some tragedy. We place them all on the altar of the Lord,” Fr. López said at the Mass.

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WORLD NEWS

Sodalitium Christianae Vitae has an apostolic visitor to investigate its founder

by CNA/EWTN News • October 27, 2015

Bishop Fortunato Pablo Urcey, Prelate of Chota, who was appointed apostolic visitor of the Sodalitium Christianae Vitae April 22, 2015. (Order of Augustinian Recollects)

Lima, Peru — The superior general of the Sodalitium Christianae Vitae has made public that the community has had an apostolic visitor since April, who is charged with investigating accusations that its founder committed sexual abuse.

The apostolic visitor, who was appointed April 22, is Bishop Fortunato Pablo Urcey, Prelate of Chota. He was charged by the Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life with investigating allegations of abuse committed by Luis Fernando Figari.

“When we were told this measure was being taken, the Holy See asked us to not make the visit public or to share who had been appointed as (apostolic) visitor, so he could carry out his work in a serene environment without any pressure from the media,” Alessandro Moroni Llabrés, superior general of the Sodalitium Christianae Vitae, stated Oct. 26.

“In the midst of the difficult situation we are going through, I requested authorization to make public that this investigation includes an apostolic visitation to our communities in Peru,” Moroni stated.

He explained that the visit began in August “and should conclude in March 2016.”

Bishop Pablo, who made solemn profession in the Order of Augustinian Recollects in 1968, was tasked with “determin(ing) the actual authenticity” of “accusations of improper behavior leveled at the founder of this society of apostolic life.”

According to the decree of the Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life, Bishop Pablo will have to write and send “a detailed account of his investigation and findings” to the dicastery.

The apostolic visitation is in response to accusations that the Holy See has received against Figari.

The Sodalitium Christianae Vitae is a society of apostolic life which was founded in 1971 in Peru, and granted pontifical recognition in 1997. Alejandro Bermúdez, executive director of CNA, is a member of the community.

Figari stepped down as superior general of the Sodalitium Christianae Vitae in 2010.

In addition to Peru, the community operates in Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Costa Rica, Chile, Ecuador, the United States, and Italy.

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WORLD NEWS

A tour of Saint John Paul II’s Poland

by Kate Veik (CNA/EWTN News) • October 28, 2015

St. Mary’s Basilica on Krakow’s Main Square. (Juan Salmoral via Flickr CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)

Washington, D.C. — St. John Paul II had just celebrated the closing Mass of his historic trip to his home country of Poland in 1979 when he turned to survey the crowd of more than a million Poles.

“And so, before I leave you, I wish to give one more look at Krakow, this Krakow in which every stone and every brick is dear to me,” the future saint said.

“And I look once more on my Poland.”

Once more at the Debniki apartment, where he first wrestled with the mystery of suffering after the death of his father. Once more at Jagiellonian University, the seedbed of his understanding of the relationship between faith and reason. Once more at St. Florian’s and St. Catherine’s parishes, where he gave the world a model of pastoral accompaniment through his “Srodowisko” community with some 200 young Catholics.

It’s no secret that St. John Paul II was indelibly marked by his Polish heritage. His life has made the country a place of pilgrimage. And next year’s World Youth Day in Krakow offers millions of Catholic youth the opportunity to walk the path of this beloved Polish Pope.

Papal biographer George Weigel hopes to add to that experience through his new biographical guidebook City of Saints: A Pilgrimage to John Paul II’s Krakow.

“The book is both a series of meditations on vocation and other basic themes of Christian discipleship, and a guidebook that introduces readers to the history and culture of Krakow,” Weigel told CNA in an email interview. “There’s really nothing else quite like it, and I hope the combination of catechetics and guide helps WYD 2016 pilgrims have a richer, more deeply reflective and prayerful experience.”

Part biography, part guidebook, Weigel’s City of Saints effortlessly details through vivid color photographs and detailed descriptions the Polish churches, shrines and landmarks that shaped the pontificate of St. John Paul II, while simultaneously exploring the future saint’s growth as a philosopher, human rights advocate, and spiritual leader.

“We never get to universal truths and goods in the abstract; they always come to us through the particular,” Weigel told CNA in an email interview. “I don’t learn to love baseball in general; I learn to love a team, and through it I learn to love the game.”

“Similarly, Karol Wojtyla didn’t come to embrace Christian discipleship in general; he became a radically converted Christian disciple in a specific time and place – and then learned to see and love a broader landscape of discipleship through that experience.”

Fans of Weigel’s biographies of St. John Paul II can expect the same attention to detail in City of Saints. Weigel said his previous projects and frequent travels to Krakow inspired him to pen the new book.

He said he desired “to share with the world – and especially the pilgrims to World Youth Day 2016 – my affection for a great city and its unique place in the history of the modern world.”

For Weigel, next year’s World Youth Day will be a coming home of sorts.

“World Youth Day may have begun formally in the mid-1980’s, but it began as an idea – a new approach to youth ministry – in the late 1940s and early 1950s with Fr. Karol Wojtyla’s remarkable campus ministry in Krakow.”

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WORLD NEWS

China replaces one-child policy with two-child policy

by CNA/EWTN News • October 29, 2015

(Tom Wang via shutterstock.com)

Beijing, China — The Chinese government has moved its cap on the number of children per family from one to two, the state’s news agency reported on Thursday. But one women’s rights activist says the change is not enough.

Reggie Littlejohn, president of Women’s Rights Without Frontiers, said she is not surprised by the change, “given the demographic disaster China now faces as a result of its One Child Policy.”

“However, instituting a two-child policy will not end forced abortion, gendercide or family planning regulations in China,” she said in a statement.

The one-child policy has been mandated since the 1970s in an effort to limit the country’s population growth. Recent numbers, however, show an aging demographic that could pose fiscal problems for the country’s future, according to Reuters.

The policy was previously amended in 2013, permitting couples to have a second child if either of them were an only child themselves.

Human rights activists like lawyer Chen Guangcheng – who spent four years in prison for fighting the one-child policy – have condemned it as “contemporary genocide” as it has prevented the birth of an estimated 360 to 400 million people since its beginning. They also say it has brought about horrific human rights abuses.

According to Littlejohn, these abuses will likely continue, despite the change in China’s policy.

“Couples will still have to have a birth permit for the first and the second child, or they may be subject to forced abortion,” the women’s rights activist explained.

At the core of the policy is not the number of children permitted, but “the fact that the government is setting a limit on children, and enforcing this limit coercively,” she said. “That will not change under a two-child policy.”

Earlier this year, Littlejohn testified before Congress on the conditions surrounding the one-child policy in China. She said that women who become pregnant without permission from the state are forcibly removed from their homes and strapped to a table in a forced abortion procedure. They are often forced to sign a form stating that they consented to the abortion or sterilization, she added.

Paid informants have been known to go to the local authorities and reveal their neighbors are illegally expecting a child. Village leaders have even resorted to violence against those who do not comply with the policy.

Suicide among women has become a major problem in the country, which accounts for over 25 percent of the world’s suicides. Women have a 25 percent higher suicide rate than men in China, a statistic that Littlejohn attributes partly to one-child policy’s negative effects on women and fraying of social bonds among neighbors.

Another consequence of the policy has been couples resorting to abortion or even infanticide if they discover their child is a girl; a strong male-preference exists in China, as boys can keep the family name and run the family business or farm. Consequently, China has faced a serious imbalance in their gender ratio.

Ultimately, Littlejohn stressed, the change to a two-child policy is not enough.

“Women will still be forcibly aborted under a universal 2-child policy,” she said, calling for continued pressure on China until it completely “abandons all coercive population control.”

“The One Child Policy does not need to be modified,” she said. “It needs to be abolished.”

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U.S. NEWS

Child migrants’ home countries have only grown worse, U.S. Congress is reminded

by Matt Hadro (CNA/EWTN News) • October 24, 2015

(Eakachai Leesin via shutterstock.com)

Washington, D.C. — The number of Central American migrants to the U.S. might be down this year, but their problems at home have grown worse, said Bishop Mark Seitz of El Paso before the United States Congress on Wednesday.

“It is clear that now that the situation is worse and that over the last year violence has increased in communities in the countries of the Northern Triangle – Guatemala, El Salvador, and Honduras,” Bishop Seitz stated in his Oct. 21 written testimony before the Senate Homeland Security Committee. He advises the U.S. bishops’ conference migration committee, and is on the board of the Catholic Legal Immigration Network.

The U.S. can and must do more to address this refugee crisis, the bishop insisted.

“If we cannot respond justly and humanely to this challenge in our own backyard, then we relinquish our moral leadership and influence globally, where much greater crises are being experienced,” he said.

The surge of migrants coming to the U.S. from El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras peaked in fiscal year 2014, when more than 67,000 children were apprehended at the U.S.-Mexico border according to government data. Many of the migrants are women with children, or unaccompanied children

The numbers were significantly lower in the first half of 2015, although a rise in unaccompanied child migrants in August surpassed the month’s 2014 totals, according to numbers cited by Bishop Seitz.

Many migrants have relied on smugglers to bring them north, suffering horrific abuses along the way. Mothers are also vulnerable, many having suffered physical or emotional trauma and abuse.

The root causes of the migration are many, including economic hardship, gang violence, domestic abuse, and death threats from gangs in the home countries. U.S. bishops have insisted that those fleeing violence be treated as refugees and given asylum.

“The violence is the difference,” Bishop Seitz said, explaining why the migrants come from those three particular countries, which have some of the highest murder rates in the world. El Salvador benefitted from a gang truce a few years ago, but as that fell apart the murder rate there skyrocketed and is on pace to surpass Honduras, which has the worst in the world.

More than 60 percent of the migrants “had legitimate asylum claims” according to a United Nations report, Bishop Seitz said in his testimony.

And although the numbers of migrants to the U.S. are down this fiscal year, that does not mean the overall number of migrants is down, he added. The Obama administration claims its efforts to persuade people against migrating have been successful, but the reality is that a “large part” of the drop is due to Mexico, he explained.

More migrants are now going to neighboring Central American countries, or tried to enter Mexico but were stopped and turned back by authorities. According to the Migration Policy Institute, the bishop said, Mexico has sent back 70 percent more migrants this fiscal year than the previous year, and six times the number of child migrants.

“We have transferred the responsibility of this crisis to others, and in so doing, perhaps we’ve abdicated our own,” the bishop stated.

The U.S. must heed the plea of Pope Francis to see the humanity in migrants, he noted.

In his Sept. 24 address to a joint meeting of Congress, the Pope said that “on this continent, too, thousands of persons are led to travel north in search of a better life for themselves and for their loved ones, in search of greater opportunities.”

“We must not be taken aback by their numbers, but rather view them as persons, seeing their faces and listening to their stories, trying to respond as best we can to their situation. To respond in a way which is always humane, just and fraternal,” he continued.

He cautioned Americans not to “discard whatever proves troublesome” but to “remember the Golden Rule: Do unto others as you would have them do unto you” (Mt 7:12).

The U.S. must also intervene in these Central American countries to address the root causes of migration, Bishop Seitz insisted. Its aid must focus more on protection and migration and less on enforcement.

First, Congress should approve President Obama’s request for $1 billion in foreign aid to the region for fiscal year 2016, he said.

Legislators should also work to improve the administration’s Central American minors program, which allows child residents of the three countries to apply to enter the U.S. as refugees or on humanitarian parole without having to make the journey north.

Currently only 19 of 120 applicants have been approved, Bishop Seitz noted, much less than the U.N.’s figure of 60 percent of migrants having “legitimate asylum claims.”

He said there should also be investment in the region’s groups and projects directly helping the migrants like the Youth Builders project of Catholic Relief Services-El Salvador and other organizations, which provides youth threatened by gangs and unemployment with job training and life skills to be leaders in the community.

In fact, the bishop noted, some of the best programs are the individual youth programs at every Catholic parish in the region. “They have some incredible youth ministry going on,” he said. “I think there might be some way to connect with these organizations.”

The U.S. should make changes to border policy including having a child welfare expert present at processing stations, allowing child migrants a better chance to fully express why they migrated and the abuses they suffered along the way should they be eligible for asylum.

“One of Jesus’ first experiences as an infant was to flee for his life from King Herod with his family to Egypt. Indeed, Jesus Himself was a child migrant fleeing violence,” Bishop Seitz stated in his written testimony.

“The Holy Family is the archetype of the refugee families we see today, both at our border and around the world.”

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U.S. NEWS

Amid calls for reform, a look at stats – and stories – from the U.S. prison system

by Matt Hadro (CNA/EWTN News) • October 25, 2015

(Fresnel via shutterstock.com)

Washington, D.C. — Saul Green wanted to turn his life around.

Green was caught stealing out of a subway station vending machine and charged with larceny 24 years ago. After the judge tossed out the case, he was later sentenced to prison on a crack cocaine conviction.

Following his year in prison, he found employment as a concierge for three months in Washington, D.C. But when his employer wanted to move him to a security guard position, they found out about his prison term and then parted ways with him.

“Ever since that time, it’s been hard,” he told CNA in an interview. He lost his apartment and had to take everything he owned to the streets. Green currently lives in a men’s shelter in Washington, D.C. and is still waiting for calls back from employers after more than 125 interviews for potential jobs.

Green’s story is one example of the struggles ex-prisoners face when they look for a job. For years, Catholic leaders have been calling for criminal justice reform to help avoid similar situations, which can result in homelessness, drug abuse, gang activity, or a return to crime.

Now, the U.S. bishops believe that a new Senate bill is a good first step to achieving reform.

“Our Catholic tradition supports the community’s right to establish and enforce laws that protect people and advance the common good,” stated a recent letter from Archbishop Thomas Wenski of Miami and Sister Donna Markham, OP.

“But our faith also teaches us that both victims and offenders have a God-given dignity that calls for justice and restoration, not vengeance,” they continued.

Archbishop Wenski chairs the U.S. bishops’ committee on Domestic Justice and Human Development. Sister Donna Markham is the president and CEO of Catholic Charities, USA.

Their letter, sent to Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), who chairs the Senate Judiciary Committee, and Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), ranking member of the committee, applauds the Senate’s Sentencing Reform and Corrections Act.

It hails the bill as a “modest bipartisan first step” in criminal justice reform, praising it overall while finding the addition of some new mandatory minimum sentences “problematic.”

The bill is “comprehensive,” according to Anthony Granado, a policy advisor to the U.S. Bishops Conference on issues involving civil rights and the death penalty.

“We need to move away from this mentality of punishment for its own sake and look at smarter sentencing, smarter ways of doing incarceration that in the end, not only protect society, but also lift up human life and dignity,” he told CNA.

Reform of the criminal justice system has now become a thoroughly bipartisan initiative. Presidential candidates from both parties have talked about the issue. The new Senate bill enjoys three co-sponsors from each party.

Some reform advocates believe that a push for tougher stances on crime in the 1980s and ‘90s culminated with a legal system that houses too many prisoners for too long a time and at unnecessary expense to society.

The U.S. has 5 percent of the world’s overall population but 25 percent of the prison population. The federal prison population has seen a 790 percent increase since 1980, according to the Congressional Research Service.

And minorities are more likely to be behind bars, another reason why advocates insist upon reform of the justice system. One in nine black children has a father in prison, according to 2009 statistics from The Pew Charitable Trusts. Over a third of young black males without high school diplomas are in jail. One in three black males born now will at some point serve time in jail.

“Really, I think, what the bishops have been saying for quite a while now is it’s a long-overdue conversation in our country about how to fix our broken criminal justice system,” Granado said, “one that promotes mass incarceration, particularly for poor individuals, minorities.”

“This (bill) is a step in the right direction,” he added.

As a first step in a reform initiative, the Senate bill addresses sentencing reform but also anti-recidivism programs and solitary confinement reform.

The bill cuts some mandatory minimum sentences for many non-violent and low-level drug offenders, while at the same time adding other mandatory minimums. Some of the mandated sentences stretch to 15 or even 25 years.

Debi Campbell, a Virginia resident who testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee about the bill on Monday, argued that she deserved jail time for using and selling methamphetamine with her husband in the 1990s – but not almost 20 years, which was her sentence.

One of her clients had gone to the police, and Campbell was charged with conspiracy to sell 10 kilos of meth. “I never even saw that much drugs, much less sold it,” she said in her written testimony, but she was being charged for both her own crimes and those of her clients, plus for their allegations made against her.

Campbell pled guilty in 1994 and received a 10-year mandatory minimum sentence, plus an extra sentence of almost 10 additional years. Her client received probation in return for being an informant.

“I needed to go to prison because I desperately needed a wake-up call,” she said in her testimony. “But I did not need nearly 20 years in prison to learn my lesson.”

“The worst part was not being able to be with my four daughters,” she said. “I had already failed them once, and now they were growing up in the foster care system.”

Mandatory minimums “don’t really take into account” the particular circumstances of a person’s case, Granado said. “They’ve been applied so disproportionately, particularly for non-violent offenses.”

The bishops oppose “one size fits all” laws like that because they don’t deal with the “subsidiarity” of taking each human case as it comes, he added.

The proposed bill also expands “safety valves” to give judges more flexibility in determining whether a defendant merits less than the mandatory minimum sentence. Those with a serious drug offense or a violent offense would not be eligible.

In addition, the bill reduces the penalty in the federal three-strike law from life imprisonment to 25 years for drug offenders. The three-strike law applies when a person is convicted of a “serious violent felony” and has been previously convicted twice in federal or state court of a “serious violent felony” and another offense, which can be a “serious drug offense.”

The legislation also encourages prisoners to participate in “anti-recidivism programs” which can reduce their sentences. These programs would include job-training, mental health counseling, and drug treatment, which Granado argues helps get to the root of the problem of why they’re in prison.

Preventing recidivism – a return to prison for someone who has been released – is critical, Granado insisted. However, it is “very difficult for these persons to find jobs,” he said.

Unemployment is the biggest cause of recidivism, maintains Judith Conti of the National Employment Law Project. She advocates for persons who cannot get a job because of their previous criminal record. The best-case scenario for a former inmate who is unemployed, she says, is that he receives public benefits.

The worst-case scenario – and all too common – is that he reverts back to crime.

“They’ve paid their debt to society,” Granado said. “It makes no sense to return a person to the community with no assistance, just so they can go back and commit crime.”

Yet despite support from churches, friends, and organizations, such assistance may not be enough for an ex-inmate to land a job, as exemplified by the story of Saul Green. Reform advocates say serious efforts are needed to turn things around.

On another note, the proposed Senate bill contains “strong regulations and restrictions” on solitary confinement for juveniles, Granado said.

Bernard Kerik, former police commissioner for New York City who pled guilty to tax evasion and fraudulent statements in 2009 and served three years in prison, spent 60 days in solitary confinement.

“That 60 days, to me, was like 10 years,” he described it in a speech at the Heritage Foundation in May. Kerik said that during his time in solitary, he started hallucinating and talking to himself. To pass the time he would count everything – “the number of bedsprings, steps, cracks in the walls, lines and mudsplats on the windows.”

He said that after spending time in solitary, someone will “admit to anything … to get out of that cell.”

The proposed Senate bill enacts “modest” reform, and Granado says that this should be rooted in the “Golden Rule” of the Gospel of St. Matthew, which Pope Francis referenced before Congress: “Do to others whatever you would have them do to you. (Mt. 7:12).”

When so many are tempted to say of prisoners “lock them up and throw away the key,” we must treat them as we would want to be treated, he insisted. The teaching “goes back to the classical Greek thought of Aristotle, it’s been a part of the Church’s social teaching going back to day one.”

Pope Francis “reminds us that we’re all capable of committing grave sin and evil, but at the end, we’re redeemed by Christ’s love,” Granado added, “through the Cross and the Resurrection.”

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How one U.S. archdiocese is revamping its marriage prep program

by Kevin Jones (CNA/EWTN News) • October 26, 2015

(John Hope via Flickr CC BY 2.0)

New Orleans, LA — Aiming to provide uniform spiritual and social support for engaged couples, the Archdiocese of New Orleans has made several changes to its marriage preparation process.

“It’s such a beautiful way for parishes to serve the people who are approaching marriage,” said Father Garrett O’Brien, a priest of the New Orleans archdiocese who headed the committee that recommended the changes.

He said marriage preparation communicates to engaged couples “that we care about your living the faith.”

“We care about your married vocation. This is a call from God and we want young people approaching marriage to realize that they are supported and embraced and that they have a family with which to live their God-given vocation,” Fr. O’Brien told CNA Oct. 26.

The archdiocese’s new guidelines are intended to provide a more consistent way for engaged couples to interact with their priest or deacon.

The guidelines call for at least two meetings between a priest or deacon and the engaged couple six to eight months before they marry. The archdiocese’s one-day program for the engaged has been expanded to two separate days so that the couple will have time to discuss what they have learned and heard.

The guidelines place a particular emphasis on the sacramental nature of marriage and aim to enhance the presentation of natural family planning. The guidelines were adopted July 26, the Feast of Saints Ann and Joachim, the Virgin Mary’s parents.

New Orleans Archbishop Gregory Aymond wanted a system that would “encourage people to plug in to their home parishes,” Fr. O’Brien said. The archdiocese hopes marriage preparation will help an engaged couple begin a relationship with the priest who will be serving them in the future. Marriage preparation is also a way to build relationships with parishioners who will support their married life.

“Marriage preparation is important because first of all it is a gift from God,” Fr. O’Brien said. Marriage is “something that Christ himself saw as fitting for the living out of the Christian vocation, the life of family, the life of husband and wife.”

Fr. O’Brien said that because God gave marriage as a sacrament, “it’s necessary to understand what kind of gift that is.” The priest also noted the modern context of broken homes and families who have struggled in a society with “confusion about what marriage is.”

“There are many ways to become confused and find yourself off-track not only about what marriage is in a general sense, but what God’s plan for marriage is,” he continued.

Marriage preparation is “an opportunity to go deeper” and to look more intently at what marriage is and why Catholics believe what they do about marriage “so we can not only live it but defend it,” Fr. O’Brien said.

The changes to the archdiocese’s marriage preparation followed a survey all of the parishes and priests to determine their present practices and their hopes for changes in the future.

Some parishes reported that they experienced engaged couples “shopping around” different churches to find marriage preparation policies that suit them best.

The new changes sought to create reasonable uniformity in marriage preparation.

Since the new guidelines have been announced, the response has been generally positive, Fr. O’Brien reported.

Responses to the changes have stressed the need for a robust marriage preparation process that is “very sensitive” not to overburden engaged couples.

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Ahead of Florida execution, bishops renew calls against death penalty

by CNA/EWTN News • October 27, 2015

Florida Department of Corrections execution chamber. (Florida Department of Corrections)

Tallahassee, FL — Stressing that capital punishment is not necessary in the modern-day U.S., Florida’s Catholic bishops have asked the state governor to commute the death sentence of inmate Jerry Correll, who is scheduled to be executed Thursday.

“Everyone, even people who have caused great harm, possess a human dignity that is sacred. State-sanctioned killing is unwarranted, promotes vengeance rather than justice, and reinforces a growing disrespect for the sacredness of all human life,” the Florida Conference of Catholic Bishops said Oct. 27.

They appealed to Florida Gov. Rick Scott to commute the sentence to life in prison without parole.

“Spending the remainder of one’s life in prison is a severe punishment, which allows for the prospect of conversion for the sinner and the opportunity to forgive the aggressors wrong doings.”

Correll was convicted in the 1985 murders of his ex-wife, their five-year-old daughter, and his ex-wife’s mother and sister.

His execution had been scheduled for February but was delayed pending a U.S. Supreme Court decision about the use of the drug midazolam in executions, the Orlando Sentinel reports. The court approved the use of the drug in July.

Florida’s bishops said Correll deserved “a just punishment” but not execution. They cited Pope Francis’ call for an end to the death penalty in his Sept. 24 address to a joint meeting of Congress during his U.S. visit.

The Pope had said “a just and necessary punishment must never exclude the dimension of hope.”

The bishops added: “through advances in our penal system, the state can keep society safe from an aggressor and justice can be served without resorting to the deliberate taking of a person’s life.”

Twenty-two inmates have been executed since Gov. Scott took office, the most executions under any Florida governor since 1976.

Florida’s bishops also announced multiple Catholic and interfaith prayer vigils against the death penalty in the week ahead of the scheduled execution.

They said Catholics and others will pray for both the victims and the aggressor, as well as for their families. They will pray “for our society which continues to impose violence in return for violence, and for an end to the use of the death penalty.”

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New Mexico priest, seminarians soup up car for vocations

by Mary Rezac (CNA/EWTN News) • October 28, 2015

The 1972 Chevy Chevelle SS being raffled off to support the Diocese of Gallup’s vocations office in the Sacred Heart Cathedral garage, c. Oct. 10, 2015. (V8s for Vocations)

Gallup, N.M. — Father Matthew Keller has always been kind of a car guy.

“Actually, a lot of a car guy,” he told CNA, laughing.

He went to technical school as a teenager – “vocational school, funny enough” – and has worked on cars with his dad and brother-in-law since he was young.

But when he decided to enter the seminary, he sold his “hot-rod” car, thinking he would have to leave that passion behind him.

Now a priest and the vocations director for the Diocese of Gallup, Fr. Keller was looking for a community building project for seminarians when some friends suggested he rediscover his old hobby and restore a car with them.

“The idea sort of got floated around that this would be a fraternity building, human formation kind of project, and then the idea came to me – I have a marketing background – and I was like wow, this would be a great fundraiser for the vocations office,” he said.

That’s when the idea for the project, “V8s for Vocations” was born. Father and the Gallup seminarians would restore a car together and raffle it off, with all of the money from each $25 ticket going towards the funding of seminarian education in the diocese.

Father started asking around, and within a week, a high school buddy of his had located a car that fit the bill.

“It was a ‘72 Chevelle, kind of like a muscle car,” Fr. Keller said. “We found a donor right away that bought it, and gave it to us to start working on.”

With the help of donated equipment, the three-car garage at the back of Sacred Heart Cathedral quickly converted into a functioning mechanics shop where seminarians and car enthusiasts, Catholics and non-Catholics alike, started popping by to help revamp the Chevelle.

“There’s some men that would come to the garage on the back side of the church that wouldn’t necessarily come through the front doors, and they’re spending hours and hours with these men,” Father said. “And it’s their way of contributing and being a part of something for God.”

“It’s that whole thing that Pope Francis is asking of us – to go to the periphery,” he added.

He’s even been approached for confession in the shop.

“It became this really surprising rallying point for evangelization, and I just didn’t see that coming.”

The project started over a year ago in June 2014, and the crew is starting to feel the pressure of the fast-approaching deadline for the raffle, which is December 12, the feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe.

The date coincides with a lot of important things – this year is the 75th anniversary of the Diocese of Gallup, the 60th anniversary of its Sacred Heart Cathedral, and the day of diaconate ordinations.

One important part of the raffle – the winners will not have to pay the taxes on their new car.

“We raffled a new car at a former parish of mine for World Youth Day, and the people that won it couldn’t afford to keep it because they couldn’t pay the taxes on it,” Fr. Keller said.

“It was really disappointing for me to see that happen, so there’s a way to do it in New Mexico where the person doing the raffle can pay the taxes, so the winners walk away with the prize for $25.”

They’re close to being done with the car and are getting ready to put on the finishing touches: namely, the very fitting black and white paint.

The seminarians also worked hard to make sure that putting the body back on the frame of the car coincided with a vocations retreat at the seminary, so that the visiting young men considering the priesthood would have a chance to work on the car with them.

Working on projects together, like building a car, is something that speaks to young people, Fr. Keller said.

“I think they’re looking to be engaged in a way that helps them to be fully alive,” he said, “and they’re deprived of some of that by a culture that overemphasizes individualism.”

“When they get to be part of something collective, even the retreat itself, a coming together for the purpose of giving God glory and praying for vocations, it awakens something in them that might not be being fed,” he added.

The fundraiser also contained an important personal lesson for Father.

“I went to seminary, thinking those interests were things that I had to put behind me,” he said.

“But nevertheless, there was a reason for those interests, and God knew that.”

“He knew that years down the road that we’d be using cars to build the kingdom. That was a huge lesson, just for me personally, not to forget that God takes all of our gifts and our talents and our interests and puts them to use.”

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U.S. NEWS

Advocates chide U.S. – stop ignoring religiously-motivated violence

by Matt Hadro (CNA/EWTN News) • October 28, 2015

The U.S. Capitol building at sunset. (vgm8383 via Flickr CC BY-NC 2.0)

Washington, D.C. — The U.S. must recognize all causes of religious freedom abuses around the world – including religious motivations where they exist, experts told members of Congress Tuesday.

“This is a case that we make again and again and again, and that is that many of our most serious foreign policy and defense challenges have a key religious component to that, and we cannot hope to solve these problems if we do not address the religious dimension to these crises,” said Dr. Katrina Lantos Swett, commissioner of the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom.

“Too often in the foreign ministries, our State Department and the other foreign ministries prefer other explanations that seem somehow more rational to them, but the world is as it is, and so we cannot succeed without addressing these religious freedoms,” she added in an interview with CNA.

It is “very important to not fall into the trap of thinking religious freedom abuses are always the result of, say, poverty. Because they’re not,” stressed Princeton University law professor Robert George, who chairs the commission, an independent government watchdog that advises the State Department.

George testified before the House Global Human Rights subcommittee on Oct. 27, along with the U.S. Ambassador at-Large for International Religious Freedom, Rabbi David Saperstein, on the “global crisis of religious freedom.”

“International religious freedom is in jeopardy,” George told CNA, noting that 75 percent of the world’s population lives in countries where freedom of religion is restricted by the government or is threatened by social unrest.

The abuses “are legion,” he said. He pointed to problems in North Korea, an “Atheist-Marxist” Chinese government’s crackdown on dissidents, a “theocracy” in Iran persecuting those who don’t believe “their particular interpretation of Shia Islam,” abuses in Saudi Arabia and Pakistan, and non-state actors committing grave human rights abuses in Iraq, Syria, and Nigeria.

“It’s a bleak situation, and so that means we need to redouble our efforts and rededicate ourselves to religious freedom,” he continued.

When asked if the global situation has improved in the last year, Swett answered bluntly, “No.” The world is “on fire” with abuses of religious freedom, she insisted.

Saperstein admitted to “daunting, alarming, and growing challenges to religious freedom around the world” in his testimony, but maintained that the State Department is improving its response in promoting religious freedom abroad since he took over his ambassador position in 2014.

As an example, he pointed to the appointment of Knox Thames as the State Department’s new Special Advisor for Religious Minorities in the Near East and South/Central Asia.

“It used to be a fight to talk with the government” over the importance of global religious freedom, Saperstein said, but added that he is “heartened to find” that is no longer the case.

“Is it still clumsy for many people? Yes. These are very hard issues to deal with in an effective manner,” he acknowledged of the agency’s efforts to promote global religious freedom.

But George said there is still more work to be done in improving how the U.S. responds to global abuses of religious freedom.

For instance, the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom recommends yearly that the State Department designate certain countries as “countries of particular concern,” (CPCs) or countries where severe and ongoing abuses of religious freedom are taking place and the government is supporting them or not stopping them.

These designations carry possible consequences like economic sanctions or a bilateral agreement with the governments of those countries.

However, the State Department does not always act on USCIRF’s recommendations.

The process “loses credibility” if “designations are erratic”, which they have been, George claimed, adding that the designations should be “made annually” by the State Department.

He recommended Congress pass legislation that requires annual CPC designations by the State Department.

In his testimony, Saperstein promised the process would improve.

“I am pushing very hard to revamp the way that we do this,” he said. “I do not think that we’re going to have this problem in the future.”

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U.S. NEWS

Princeton love and marriage event expects record-breaking attendance

by CNA/EWTN News • October 28, 2015

(Unsplash/Catholic News Agency)

Princeton, N.J. — College students from across the country will gather in record-breaking numbers to attend a high-powered conference on love, marriage and fidelity this weekend – and a free webcast means anyone can follow along.

“This conference is an opportunity for students from across the country to interact directly with some of the leading thinkers in the movement to enhance our nation’s understanding of sex and marriage,” Caitlin La Ruffa, director of the Love and Fidelity Network, said Oct. 28.

“It is incredibly inspiring to know so many undergraduates are hungry to learn more and be witnesses back home in their own communities,” La Ruffa continued. She added that students “see first-hand the destructive impact of the sexual revolution on their campuses.”

The Princeton, N.J.-based Love and Fidelity Network promotes marriage and sexual integrity at colleges. The network provides leadership training to students and offers funding for campus initiatives. The network aims to help students uphold marriage, the special role of the family and sexual integrity in their communities.

The network’s conference, titled “Sexuality, Integrity and the University,” will be held at Princeton University Oct. 30-31. Over 300 students and alumni from over 40 colleges and universities will attend.

The conference will discuss historic trends that created contemporary culture, such as no-fault divorce. It will explore contemporary controversies like third-party reproduction and transgenderism.

Keynote speakers are Helen Alvare, a law professor who serves as a consultor for the Pontifical Council of the Laity; and W. Bradford Wilcox, director of the National Marriage Project at the University of Virginia. Other speakers include Princeton law professor Robert P. George, Dawn Hawkins of the National Center on Sexual Exploitation, and Jennifer Lahl of the Center for Bioethics and Culture Network.

La Ruffa said the conference is particularly important given the Supreme Court decision on marriage this year.

The conference will begin Oct. 30 at 7:30 p.m. Eastern Time. It can be accessed via livestream at the webpage loveandfidelity.org/live.

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FEATURES

Preaching the Strange Word

by Bishop Robert Barron • October 27, 2015

About fifteen years ago, I prepared an elective class at Mundelein Seminary which I entitled “The Christology of the Poets and Preachers.” In this course, I endeavored to explore the Catholic tradition’s non-technical, more lyrical manner of presenting the significance of Jesus. I studied the literary works of Dante, Gerard Manley Hopkins, and G.K. Chesterton, and I also investigated in detail the sermons of many of the greatest masters: Origen, Augustine, Chrysostom, Bernard, Aquinas, Newman, and Knox, among others. What struck me with particular power, and caused me, I confess, to re-think things rather thoroughly was this: none of these figures — from the late second century to the twentieth century — whose sermons we specially revere and hold up for imitation, preached the way I was taught to preach.

I came of age and went through my theological and pastoral formation in the years immediately following the Second Vatican Council. The watchwords of the time were “relevance” and “experience.” Practically every teacher and Church leader of the time insisted that our theological language had become increasingly irrelevant to modern people and that we had to find, accordingly, a way to relate the Bible to lived human experience. In line with instincts that go back at least to the beginning of the 19th century within Protestantism, we felt obliged to engage in a great “translation project,” transposing the obscure and puzzling world of the Scriptures into the language and conceptuality of our time. The consequences of this shift for preaching were obvious. Sermons should be filled with references to the actual lived experiences of the congregation; they should be marked by stories and cultural references; and they should use a good deal of humor. Now don’t get me wrong: the emphases of the post-conciliar period were not entirely misplaced, and the sermons that came out of that time were not entirely bad. But they were indeed egregious when seen in the context of the great tradition. It’s simply the case that none of the master preachers that Catholicism reverences actually preached in that way.

How did they preach? They took their listeners/readers on a careful tour of the densely-textured world of the Bible. The Scriptures, they knew, open up an entirely new acting area, filled with distinctive characters who do and say anomalous and surprising things. And they understood that through all of the twists and turns of the Biblical story, the strangest and most unnerving character of all comes into view: the God of Israel. To get these figures and to grasp the nettle of the great story, one has to enter into the jungle of the Bible with patience and under the direction of an experienced and canny explorer. And this was precisely the role of the preacher: to be a mystagogue, a knowing guide through the tangled forest of the Scripture.

I might propose an analogy with some well-known literary texts. Umberto Eco’s novel The Name of the Rose is a wonderful amalgam of detective story, Bildungsroman, and metaphysical exploration; and it commences with a lengthy description of life in a fourteenth century Benedictine monastery. To those who questioned why this lengthy propaedeutic was required, Eco said, “my reader must go through a sort of monastic novitiate if he is to understand the story I’m trying to tell.” J.R.R. Tolkien’s masterpiece The Lord of the Rings, which is a rollicking adventure story and an evocation of the Catholic faith, begins with about 75 pages describing the birthday party of Bilbo Baggins. When Tolkien was challenged on this score, he responded in a manner very similar to Eco: his reader, he explained, had to learn the languages, characters, weather, topography, and history of his imaginative world; otherwise they would never get what Tolkien was trying to communicate. Though he never said so explicitly, we could deduce the same principle from Melville’s lengthy (even tiresome) detailing of the arcana of whaling in the middle of Moby Dick. We might sum this up as follows: entering the world of a text is required if one is to understand the thematics of a text.

So a good preacher unfolds the patterns of meaning within the Biblical universe — precisely so as to draw our world into that world. The fundamental problem with much of the preaching after Vatican II is that it got this principle backward. It tended to make the Bible accessible to our consciousness and thereby tamed it and domesticated it, often turning it into a faint echo of what could be heard in any other religious text or within the culture itself. But if what the preacher is offering what can be found, often in more compelling form, elsewhere, people will leave the Church in droves.

The Methodist theologian Stanley Hauerwas relates a story of his time as Gifford Lecturer in Scotland. He had been invited to preach at the Cathedral of Edinburgh and discovered a practice that went back to the Reformation period: a sexton of the Cathedral literally locked Hauerwas into the pulpit and told him that he wouldn’t let him out until he had preached the Gospel! Now I don’t entirely subscribe to the sixteenth century Protestant idea of what the Gospel is, but I love the instinct behind that discipline. We shouldn’t allow preachers to run away from the density, complexity, and sheer weirdness of the Bible. We should lock them into their pulpits until they display the world of the Scriptures!

Bishop Robert Barron is an auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese of Los Angeles and the founder of Word on Fire Catholic Ministries (wordonfire.org). He is the creator of two award-winning documentary series, Catholicism and Catholicism: The New Evangelization.

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FEATURES

Days of Special Remembrance

by Sr. Joan L. Roccasalvo, C.S.J. • October 28, 2015

As October makes way for November, the feasts of All Saints and All Souls bring home in a special way our belief that nothing and no one is ever finally lost. These are days designed to remember in prayer our deceased and sainted loved ones.

Feast of All Saints

In the early Church when it was a crime to be a Christian, a crime punishable by death, the word saint and martyr were synonymous. Such a person had been persecuted, tortured, and put to death for the faith. The bodies of these martyr-saints were buried in places where the Eucharist could be celebrated with the Christian community to inspire those who would come after them. This is why the main altar where the Eucharist is celebrated has a saint’s relic imbedded in it.

In the eighth century, the feast day of martyr-saints was changed to November 1st. Eventually Christians who had led lives of heroic virtue were often acclaimed and canonized after their death by the local church. Today canonizations take place because every age calls men and women to new struggles that require heroic virtue.

The feast of All Saints recognizes all holy men and women of God whose names remain largely unknown. It must be quite an arabesque of color.

The saints in heaven intercede not only for those in purgatory but also the faithful on earth who have honored the saints in heaven and sought their intercession.

Honoring the saints means imitating the virtues these saints represent. This is the reason for naming a child after a saint at the time of christening. Biblical names remain popular.

On the feast of All Saints, the gospel reading is that of the Beatitudes, each, beginning with “Blessed.” The gospel verse reads: “Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened, and I will give you rest, says the Lord” (Mt 11:28).

Feast of All Souls

Praying for the dead is an ancient custom that dates back to the Hebrew Scriptures: “It is a holy and wholesome thought to pray for the dead that they may be loosed from their sins” (2 Maccabees 12:43-46). St. Augustine (d 430) is one of the earliest saints to mention the practice of offering the Eucharist for the Dead. The feast has been officially celebrated since the eleventh century.

The Entrance Antiphon for this feast reads as follows: “Just as Jesus died and has risen again, so through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep; and as in Adam all die, so also in Christ will all be brought to life” (1 Thess 4:14; 1 Cor 15:22).

The theology and the celebration of the two feasts emphasize the bond between those Christians already with God, those saints-in-waiting, and the faith on earth. The feasts point to our ultimate goal — to be with God.

The Daily Remembrance of the Communion of Saints

It is not as though the Church sets aside two days each year to remember our deceased loved ones. This remembrance happens at every Eucharistic liturgy. Through the power of the Holy Spirit, the Communion of Saints brings us all together as one body, the body of the faithful on earth, the faithful in purgatory, and the faithful in heaven. This arabesque intertwines in a spectrum of color to make up the Communion of Saints.

In the Canon of the Mass, several commemorations are made. First, the intentions of the living are remembered. This is followed by recalling the memory of Mary and Joseph, and the apostles. The Lord’s Paschal Mystery is recalled followed by the commemoration of the Dead in these words: “Remember also, Lord, your servants [N.] and [N.] who have gone before us with the sign of faith and rest in the sleep of peace. Grant them, O Lord, we pray, and all who sleep in Christ, a place of refreshment, light, and peace.”

Finally …

On November 1st and 2nd, memories of our deceased loved ones fill our hearts in a special way. So many encounters recalled, laughter, tears, hopes and fears, good wishes, disappointments, expressions of love — all fixed in our memories and brought to life, if for a few moments. Praying to our loved ones and for them manifests the common life we all share together in this beautiful mystery, the Communion of Saints.

In every Eucharistic liturgy, heaven and earth are joined together calling us to live fully in the present age in anticipation of the next. As God’s pilgrim people, we are daily united with those who have preceded us: our loved ones, sainted women and men, known and unknown, who pray with us in the heavenly court.

Sr. Joan L. Roccasalvo, a member of the Congregation of St. Joseph, Brentwood, NY, holds degrees in philosophy (Ph.L.), musicology (Ph.D.), theology (M.A.), and liturgical studies (Ph.D.). She has taught at all levels of Catholic education and writes with a particular focus on a theology of beauty and the sacred arts. Her e-mail address is jroccasalvo@optonline.net.

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FEATURES

All Saint’s Day includes every man and woman of goodwill

by Msgr. M. Francis Mannion • October 29, 2015

The month of November opens with the celebration of one of the richest feasts of the liturgical year, the Solemnity of All Saints. On this day, the Church celebrates the festival of God’s holy city and the redeemed citizenry of heaven.

The feast of All Saints celebrates all those who lived in the model of Christ and inspired their fellow men and women in a remarkable way. The saints made a great difference in the world, and even now they continue to inspire us to do great things.

The saints are not simply nice decorations in the world of Christian spirituality. A struggling humanity needs their example and inspiration desperately.

Gerald Vann, a 20th century English spiritual writer, puts this well when he writes: “For the church is, and has always been, a net that has caught all sorts of fish. She is, and has always been, a strange combination of the drab and the magnificent, the squalid and the heroic, the shabby and the beautiful. Her garden has produced both weeds and flowers. The saints are the flowers, and we must admit that without them the sanctity of the Church would not be very much in evidence. It is through them that Christ’s light shines to the nations, and it is in them that Christians see what holiness really means. It is no wonder then that the Church takes pride in those noble examples of Christian living, and boldly proclaims their greatness to the world.”

The saintly men and women do not exist in a world beyond or disconnected from ours, but are part of the very fabric of our existence. The modern person likes to think that he or she is self-made. But the fact is, we are what we are because of those who have gone before us. We are brought to birth by others. We are formed by the spiritual inheritance of other generations. We live our lives happily only in community and our lives are profitable only when directed to the up — building of the human community. We are saved and brought to final fulfillment not by anything we ourselves are able to do — but by the God of mercy and redemption, and through the assistance of countless others in the spiritual community of God’s people.

The saints exist for us and with us. We venerate them not as distant historical figures but as brothers and sisters with whom we are joined in a living communion.

The great French writer Paul Claudel pointed out that the treasures of all the saints are at our disposal. “All the saints and the angels belong to us. We can use the intelligence of St. Thomas, the right arm of St. Michael, the hearts of Joan of Arc and Catherine of Siena, and all the hidden resources which have only to be touched to be set in action. … The heroism of the missionary, the inspiration of the Doctors of the Church, the generosity of the martyrs, the genius of the artists, the burning prayer of the Poor Clares and Carmelites — it is as if all that were ourselves; it is ourselves.”

Like all great feasts of the liturgical year, the Solemnity of All Saints is a celebration of the Church living in history now. The stories of the saints are our stories, and our own little stories are ennobled and exalted by becoming part of the great Christian story. In this truth we should find great hope and encouragement.

Msgr. Mannion is pastor emeritus of St. Vincent de Paul parish in Salt Lake City. He holds a Ph.D. in sacramental theology from The Catholic University of America. He was founding president of The Society for Catholic Liturgy in 1995 and the founding editor of the Society’s journal, Antiphon. At the invitation of Cardinal Francis George of Chicago he founded the Mundelein Liturgical Institute in 2000.

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SUNDAY • NOVEMBER 1, 2015

Solemnity of All Saints

First Reading (Rv 7:2-4, 9-14; NRSVCE)

I, John, saw another angel ascending from the rising of the sun, having the seal of the living God, and he called with a loud voice to the four angels who had been given power to damage earth and sea, saying, “Do not damage the earth or the sea or the trees, until we have marked the servants of our God with a seal on their foreheads.”

And I heard the number of those who were sealed, one hundred forty-four thousand, sealed out of every tribe of the people of Israel.

After this I looked, and there was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, robed in white, with palm branches in their hands. They cried out in a loud voice, saying,

“Salvation belongs to our God who is seated on the throne, and to the Lamb!”

And all the angels stood around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures, and they fell on their faces before the throne and worshiped God, singing,

“Amen! Blessing and glory and wisdom

and thanksgiving and honor

and power and might

be to our God forever and ever! Amen.”

Then one of the elders addressed me, saying, “Who are these, robed in white, and where have they come from?” I said to him, “Sir, you are the one that knows.” Then he said to me, “These are they who have come out of the great ordeal; they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.”

Second Reading (1 Jn 3:1-3; NRSVCE)

See what love the Father has given us, that we should be called children of God; and that is what we are. The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him. Beloved, we are God’s children now; what we will be has not yet been revealed. What we do know is this: when he is revealed, we will be like him, for we will see him as he is. And all who have this hope in him purify themselves, just as he is pure.

Gospel Reading (Mt 5:1-12a; NRSVCE)

When Jesus saw the crowds, he went up the mountain; and after he sat down, his disciples came to him. Then he began to speak, and taught them, saying:

“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

“Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.

“Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.

“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.

“Blessed are the merciful, for they will receive mercy.

“Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.

“Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.

“Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

“Blessed are you when people revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven.”

MONDAY • NOVEMBER 2, 2015

Commemoration of All the Faithful Departed

First Reading (Wis 3:1-9; NRSVCE)

But the souls of the righteous are in the hand of God,

and no torment will ever touch them.

In the eyes of the foolish they seemed to have died,

and their departure was thought to be a disaster,

and their going from us to be their destruction;

but they are at peace.

For though in the sight of others they were punished,

their hope is full of immortality.

Having been disciplined a little, they will receive great good,

because God tested them and found them worthy of himself;

like gold in the furnace he tried them,

and like a sacrificial burnt offering he accepted them.

In the time of their visitation they will shine forth,

and will run like sparks through the stubble.

They will govern nations and rule over peoples,

and the Lord will reign over them forever.

Those who trust in him will understand truth,

and the faithful will abide with him in love,

because grace and mercy are upon his holy ones,

and he watches over his elect.

Second Reading (Rom 5:5-11; NRSVCE)

Hope does not disappoint us, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us.

For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. Indeed, rarely will anyone die for a righteous person — though perhaps for a good person someone might actually dare to die. But God proves his love for us in that while we still were sinners Christ died for us. Much more surely then, now that we have been justified by his blood, will we be saved through him from the wrath of God. For if while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of his Son, much more surely, having been reconciled, will we be saved by his life. But more than that, we even boast in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.

Gospel Reading (Jn 6:37-40; NRSVCE)

Jesus said to the crowd, “Everything that the Father gives me will come to me, and anyone who comes to me I will never drive away; for I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will, but the will of him who sent me. And this is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me, but raise it up on the last day. This is indeed the will of my Father, that all who see the Son and believe in him may have eternal life; and I will raise them up on the last day.”

TUESDAY • NOVEMBER 3, 2015

Tuesday of the Thirty-first Week in Ordinary Time

First Reading (Rom 12:5-16ab; NRSVCE)

We, who are many, are one body in Christ, and individually we are members one of another. We have gifts that differ according to the grace given to us: prophecy, in proportion to faith; ministry, in ministering; the teacher, in teaching; the exhorter, in exhortation; the giver, in generosity; the leader, in diligence; the compassionate, in cheerfulness.

Let love be genuine; hate what is evil, hold fast to what is good; love one another with mutual affection; outdo one another in showing honor. Do not lag in zeal, be ardent in spirit, serve the Lord. Rejoice in hope, be patient in suffering, persevere in prayer. Contribute to the needs of the saints; extend hospitality to strangers.

Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse them. Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep. Live in harmony with one another; do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly.

Gospel Reading (Lk 14:15-24; NRSVCE)

One of the dinner guests said to Jesus, “Blessed is anyone who will eat bread in the kingdom of God!” Then Jesus said to him, “Someone gave a great dinner and invited many. At the time for the dinner he sent his slave to say to those who had been invited, ‘Come; for everything is ready now.’ But they all alike began to make excuses. The first said to him, ‘I have bought a piece of land, and I must go out and see it; please accept my regrets.’ Another said, ‘I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I am going to try them out; please accept my regrets.’ Another said, ‘I have just been married, and therefore I cannot come.’ So the slave returned and reported this to his master. Then the owner of the house became angry and said to his slave, ‘Go out at once into the streets and lanes of the town and bring in the poor, the crippled, the blind, and the lame.’ And the slave said, ‘Sir, what you ordered has been done, and there is still room.’ Then the master said to the slave, ‘Go out into the roads and lanes, and compel people to come in, so that my house may be filled. For I tell you, none of those who were invited will taste my dinner.’”

WEDNESDAY • NOVEMBER 4, 2015

Memorial of Saint Charles Borromeo

First Reading (Rom 13:8-10; NRSVCE)

Owe no one anything, except to love one another; for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law. The commandments, “You shall not commit adultery; You shall not murder; You shall not steal; You shall not covet”; and any other commandment, are summed up in this word, “Love your neighbor as yourself.” Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore, love is the fulfilling of the law.

Gospel Reading (Lk 14:25-33; NRSVCE)

Now large crowds were traveling with Jesus, and he turned and said to them, “Whoever comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and even life itself, cannot be my disciple. Whoever does not carry the cross and follow me cannot be my disciple. For which of you, intending to build a tower, does not first sit down and estimate the cost, to see whether he has enough to complete it? Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish, all who see it will begin to ridicule him, saying, ‘This fellow began to build and was not able to finish.’ Or what king, going out to wage war against another king, will not sit down first and consider whether he is able with ten thousand to oppose the one who comes against him with twenty thousand? If he cannot, then, while the other is still far away, he sends a delegation and asks for the terms of peace. So therefore, none of you can become my disciple if you do not give up all your possessions.”

THURSDAY • NOVEMBER 5, 2015

Thursday of the Thirty-first Week in Ordinary Time

First Reading (Rom 14:7-12; NRSVCE)

We do not live to ourselves, and we do not die to ourselves. If we live, we live to the Lord, and if we die, we die to the Lord; so then, whether we live or whether we die, we are the Lord’s. For to this end Christ died and lived again, so that he might be Lord of both the dead and the living.

Why do you pass judgment on your brother or sister? Or you, why do you despise your brother or sister? For we will all stand before the judgment seat of God. For it is written,

“As I live, says the Lord, every knee shall bow to me,

and every tongue shall give praise to God.”

So then, each of us will be accountable to God.

Gospel Reading (Lk 15:1-10; NRSVCE)

Now all the tax collectors and sinners were coming near to listen to Jesus. And the Pharisees and the scribes were grumbling and saying, “This fellow welcomes sinners and eats with them.”

So he told them this parable: “Which one of you, having a hundred sheep and losing one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness and go after the one that is lost until he finds it? When he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders and rejoices. And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and neighbors, saying to them, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep that was lost.’ Just so, I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance.

“Or what woman having ten silver coins, if she loses one of them, does not light a lamp, sweep the house, and search carefully until she finds it? When she has found it, she calls together her friends and neighbors, saying, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found the coin that I had lost.’ Just so, I tell you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.”

FRIDAY • NOVEMBER 6, 2015

Friday of the Thirty-first Week in Ordinary Time

First Reading (Rom 15:14-21; NRSVCE)

I myself feel confident about you, my brothers and sisters, that you yourselves are full of goodness, filled with all knowledge, and able to instruct one another. Nevertheless on some points I have written to you rather boldly by way of reminder, because of the grace given me by God to be a minister of Christ Jesus to the Gentiles in the priestly service of the gospel of God, so that the offering of the Gentiles may be acceptable, sanctified by the Holy Spirit. In Christ Jesus, then, I have reason to boast of my work for God. For I will not venture to speak of anything except what Christ has accomplished through me to win obedience from the Gentiles, by word and deed, by the power of signs and wonders, by the power of the Spirit of God, so that from Jerusalem and as far around as Illyricum I have fully proclaimed the good news of Christ. Thus I make it my ambition to proclaim the good news, not where Christ has already been named, so that I do not build on someone else’s foundation, but as it is written,

“Those who have never been told of him shall see,

and those who have never heard of him shall understand.”

Gospel Reading (Lk 16:1-8; NRSVCE)

Jesus said to his disciples, “There was a rich man who had a manager, and charges were brought to him that this man was squandering his property. So he summoned him and said to him, ‘What is this that I hear about you? Give me an accounting of your management, because you cannot be my manager any longer.’ Then the manager said to himself, ‘What will I do, now that my master is taking the position away from me? I am not strong enough to dig, and I am ashamed to beg. I have decided what to do so that, when I am dismissed as manager, people may welcome me into their homes.’ So, summoning his master’s debtors one by one, he asked the first, ‘How much do you owe my master?’ He answered, ‘A hundred jugs of olive oil.’ He said to him, ‘Take your bill, sit down quickly, and make it fifty.’ Then he asked another, ‘And how much do you owe?’ He replied, ‘A hundred containers of wheat.’ He said to him, ‘Take your bill and make it eighty.’ And his master commended the dishonest manager because he had acted shrewdly; for the children of this age are more shrewd in dealing with their own generation than are the children of light.”

SATURDAY • NOVEMBER 7, 2015

Saturday of the Thirty-first Week in Ordinary Time

First Reading (Rom 16:3-9, 16, 22-27; NRSVCE)

Greet Prisca and Aquila, who work with me in Christ Jesus, and who risked their necks for my life, to whom not only I give thanks, but also all the churches of the Gentiles. Greet also the church in their house. Greet my beloved Epaenetus, who was the first convert in Asia for Christ. Greet Mary, who has worked very hard among you. Greet Andronicus and Junia, my relatives who were in prison with me; they are prominent among the apostles, and they were in Christ before I was. Greet Ampliatus, my beloved in the Lord. Greet Urbanus, our co-worker in Christ, and my beloved Stachys. Greet one another with a holy kiss. All the churches of Christ greet you.

I Tertius, the writer of this letter, greet you in the Lord.

Gaius, who is host to me and to the whole church, greets you. Erastus, the city treasurer, and our brother Quartus, greet you.

Now to God who is able to strengthen you according to my gospel and the proclamation of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery that was kept secret for long ages but is now disclosed, and through the prophetic writings is made known to all the Gentiles, according to the command of the eternal God, to bring about the obedience of faith — to the only wise God, through Jesus Christ, to whom be the glory forever! Amen.

Gospel Reading (Lk 16:9-15; NRSVCE)

Jesus said to his disciples, “I tell you, make friends for yourselves by means of dishonest wealth so that when it is gone, they may welcome you into the eternal homes.

“Whoever is faithful in a very little is faithful also in much; and whoever is dishonest in a very little is dishonest also in much. If then you have not been faithful with the dishonest wealth, who will entrust to you the true riches? And if you have not been faithful with what belongs to another, who will give you what is your own? No slave can serve two masters; for a slave will either hate the one and love the other, or be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth.”

The Pharisees, who were lovers of money, heard all this, and they ridiculed him. So he said to them, “You are those who justify yourselves in the sight of others; but God knows your hearts; for what is prized by human beings is an abomination in the sight of God.”