In your editorial, "Catholicism but not as we know it" (The Tablet, 10 January) the question is asked as to what exactly is the approach of Pope Francis to pastoral issues, and gives the example of the contemporary pressing issues of sexuality, marriage and family life.
Rather than “poring over papal tomes in the Vatican Library you go on to say that Pope Francis asks "what ordinary people, their faith animated by the Spirit, believe is the best Christian response to these modern challenges"?
One presumes that as a Jesuit, Pope Francis is already acquainted with the content of the tomes! However, he does need to know the opinions and lived experiences of ordinary people, i e. laity, Religious and clergy. The Roman Catholic Church is a community of communities, beginning with the family or the home, that form parishes that form a diocese that are united by union with the Bishop of Rome. Taken together these communities form the ecclesiastical Institution.
In answer to your question, I suggest that the pastoral approach of Pope Francis, of which the root and branch reform of the Curia is indicative, is essentially a process of placing and fixing the institution, with its learned tomes, at the service of the ecclesial communities comprising the institution rather than continuing the tried and tested and worn-out approach began by Constantine that firmly placed and fixed the communities at the service of the Institution.
Fr Stephen Giles MHM, Kroonstad, South Africa
Whilst the main media focus from the recent Synod Meeting in Rome seemed to have focused and discussed what Catholics who are divorced or in different family arrangements from the “norm”, there are many of us who are married but due to church constraints/rules are not able to share the Eucharist with our partners.
Much has been said and written about the harm, scandal and hurt that this continued disunity among Christians causes. It is 20 years since Pope John Paul’s Encyclical Et Unum Sint and over 50 years since the Decree on Ecumenism produced out of the Second Vatican Council. Pope Francis in October spoke about the suffering and conflict which has marked the disunity over the centuries. John’s Gospel that it has at its heart that all members of the Body of Christ should remain in their love for God and each other. St Paul in 1 Corinthians appealed to the brethren “in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ that all of you agree and there be no dissensions amongst you but that you may be united in the same mind and same judgement.”
With this weight of desire both scripturally and in Church documents over the years, I would desperately hope that the full Synod in 2015 looks at the situation for all families, interchurch families, who are living with the pain of separation.
Pope John Paul referred to in his encyclical that there could be occasions where interchurch families could share full Communion. This could be a tiny step on the road to unity – where such couples could freely attend each other’s services and take a full and meaningful part with the Church’s blessing.
Robert Baxter, Wareham, Dorset
The publication of the reflection document The Call, the Journey and the Mission appears to be an attempt to divert attention from the very real issues which evidently emerged in our responses to the Vatican questionnaire on the family 12 months ago.
Rather than publish the results, which provide an insight into what Catholics really think, the bishops apparently gave in to Vatican pressure and effectively did a cover-up. Not so their German counterparts, however, whose press office released a full and frank account of responses in Germany.
There can be little doubt that the views of Catholics in England and Wales are broadly similar in nature. These are the real themes that need to be the focus of debate and reflection within the Church.
Surely at a time when the right of freedom of speech is being strenuously defended across the world and on so many fronts, the Church’s leadership should be modelling best practice in such matters, not acting like some threatened totalitarian regime that feels it has to sanitise the truth.
Martin Higgins, Dukinfield, Cheshire
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