The recent synod has broken the ice but the intricate theological problems revolving around family issues will have towait till next October.
With his commitment to reform a “poor Church for the poor” (beginning with the Vatican Curia and its finances) that must administer to the world’s geographical and existential ‘peripheries’, the moral, theological and pastoral vision of the family is one of the pivotal points of Pope Francis’ spiritual agenda. A difficult and complicated matter, it is perhaps the Catholic Church’s greatest challenge, as became obvious during last year’s extraordinary synod on this very issue.
The assembly was marked by much debate between divergent alliances of cardinals whom the pope has divided into “traditionalists” and “progressives”. Pope Francis invited bishops and cardinals to reflect upon the lacerations of an institution – the family – that is ingrained in the Gospels but whose ‘earthly’ expression is increasingly fraught. A crisis that knows no borders, spanning from Argentina’s villas miserias to the well-to-do neighbourhoods of the de-Christianised Old Continent.
The family debate is still alive within the Catholic Church, and will continue in 2015, when the Argentine pope will attend the important World Meeting of Families in Philadelphia on his next visit to the United States and, in particular, with a second synod at the Vatican, in October.
At present, the issues are as unresolved as ever, and the Church stands torn and often at a loss when having to come to terms with the dramatic changes in relationships and emotional ties, the proliferation of extended families and specifically ecclesiastical and pastoral matters. One needs only read the final document detailing synod “Part One” to appreciate this.
The family shaped by the Gospel and the Church’s moral teachings is akin to a ship at the mercy of the sea, called into question by the poverty that afflicts ever more households, marriages between people of different faiths, cohabitating couples, children born outside of marriages, attacks on women’s dignity and all kinds of emotional fragility, especially the betrayals that lead to separation and divorce.
It is common knowledge that the assembly of synod “fathers” (bishops, cardinals, theologians and experts) was divided on many issues. The pope himself had encouraged the fathers to stop procrastinating and to talk openly about marital crises and specifically on how those involved in these crises could be bound to the Church. One of the topics high up on the agenda was enabling divorced Catholics who have remarried civilly to resume receiving communion. In addition to extended families, the topic of sexual morality was also addressed.
The Church’s teachings still prohibit premarital sex and the use of contraception, yet even in surveys commissioned by bishops’ conferences and Catholic universities, Catholics seem to take little heed of its sexual instructions. A 2012 poll of American Catholics revealed that 82% were in favour of contraception, while in a related poll, 44.7% were against the morning-after pill (though the vast majority were against abortion).
The document drawn up by the synod is very cautious and does not reflect the heated debate on matters such as homosexuality, divorce and separation. With regards to homosexuality, while the document emphasises recognising the dignity of homosexuals, it is averse to indiscriminately adopting the word “marriage” for gay unions, and asks: “How can the Christian community give pastoral attention to families with persons with homosexual tendencies? While avoiding any unjust discrimination, how can such persons receive pastoral care in these situations in light of the Gospel? How can God’s will be proposed to them in their situation?”
The danger lies in creating a sense of confusion among those who identify as the “People of God”. In turn, problems could arise that are not in the least insignificant for the faithful. For instance, if non-traditional couples or extended families are recognized by the Catholic Church, how will traditional couples feel whose relationships are founded upon marriages that still hold firm? Should one deplore patchwork families or recognise “those elements of faith and generosity that characterize cohabitating couples”?
The archbishop of Vienna and primate of the Austrian Church, Cardinal Christoph Schoenborn, whose parents are separated, replied that “good Catholics” remind him of the good brother in the famous “Parable of the Prodigal Son”, whose father reassured him: “You are always with me, and everything I have is yours”. Families that stay together, explained the cardinal, “bear witness to the fact that marriages can be successful” and “should rejoice and welcome home those who do not achieve this ideal”. As for unwed couples who live together, many synod fathers have agreed that there are positive elements to this, which does not mean that they condone cohabitation as such.
There is no turning back, however. After the second synod session in October, also to be held in the New Synod Hall of the Vatican, the pope will decide what to do next. He’ll have the additional help of a historic questionnaire of 46 questions that will be sent to dioceses all over the world; the results will be gathered in a document to be published this summer. In the end, Pope Francis will draw his own conclusions.
The recent synod has broken the ice but the intricate theological problems revolving around family issues will have towait till next October.
