Synod
on family life gets underway in the Vatican
In
his greeting to the gathered assembly, the Pope recalled that a synod is not a
parliament or senate, where people do deals and make compromises, but rather a
journeying together of the people of God, guided by the Holy Spirit. He
appealed for courage, humility and prayer, so that participants may not be
intimidated by worldly temptations, but at the same time that they may not turn
the Church into a “museum of memories”, unable or unwilling to respond to the
challenges facing so many families today.
Synod
secretary general Cardinal Baldisseri outlined the previous steps on this
journey, from the much talked about consistory of cardinals back in 2014, right
up to the World Meeting of Families that concluded in Philadelphia last
weekend. In between we’ve had a year of reflections on family life from the
Pope at his weekly general audiences and a new document making it simpler and
cheaper to obtain annulments for those whose marriages can be declared invalid
– both important parts of the puzzle for those trying to predict how this
highly charged meeting will pan out.
For
the secular press inevitably, the focus of the past weekend has been on the
‘coming out’ of a Polish monsignor working at the Congregation for the Doctrine
of the Faith, timed- as the head of the Holy See press office put it – to
subject the Synod to “undue media pressure” on issues of celibacy and gay
relationships. In a lengthy introductory presentation, Hungarian Cardinal Peter
Erdo touched on – in his words - the “pastoral care of people with homosexual
tendencies”, but he also outlined so many other issues, from violence,
migration and unemployment to cohabitation, divorce or declining birth rates,
often stemming from the individualism or fear of commitment often experienced
by young people today.
In
short, there’s a lot for synod participants to get their heads around over the
next three weeks before a final document is drawn up and voted on. A couple of
cardinals I chatted with over coffee this morning said despite the huge
workload, the atmosphere was ‘serene’ with bishops convinced that differing
perspectives can enrich the discussion, rather than being a source of
irreconcilable division, as the media would so often have it. Other
participants were a bit more realistic perhaps, describing a sense of tension
and awareness of just how important this meeting may prove for the credibility
of the Church over the coming years.
The
only person in the room I spotted completely unaffected by the whole
proceedings was a tiny baby snoozing quietly in the arms of his father, one of
the 18 couples who’ll be sharing some very practical experiences of the joys,
hopes, sorrows and anxieties of bringing up a family today.
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