The XIV Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops took place from October 4–25, 2015, in Vatican City. The theme was, “The vocation and mission of the family in the Church and in the contemporary world.” The purpose of the synod was to continue the work of the 2014 Extraordinary General Assembly by reflecting on the challenges associated with the pastoral care of the person and the family as identified in its final relation, and by formulating appropriate pastoral guidelines to address those challenges.
The Church’s teaching affirmed
In their final document issued on October 24, the synod fathers revisited many of the realities threatening marriage and family. War, cultural attitudes, economic pressures, poverty, ecology, structures of exclusion, domestic violence, abuse, human trafficking and pornography were among the topics examined for their negative impact on marriage and the family.
At the same time, the final document emphasized the beauty of marriage and family, and explained the importance of both in terms of the attaining the common good. Along the way, the synod fathers strongly affirmed the Church’s teaching on marriage and family. For example, they declared marriage to consist of the indissoluble union between one woman and one man, and noted that the family is both a gift of God and the basic unit of society. Likewise, they affirmed the Church’s opposition to reproductive techniques such as in vitro fertilization, euthanasia and abortion, making the point that God alone is the Lord of life from its beginning to its end.
Interestingly, and contrary to the reporting of some secular media outlets, the bishops attending the synod enjoyed a high degree of collegiality as reported at a closing news conference on October 24at the Vatican by Catholic News Agency correspondent Elise Harris. This spirit of collegiality and the strength of bishops’ affirmations of Church teaching were further witnessed to in the final document as only two of the 94 paragraphs revealed any significant disparity in the voting.
FINAL REPORT BY THE NUMBERS…
94 Number of sections in the Synod’s Final Report
800 Number of edits proposed in fashioning the Final Report
177 Votes required for each and every section of the Final Report
265 Number of bishops voting on each section of the Final Report
81 Number of sections that passed with at least 240 “yes” votes
*Source: http://whispersintheloggia.blogspot.com/
The call to mission
The synod fathers also addressed the question of the mission of the family in their final document. They noted that, from the beginning, God has generously directed his love toward his children in order that they might have fullness of life in Jesus Christ. Further, through the sacraments, God invites families into this life, “to proclaim it and to communicate it to others.” In other words, the family is called to participate in the mission of the Church.
However, the family must first be evangelized before it can hope to evangelize others. To this end, the synod fathers observed, “The mission of the family encompasses the fruitful union of the spouses, the children’s education, the witness of the sacrament, the preparation of other couples for marriage, and the accompaniment of those couples or families facing difficulties.”
DID YOU KNOW…
464 persons were given media credentials to follow the Ordinary General Assembly Synod on the Family: Europe (366); North America (54); Latin America (35); Asia (5); Africa (3); Oceania (1).
*Source: www.vatican.va
Food for thought
The final document was delivered directly to Pope Francis, who quickly authorized its release to the public, with the hope that he might issue his own document on the family. In the meantime, Pope Francis did have something to say as he closed the General Assembly with Mass. In his homily to the 270 or so bishops gathered together for the last time before departing Vatican City, the pontiff focused on God’s compassion and fatherhood as definitively revealed in Jesus. In reflecting on the Gospel story of the healing of the blind man, Bartimaeus, Pope Francis remarked that “moments of suffering and conflict are for God occasions of mercy.” He also reminded those in attendance that Jesus’ disciples today, just as in Jesus’ own day, are called to bring people into contact “with the compassionate mercy that saves,” without lecturing but by simply repeating “Jesus’ encouraging and liberating words.”
He also cautioned the bishops in attendance about two temptations for those who follow Jesus that can undermine the accompaniment of families called for by the synod father’s final document. First, there is the temptation to a “spirituality of illusion,” which chooses to keep moving in the face of constant problems rather than being bothered – which chooses to “walk through the deserts of humanity without seeing what is really there.”
Second, there is the temptation of falling into a “scheduled faith” that allows one to walk with the People of God, but only according to his or her own well-defined, inflexible schedule.
AND ON THE ISSUE OF…
Two issues received significant media coverage leading up to and during the synod on the family: communion for divorced and remarried persons, and homosexuality. While many in the secular world looked for a change, the synod fathers overwhelmingly affirmed Church teaching.
With regard to divorced and remarried persons, the synod fathers wrote that the pastors have the responsibility “to accompany the persons concerned on a path of discernment according to the teaching of the Church and the guidelines of the bishop” especially in considering which of the areas of exclusion in the liturgy, pastoral, educational and institutional framework of the Church can be done away with for divorced and remarried Catholics. In addition, they indicated that baptized divorced and remarried couples must be “integrated into the Christian community,” while “avoiding every occasion of scandal.”
With regard to homosexuality, the final document expressed the need for special attention to be offered to accompanying families who live with persons who have homosexual tendencies. It also stated that “every person, independently of their sexual tendency, must be respected in their dignity and welcomed with respect.”
At the same time, the synod fathers stressed that “there is no foundation whatsoever to assimilate or establish analogies, even remotely, between homosexual unions and God’s design for marriage and the family.”