Since I began my priestly formation in 1973, the gap has steadily grown between the moral teaching of the Church and the moral insights of the faithful. A succession of documents on family planning, sexuality, marriage and family life have been met with increasing incomprehension and indifference by ordinary Catholics.The forthcoming Extraordinary Synod on the Family offers a real opportunity for the Church to start to narrow this gap, and to restore the credibility of its teaching on marriage and the family.Many factors have played a role in this widening gap but one of them was the decision to withdraw the discussion of contraception and birth control from the Second Vatican Council. The collegiality of the bishops with the Pope was one of the great fruits of the council.But a mere thre