Translation of German language group’s second interim report to Synod of Bishops in Rome

We extensively discussed the concepts of mercy and truth, grace and justice, which are repeatedly understood as opposites, and their theological relationship to one another. In God they are not opposites.

As God is love, justice and mercy become one in God. God’s mercy is the fundamental truth of revelation which is not opposed to other truths of revelation. It rather reveals their deepest meaning as it tells us why God revealed Himself in His Son and why Jesus Christ remains in His Church through His Word and His Sacraments for our Salvation. In this way, God’s mercy reveals the bedrock and the goal of the entire work of salvation. The justice of God is His mercy with which he makes us just.

We also considered the consequences of this interplay for our accompaniment of marriages and families. It rules out a one-sided, deductive hermeneutic which subsumes concrete situations under a general principle. According to Thomas Acquinus and the Council of Trent, fundamental principles must be applied to the particular and often complex situation with prudence and wisdom.

Moreover, we are not dealing here with exceptions to which God’s word does not apply, but with the question of the fair and proper application of Jesus’ words as, for example, His words on the indissolubility of marriage, and of applying them prudently and wisely. Thomas Acquinus emphasised the necessity of a concretising application, for example, when he said, “To prudence belongs not only the consideration of the reason, but also the application to action, which is the end of practical reason”. (S.Th.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 that which is above all often mentioned in chapter 3 of the second part – namely gradually leading people to the Sacrament of marriage from non-binding relationships, to cohabiting partners, to couples who have only married in a registry office and finally to those in a valid, sacramental church marriage.

Accompanying couples pastorally on these different stages is a great pastoral challenge but also a great joy. It also became clear to us that in many of our discussions our thinking was too static and not sufficiently biographically historic. The Church’s teaching on marriage developed and deepened over time.

Initially it was a case of humanising marriage which led to the conviction that marriage was monogamous. In the light of Christian faith, the personal dignity of spouses was recognised more deeply and the image of God in human beings was perceived in the relationship between husband and wife. In a further step, the ecclesial dimension of marriage was deepened and marriage was understood as a house church.

And finally, the Church became explicitly aware of the sacramentality of marriage. This gradual deepening of the understanding of marriage in history is also apparent in many people’s biographies. First they are touched by the human dimension of marriage, then they allow themselves to be convinced of the Christian view of marriage and from there they find their way to the celebration of sacramental marriage.

Just as the historical development of the Church’s teaching on marriage took time, so must the Church’s pastoral approach towards marriage today allow people time to mature along their path towards sacramental marriage and must not act on the principle of “all or nothing”. This is where the concept of further developing the “step by step process” (FC9) which John Paul II already laid the foundation for in Familiaris consortio and applying it to the present comes in:

“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 thus inescapably stands between two conflicting poles.

On the one hand it must uphold the necessary clarity of its teaching on marriage and the family, but on the other fulfil its concrete pastoral task of also accompanying and convincing those who are only in partial agreement with its teaching. As far as the latter are concerned – they must be accompanied step by step on the way towards the fullness of life found in marriage and the family as promised in the Gospel of the Family.

Here it is necessary to have a pastoral approach oriented to the individual which equally involves both the normativity of church teaching and human beings’ personality. This approach must always keep in mind each individual’s capacity for conscience and must aim to strengthen individual responsibility.

“For they have in their hearts a law inscribed by God. Their dignity rests in observing this law, and by it they will be judged. Their conscience is people’s most secret core, and their sanctuary. There they are alone with God whose voice echoes in their depths.” (GS 16) We request that the final version of the text consider two additional aspects:

Every impression that Sacred Scripture only serves as a source of quotes for dogmatic, legal or ethical convictions should be avoided. The Law of the New Covenant is the work of the Holy Spirit in the hearts of the faithful (cf. Catechism of the Catholic Church § 1965-66). The written word is to be integrated into the living word residing via the Holy Spirit in the heart of man. This gives Sacred Scripture far-reaching spiritual power.

Finally, we have had difficulties with the term “natural marriage”. In the history of humankind, culture has always had a formative influence on natural marriage. The term “natural marriage” can therefore imply that there is a natural way of life which does not have a cultural imprint. We therefore suggest the following wording: “marriage founded in creation”.