Church ‘must deepen care of the family’

The Vatican has instructed all bishops’ conferences to initiate wide-ranging consultations and discussions on matters arising from October’s Extraordinary Synod on the Family, in preparation for the Ordinary Synod that will take place in October 2015.

The Office for the Synod of Bishops issued the instruction containing 46 questions that will guide an “in-depth examination” of the work begun at the Extraordinary Synod.

The questions are designed, the bishops are told, to help them avoid “a formulation of pastoral care based simply on an application of doctrine”, as this might not “respect the conclusions of the Extraordinary Synodal Assembly” and risked leading to a “reflection far from the path already indicated”. The task, the instruction says, quoting from the October Synod’s final document, is now to “re-think … what revelation ... tells us about the beauty, role and dignity of the family”. “All levels” of the Church must be involved, the Office stipulates, including “academic institutions, lay movements and other ecclesial associations”.

“Every effort should be made not to begin anew, but to continue on the path undertaken in the Extraordinary Synod as a point of departure,” the instruction states. The pastoral approach  established in October must guide all future deliberations, it says, providing “concrete instances” arising from “specific situations”.

The instruction quotes extensively from Pope Francis’ apostolic exhortation, Evangelii Gaudium, mentioning specifically the exhortation’s emphasis on mercy and journeying to the peripheries of society.

“How can people be helped to understand that no one is beyond the mercy of God and how can this truth be expressed ... towards families, especially those that are wounded and fragile?” is one of the questions asked, according to a report by Joshua McElwee of National Catholic Reporter.

Another question asks: “Is the Christian community in a position to undertake the care of all wounded families so that they can experience the Father’s mercy? How does the Christian community engage in removing the social and economic factors that often determine this situation?” Bishops are told to study further pastoral practice concerning the divorced and remarried, taking into account “the distinction between an objective sinful situation and extenuating circumstances”.

On the Church’s attitude to homosexuals, the instruction asks, “How can the Christian community give pastoral attention to families with persons with homosexual tendencies?” It also invites discussion on the 1968 Humanae Vitae encyclical that prohibited artificial contraception.

As well as asking how the Church might provide “pastoral care” to those living together outside of marriage it asks: “How can people be made to understand that Christian marriage corresponds to the original plan of God and, thus, one of fulfilment and not confinement?”