Pope Francis announced last week that he is adding an extra year to the Synod on Synodality.

Pope Francis has described it as a "journey" of discernment about the future of the Church that entails lengthy "dialogue" with the laity and dioceses across the world.

So far, the synodal "listening sessions" in countries such as Germany have occasioned little more than subversion of the Catholic faith.

Müller's fears are entirely justified.

The cardinal Pope Francis has chosen to run the Synod on Synodality speaks volumes about its direction.

He chose Jesuit Cardinal Jean-Claude Hollerich, the archbishop of Luxembourg, who is on record rejecting the Church's perennial teaching on the sinfulness of homosexual acts.

"I think it is time for a fundamental revision of the doctrine," he has said.

Hollerich is openly hostile to traditionalists within the Church and sees the Synod on Synodality as an opportunity for the Church to adapt to the "changing mindsets" of the modern world.

For Müller, such talk smacks of the heresy of modernism, the idea that the truth comes not from above, in the form of divine revelation, but from below through man's "individual experience" and "self-revelation."

Pope Francis has credited the late Jesuit Cardinal Carlo Maria Martini for influencing his thoughts on a "synodal" Church.

Martini favoured "democratising" the Church and called it "200 years out of date."

Martini is "very dear to me and also to you," the pope told Eugenio Scalfari, the atheistic Italian journalist.

The pope praised Martini for saying that the Church should have not just a vertical dimension but a "horizontal" one as well: "When Cardinal Martini talked about this, putting the emphasis on the councils and the synods, he knew very well how long and difficult it would be to travel the road in that direction. With prudence, but with firmness and tenacity."

(In fact, the pope's council of cardinals, among whom are numbered open critics of Church teaching, is an idea that came directly from Martini.)

As Müller and other bishops such as Athanasius Schneider (pictured,) note, this "listening" Church is only really interested in the feedback of liberal Catholics who clamour for changes to Church teaching.

Martini's dream of a "permanently synodal" Church is a nightmare for faithful Catholics.

It is a Church that gradually dilutes the faith.

Like the pope's previous synod on the family, which subverted canon law's prohibition on Communion for the divorced and remarried, the Synod on Synodality will simply undermine Church teachings.

Its loudest participants want the Church to change her teachings on everything from marriage to the male priesthood.

The self-consciously "synodal" Flemish bishops recently endorsed blessing ceremonies for homosexual couples; an outlandish move Pope Francis still hasn't condemned.

The progressives in the Church cast the Synod on Synodality as a kind of de facto Vatican III that should consolidate and augment the liberalism of Vatican II.

Hollerich recently made the ludicrous claim that without Vatican II, the "Church would be a small sect, unknown to most people."

The truth is the exact reverse: Since Vatican II, the Church has grown steadily weaker and less significant.

European bishops like Hollerich preside over empty pews.

Whatever its flaws, the pre-Vatican II Church had much more clout and influence than its successor. Continue reading

• George Neumayr is a senior editor at The American Spectator

Several bishops at the September 8-11 assembly baulked at the proposal.

But Cardinal Reinhard Marx of Munich and Freising, who is currently a member of Pope Francis' circle of top advisors (Council of Cardinals) and past president of the German Bishops' Conference (2014-2020), actually defended the motion.

The cardinal, who turns 69 next week and will soon mark the 15th anniversary of his appointment to Bavaria's most important diocese, said it was all part of the paradigm shift that German Catholics are pushing for.

Marx, who was one of the main initiators of the Synodal Path, told La Croix's Delphine Nerbollier that a key aspect of the synodal process is "to ask questions, debate, and advance the discussion".

The text on sexual morality that was presented to the synodal assembly on September 8 failed to obtain the two-thirds majority required of the bishops present.

Among other things, it proposes that homosexual couples and remarried divorcees be afforded the "blessing of God expressly promised by the Church".

How do you explain that the required two-thirds majority was not reached?

Cardinal Reinhard Marx: This text is controversial and requires further discussion within the universal Church, but it is important and we cannot put the subject aside.

It consists of a paradigm change and perspective toward sexual morality and social ethics.

It is a process. We are going to talk about it again within the episcopal conference.

I would like to point out that this text was accepted by more than 80% of the members of the synodal assembly and by 62% of the bishops.

In your opinion, what role did the press release issued by the Holy See Press Office in July play in the rejection of this text?

That's a question for each bishop to answer. I think that each one of them already had his position prior to its publication.

Some expressed themselves, others less so. During this synodal assembly, some felt a little more pressure to express themselves.

The point is that we need to be more open with each other and justify our positions. We must not only represent an opinion, but defend it.

I don't think (the Vatican) statement played a role because it didn't bring anything new to the table.

None of us wants to replace the pope, to override canon law or to rewrite the Church's dogma. What we want is to ask questions, debate, and advance the discussion. We are part of the universal Church.

We have the mission to bring to it all the elements that seem important to us.

Is it difficult for the bishops to face so many theologians and lay people in this synodal process?

In Germany we have a long tradition of having lay men and women and professors of theology, especially in the synodal committees of the dioceses.

So most bishops are used to having lay people contradict them.

But of course, not everyone likes this. Some bishops have not yet integrated the change of perspective that synodality requires. This too is a process.

How can the German Synodal Path contribute to the World Synod?

I have the impression that some in Rome and elsewhere are watching the German synodal path with some apprehension.

For example, we have received letters from bishops in Poland, the United States and the Nordic Bishops' Conference.

It is therefore important that we present texts that are theologically very well argued and worked out.

In this fourth session of the synodal journey, we adopted texts on the possibility of creating a synodal council in Germany and on the place of women in the Church, with the support of two-thirds of the bishops.

These are absolutely priority themes for the universal Church.

These texts will certainly soon be translated into several languages and may have an influence on the discussion elsewhere in the world.

• Delphine Nerbollier writes occasionally for La-Croix International.
• First published in La-Croix International. Republished with permission.

"We know what the church teaches; we all want to preserve that."

He said that there was, however, a need to change the language the church uses.

"But we want to able to put it in such a way that people understand it."

Dew said that he also spoke about language last year at the extraordinary synod on the family.

"I said when we have documents, which talk about ‘intrinsically disordered' (as the Catechism of the Catholic Church describes same-sex attraction) or being evil, that's not going to help people."

"We have to find a way to express what the teaching actually says, but not putting it in ways that people feel they are being branded and they are being told that they are bad or evil."

In his speech to the Synod Dew quoted from a letter issued by the bishops of Oceania in 1994, which said that when families are struggling they need friends.

Dew said he told the assembly: "Surely, the church needs to realize that we are there to be friends to people who are struggling or are in difficulty in any way."

"And even if there is something there which is against church teaching, we put it in such a way that we're being friendly to them, we're being helpful to them and being supportive."

"It's not denying any teaching or any doctrine, but saying, ‘Look, we're here to help you, to work with you."

Source

• catholicphilly.com
• Image: catholicphilly.com

According to a media briefing on Saturday, another prominent issue in the first week of synod discussions was the Church's vision on the indissolubility of marriage.

Vatican Radio journalist Romilda Ferrauto told the briefing that the bishops are broadly presenting two schools of thought.

One is to think that before judging others "you must judge yourself, because we are always people that accuse others of weaknesses while we are not able to see our own", Ms Ferrauto said.

The other is to speak clearly about negative aspects of modern life, she said.

Another spokesperson, Fr Thomas Rosica, said at the briefing that one synod prelate had said: "Mercy cannot be encountered unless it is measured against an eternal law."

"One must seek truth in order to experience mercy," Fr Rosica quoted that prelate.

Another synod prelate, Fr Rosica related, had said: "Unless we acknowledge openly people's situations, we will not be able to address those situations clearly."

"Mercy towards sinners is not a form of weakness, nor an abandonment of Church teaching," Fr Rosica quoted that prelate.

"We have to learn how to speak the truth in love in many situations, because in many situations people are completely powerless over what has befallen them," he said.

"And our communities of faith have to be communities that welcome people."

English Cardinal Vincent Nichols told The Tablet that finding practical ways to support families and discovering a new language for the Church to talk about marriage have emerged as themes at the synod.

Participants spent the first week discussing the synod working document's section titled "Listening to the challenges of the family".

The second week will focus on "Discernment of the family vocation".

Sources

• National Catholic Reporter
• The Tablet
• Catholic News Agency
• Image: America

Cardinal Christoph Schönborn of Vienna said in an interview with La Civilta Cattolica that the bishops at next month's synod on the family should not take a stance that highlights failure.

Rather they should adopt "a benevolent gaze that sees how much good will and how much effort there is even in the midst of much suffering".

The next step, he said, is not to pretend that everything in all those situations is fine, but to help Catholics build on what is good, growing in holiness and faithfulness to God and to each other.

The cardinal said a civil marriage is better than simply living together, because it signifies a couple has made a formal, public commitment to one another.

"Instead of talking about everything that is missing, we can draw close to this reality, noting what is positive in this love that is establishing itself."

Cardinal Schönborn spoke about a gay friend of his who, after many temporary relationships, is now in a stable relationship.

"It's an improvement," he said.

They share "a life, they share their joys and sufferings, they help one another".

"It must be recognised that this person took an important step for his own good and the good of others, even though it certainly is not a situation the Church can consider ‘regular'."

The Church's negative "judgment about homosexual acts is necessary", the cardinal said, "but the Church should not look in the bedroom first, but in the dining room! It must accompany people."

Pastoral accompaniment "cannot transform an irregular situation into a regular one", he added.

"But there do exist paths for healing, for learning", for moving gradually closer to a situation in compliance with Church teaching.

Cardinal Schönborn said this approach did not dilute Church teaching.

Sources

• Catholic Herald
• Images: Le Figaro

An analysis by Voice of the Family critiqued the Instrumentum Laboris for omissions and ambiguity in wording.

The document "threatens the entire structure of Catholic teaching on marriage, the family and human sexuality", the coalition warned.

A LifeSiteNews article stated that a tactic similar to one enacted at Vatican II is being used.

In order to get wide agreement, vague, ambiguous and even apparently conflicting language is used to appease all sides.

These expressions were later referred to as "time bombs" which some theologians were able to exploit following the council for the purpose of undermining the Church's traditional teachings, the article stated.

One example cited by the coalition is the Instrumentum Laboris's reference to Paul VI's Humanae Vitae without any use of the word "contraception" or any direct reference to any contraceptive method.

The synod document states that the "two principal points" of Humanae Vitae are first about the role of conscience and second "an objective moral norm" without ever defining that moral norm, Voice of the Family objected.

The Instrumentum Laboris is also faulted for stating that "the family, while maintaining its privileged spot in education, cannot be the only place for teaching sexuality. [par 86]"

The Voice of the Family analysis cited the teaching of St Pope John Paul II in Familiaris Consortio, where the pope leaves open the possibility that sex education can be done solely in the home.

He wrote: "Sex education, which is a basic right and duty of parents, must always be carried out under their attentive guidance, whether at home or in educational centres chosen and controlled by them."

Voice of the Family co-founder John Smeaton called on Catholics to oppose "the direction being taken at the synod".

Sources

• LifeSiteNews
• Image: UCANews.com

In 2013, Detroit Archbishop Allen Vigneron wrote that that Catholics who back same-sex marriage and receive Communion would "logically bring shame for a double-dealing that is not unlike perjury".

But this month he told the Detroit Free Press: "Whenever it comes to Communion, the objective is never to steer a person away."

Archbishop Vigneron admitted that that faithful Catholics — dealing with gay relatives now legally free to marry in civil ceremonies and in other churches that perform same-sex marriages — are feeling torn.

"The Church and her pastors are there to help harmonise these priorities — of being faithful to and open about the truth (of Church teachings about sexuality), and of being loving and compassionate to fellow Catholics in their personal and family lives," the archbishop wrote.

"Given the variety of circumstances which go into a person's particular situation, the best way forward for one person may not be best for another."

Archbishop Vigneron's response drew praise from other Catholics.

"He's really taken a big step forward," said Tom Nelson, a Detroit-area Catholic who is involved with Fortunate Families, a group for Catholics with LGBT family members.

"It's a very welcoming and loving response. It's a Jesus response."

"It recognises that people, in their consciences, have to weigh the Church's teachings in their own lives and relationships," said Francis DeBernardo, executive director of New Ways Ministry, which advocates for LGBT equality in the Church.

"That is authentic Catholic teaching. He's not watering down anything. He's proclaiming the Church's teaching more accurately than he did back then."

There have been several instances in the US of Catholics being denied Communion either because they support same-sex marriage or are in same-sex marriages.

Some of these denials have happened at funerals of loved ones.

Sources

• Detroit Free Press
• Advocate
• Image: Free Republic

In a preparatory meeting in Accra, Ghana ahead of October's synod on the family, the bishops stated "we must begin from the faith, reaffirm it and live it for the sake of evangelising cultures in depth".

According to one report, the bishops appear to have heeded the warnings of theologian and anthropologist Edouard Ade, from the Catholic University of Western Africa.

In a presentation, Professor Ade focused on what he called "the strategy of the enemy of the human race".

The professor said the desired goal of some is that the synod approve the blessing of second marriages and homosexual couples, but this appears to be out of reach.

Rather, their strategy will involve opening "loopholes" that could be widened later.

At the same time they will affirm that there is no intention to change doctrine.

Such loopholes could involve particular cases illustrated by proponents, who know they would not remain isolated cases.

Another strategy is to present changes as a balance between the impatience of those who want immediate change on divorce and same-sex marriage, as against a rigorism devoid of mercy.

Professor Ade also warned against "Trojan horses" proposed by activists for change.

These include always attributing a positive value to life arrangements outside of marriage, considering indissolubility an "ideal" that cannot be achieved by all, as well as new language that ends up changing the reality.

In remarks at the start of the meeting, Guinean Cardinal Robert Sarah encouraged the bishops not to be afraid of "reiterating the teaching of Christ on marriage".

In an interview this month with French magazine Famille Chretienne, Cardinal Sarah expressed his hopes for the synod.

"At the synod next October we will address, I hope, the question of marriage in an entirely positive manner, seeking to promote the family and the values that it bears.

"The African bishops will act to support that which God asks of man concerning the family, and to receive that which the Church has always taught."

Sources

• L'Espresso
• Image: The Dialog

The DVD comes from the British Confraternity of Catholic Clergy in collaboration with St Anthony Communications, which specialises in catechetical video presentations.

It has been launched as the Church prepares for the synod on the family in October.

Among the contributors to the DVD are US Cardinal Raymond Burke and Bishop Mark Davies of Shrewsbury.

The DVD covers such topics like cohabitation, homosexuality, divorce and re-marriage.

It also features lay experts and married couples who speak in support of the Church's teaching from their own experience.

Continue reading

Fr Thomas Rosica, CSB, who works as an English language assistant to the Holy See Press office, issued a statement that "it was never my intention to sue" blogger David Domet.

Mr Domet had written statements on his Vox Cantoris blog that Fr Rosica said were false and slanderous.

The blog statements concerned Fr Rosica and Catholic doctrine regarding marriage and the family.

The blogger received a letter in February from a lawyer representing Fr Rosica, who is the chief executive of the Canadian Salt and Light Catholic Media Foundation and Television Network.

The letter stated the claims posted on the blog were "libelous" and "actionable in law".

The lawyer's letter instructed Mr Domet to remove all references to Fr Rosica from the blog and post an apology, or "we will seek instructions to commence an action against you".

On his Salt and Light blog, Fr Rosica wrote that he had been strongly advised to respond, "as an individual and in no institutional capacity to the Vatican or to my place of work, to the continuous false, slanderous statements of a blogger over a long period of time that resulted in gross distortion, misinformation, many phone calls, letters and clear threats from callers based on the repeated false information contained in the blog".

But he explained that it "was never my intention to sue, but rather to issue a letter to ‘cease and desist' the frivolous calumny".

"A legal firm, offering its service pro bono to us, issued a letter to cease and desist. No lawsuit was ever launched against the blogger! The matter is now closed."

Fr Rosica wrote that he fully supports the teaching of the Church.

News that Mr Domet had been threatened with legal action led to an outpouring of criticism of Fr Rosica and support for the embattled blogger.

Sources

• Salt and Light
• Catholic World News
• Image: Catholic Dialogue

Archbishop Martin said he was "quite surprised at the remarks of some commentators within church circles about the recent synod of bishops, often making accusations of confusion where such confusion did not exist and so actually fomenting confusion".

He did not identify specific comments along these lines.

But Philadelphia Archbishop Charles Chaput, who did not attend the gathering, did broach the topic just after the synod.

"I was very disturbed by what happened" at the synod, Archbishop Chaput said.

"I think confusion is of the devil, and I think the public image that came across was one of confusion."

A mid-point report from the synod pressed for a more welcoming approach by the Church to divorced people and homosexual persons.

The final report toned down the language used.

Archbishop Martin said he believed that "a longing for certainties may spring from personal uncertainty rather than strong faith".

"A strong - and indeed orthodox faith - is never afraid of discussion," he said.

"They [critics] fail to see how Pope Francis shows that his concern for people who suffer is far from being a sign of dogmatic relativism, but rather is a sign of pastoral patience," Archbishop Martin said.

The archbishop also said that "a church which becomes a comfort zone for the like-minded ceases to be truly the Church of Jesus Christ".

Archbishop Martin said this while preaching at a Mass marking the refurbishment of a church at the Dublin Institute of Technology.

The archbishop attended the synod and spoke of the need for new language with which to communicate with married couples, according to excerpts of his remarks published by the Irish bishops' conference.

Many people "would hardly recognise their own experience in the way we present the ideals of married life", he told the synod.

"Indeed many in genuine humility would probably feel that they are living a life which is distant from the ideal of marriage as presented by Church teaching," he said.

Sources

• National Catholic Reporter
• Religion News Service
• Image: Irish Independent

But that doesn't mean a change in Church doctrine, two leading cardinals have said.

"Everybody wants to show God's love and mercy, but it also brings you to very difficult situations and as Christians we follow Jesus," said Australian Cardinal George Pell.

The Church has to be intellectually coherent and consistent, he said, adding that "Catholics are people who stand under the Scriptures, we are people of tradition".

"But we believe in the development of doctrine, not in doctrinal back-flips," the Table reported him saying.

Cardinal Pell added: "I confess that I might have been tempted to hope that Jesus might have been a little softer on divorce; he wasn't, and I'm speaking with him."

Last week, synod members said the Church should stop using "harsh language" such as " living in sin", "intrinsically disordered" and "contraceptive mentality" in aspects of its teaching.

Too often the theology of marriage was "filtered through harsh language", members said.

Cardinal Timothy Dolan of New York said the question of language had been a major part of discussions in the gathering's opening days.

He said it is a question of the consistency and immutability of the Church's truth.

"But our burning desire is to find a language that can present it in a more gracious, compelling and cogent way."

Both the cardinals stressed that bishops at the synod were acutely aware of the problems facing family life in their communities.

Australian Archbishop Denis Hart of Melbourne told Vatican Radio that what is needed is language that is faithful to Church teaching, but which also engages with the experiences of families.

Sources

• The Tablet
• Vatican Radio
• Image: Crux Now

Cardinal Lorenzo Baldisseri, the secretary general of the synod, said that married couples will address the gathering immediately after each topic is opened by a bishop.

The synod runs from October 5-19 in Rome and Pope Francis has streamlined its operation.

Each day will deal with a theme from the Instrumentum Laboris, a working document on the synod that was published on June 26.

Topics will include polygamy and abandoned women, but are also expected to cover the challenges posed by the Church's teaching on contraception and abortion in modern society.

The cardinal told the agency Rome Reports: "We will discuss the problems that have also been highlighted by the media, regarding failed marriages, separations, divorces, etc.

"The topics that are relevant to the West, are much more sensitive without a doubt.

"But I would like to point out that each continent has its own specific issues."

Speeches by bishops will be limited to a maximum of four minutes.

At the end of each day, there will be one hour of open debate, but each participant will be allowed to speak only once a day.

Small group sessions will make up most of the second half of the synod and are meant to be the heart of the gathering.

National Catholic Reported editor Dennis Coday expects Pope Francis will be actively involved as president of the synod.

"When Pope John Paul II attended synod assemblies, he was known to pray his breviary," Coday wrote.

"Pope Benedict XVI was a quiet observer. Francis, on the other hand, at meetings likes to engage speakers with questions, jokes and comments."

Coday wrote that this synod will discuss the lived experiences of families today.

It is expected to produce a summary report be sent to dioceses around the world in preparation for another synod next year.

"Any changes to Church practices on marriage and family life will come not this year, but next," Coday wrote.

He quoted Rome reporter Robert Mickens who stated: "Francis has repeatedly said he wants to develop the Synod of Bishops as one of the major components for the governance of the universal Church".

Sources

• The Tablet
• National Catholic Reporter
• Image: CathNews USA

The hot button issue for the gathering is already well known - whether divorced and remarried Catholics can or should be able to receive the Eucharist.

Battles lines at the Vatican have already been drawn in the differing views expressed by the German cardinals Walter Kasper and Gerhard Mueller.

Battle lines set out in Manila

How this plays itself out in Rome in October was spelled out in Manila earlier this month when the secretary of the Vatican's Council on the Family, Archbishop Jean Lafitte, restated the failure of some Catholic authorities to engage with the reality of the family today.

The views were given at a conference in the Philippines, a country that is 86 percent Catholic.

It is atypical of the Church in Asia and most of the world, as it remains perhaps the only country in the world where the Church's influence is such that there is no civil divorce.

But on display in Manila were how one section of the Church's leadership sees the issue and will propose defense of the family in October:

This section of the Church wants all the Church to confront a relativistic culture out to destroy the family.

Understanding 'the family'

It believes that the term "family" doesn't need to be defined and can be assumed, despite plain evidence that there is no such thing as an abstract, universally applicable and accepted understanding of what the family is.

It also maintains that, while less than 20 percent of the world's population are obliged by the Church's sacramental understanding of lifelong monogamous marriage, no one should question a group of Catholics proposing a legal universal application based on Church rules.

What is frequently heard when a debate is cast in these terms, as it was in Manila, is that any slackening in opposition to same-gender partnerships or to divorce undermines the time-honored and Church-sanctioned understanding of marriage, and that same-gender partnerships are a threat to lifelong monogamous heterosexual relationships.

Marriage undermined?

The weakness in this line of argument is that there is no evidence to support it.

How does someone else's divorce undermine my commitment?

How does the same-sex attraction and commitment of a same-sex couple undermine the commitment of a committed heterosexual couple?

I don't know and can't see the evidence.

Conspiracy theories notwithstanding, it's an argument that does little to further what the Church actually wishes to foster in sacramentally confirmed, lifelong monogamous marriages. And that, after all, is the only thing the Church really has at stake anywhere in the world in the marriage debate.

Rather than simply lament that the abstract understanding of Catholic marriage isn't universally endorsed by the mostly non-Catholic world, Church leaders will do a lot to help people if they can suggest some constructive ways of engaging with the real dilemmas and choices people actually face.

'Failed marriages' and the Church

However, what will galvanize the debate in October is not gay partnerships or threats to the abstract Catholic understanding of marriage as constructed by senior male clerics.

It will be what pastors throughout the world know: how to meet the pastoral challenge of people who have failed relationships, regret the failure, still see the Catholic faith as their core and centre but are told they cannot receive the Eucharist if they have remarried without going through the Church's courts.

The issue is often portrayed as a conflict between what the Church teaches and what ordinary Catholics want. Conceived that way, it is really a phony war. There are two main ways that failed marriages can be resolved in the Catholic Church.

Marriage annulment

The first is the well known and invariably long-winded and difficult process of annulling a Catholic marriage through the Church's court procedures, called "the external forum".

It is called "external" because it is public and can work only if certain conditions are fulfilled. But it may fail for any number of reasons, some of which include: one party not participating in the process, lack of evidence and qualified canon lawyers and excessive Vatican regulations that cause parties to abandon the process.

The other, and commonly unmentioned, approach is what is called the "internal forum", which the bishops of Germany have highlighted in their procedures for their dioceses, much to the chagrin of the prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Cardinal Mueller, as reported frequently in ucanews.com and elsewhere in the Church's media.

The informed conscience

The "internal forum" is another word for how an informed conscience becomes part of pastoral practice and where Catholics work out their relationships with God and the Church. Conscience is, in the teaching of Vatican II, that inner core of a person's life where moral and religious norms are discovered for their application to actual life situations.

It was Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger who underlined the significance of conscience in the operational life of the Church when he wrote before he became Pope Benedict XVI:

"Above the pope as an expression of the binding claim of Church authority, stands one's own conscience, which has to be obeyed first of all, if need be against the demands of Church authority."

At the conference in the Philippines earlier this month, we got an insight into just where the Catholic Church has been on this subject for the last 30 years and where the opposition to more pastorally flexible approaches to dealing with marriage and divorce is coming from.

It will doubtless surface in Rome at the bishops' synod in October.

Michael Kelly SJ is executive director of ucanews.com

Source: UCA News

Image: UCA News

Feedback from Dublin and Tuam archdioceses reveals a distinct gap between Church teaching and practice.

Continue reading

There is indeed a form of "voluntary" or natural contraception when people decide to avoid procreation by orienting their sexual behaviour; and a form of "artificial" contraception when all the acts necessary for procreation are put in place, but it is prevented by other means.

Abortion at any stage, of course is a different, though not totally unrelated matter.

Normally most of the people, several government and no-government organizations and agencies, even some Churches see artificial contraception as legitimate, practical and beneficial for population control and other purposes.

It may not be the best and most effective way to achieve certain goals, but it certainly has some effects.

The Catholic Church is hostile to artificial contraception

The Catholic Church is normally perceived as "cold" or even hostile to artificial contraception; and in fact it is. It is not the idea of a correct and honest family planning or population control, when necessary, in question, but the means and the justification to all this.

Artificial methods of contraception are perceived as not extremely dignifying for humans, and a clear decision against procreation and life; which is indeed inscribed in the purpose of sexual intercourse.

It is also silently accepted now that the "condom" strategy for the eradication of HIV/AIDS is far from producing the expected results and countries that have taken a more integrated and diversified approach are gathering a better harvest.

There is also the impression that since poor and uneducated villagers are believed to be hard to teach any lesson, the artificial contraception strategy is forced down their throats; which is indeed a lack of respect for human beings and a violation of human rights.

What governments choose to promote

Governments implement the death penalty to give the public an impression that they are serious about crime.

They also promote contraception - even in poorly populated countries such as Papua New Guinea - but not sport facilities, entertainment, health services… Not as much as they could and they should.

Artificial contraception is widespread, probably unavoidable in many cases, and hardly anybody is refraining from it because of the stand of the Catholic Church.

But this serves to remind us that as humans we can eventually aim higher and come to realise that no shortcut of sort can lead us to the goal of an educated, value oriented and spiritually filled society.

Something more significant than the western consumerist culture and way of life we instead tend to embrace nowadays!

Article supplied by Fr Giorgio Licini, Papua New Guinea

Image: guardian.co.uk

The responses are now in — and they show that the Church is badly in need of reform. Can Pope Francis meet such expectations?

Adolescents find it embarrassing to talk about sex with adults. Even more so when the adult in question is their Catholic priest.

About 20 girls and boys are sitting on leather sofas in the basement of St. Josef Catholic Community Centre on the outskirts of Berlin. The walls are brightly painted and bags of gummy bears and chocolate are on a table in the center of the room.

Hannah, Jonas and their friends giggle when Harald Tux, a friendly, balding man with glasses, reads a questionnaire from the Vatican out loud. It's about premarital sex, and the officials in Rome want to know how these young Catholics in Berlin's Weissensee neighbourhood feel about it.

"Is contraception an option for you?" the theologian asks. The youths are already whispering, and they can't help but smile when Tux finally gets to the point: "If you used contraception, would you confess to it?"

"Huh?" a girl asks with a grimace. "It's not a crime," exclaims a boy in a hooded sweatshirt. They all snort with laughter. Continue reading.

Source: Speigel

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As people of faith it is critical that we understand the complexities of immigration. As people of faith it is critical that we have opportunities to discuss the issue so that we can better understand the Church's concern and involvement in this issue. As people of faith we need to share our attitudes and feelings and-as hard as it is sometimes-we need to listen.

Why, then, is the Church involved in the immigration issue? There are 3 broad, or overarching, reasons. In this Update, we'll explore 1) how Scripture and Catholic teaching see and understand immigration; 2) immigration's impact on the life of the Church: our parish life, our programs, our growth and diversity; and 3) the moral issues that the Church is called to address in the broader society.

Let's start with a discussion of Sacred Scripture.

Read more about what the Church teaches about immigration

Source

• Image: Mail and Guardian