Snapd
ragon
THE
P RTAL
October 2015
Rome in October
Snapdragon look towards the October Synod in Rome
You could
be forgiven for thinking that the bishops gathering in Rome this month
are flying in to discuss just two things: the admission of the divorced and ‘remarried’ to
the sacraments and the accommodation of those of homosexual orientation.
The heat created by these two
topics at last year’s Extraordinary
Synod on the Family was
sufficient to melt a polar
ice cap, intensified by
the oxygen of cloak
and dagger stage
management and hysterical
journalism. Since then the
battle lines have been well
and truly drawn up, with
neither side showing any
sign of backing down.
On the former issue the
Instrumentum laboris, the
baseline text which sets the agenda for the upcoming
synod, controversially speaks of a “common accord”
among the world’s bishops towards “eventual access”
to the sacraments for divorced and civilly remarried
couples following “an itinerary of reconciliation or a
penitential path under the authority of the bishop”
and “in situations of irreversible cohabitation”.
In relation to the latter, three paragraphs are devoted
to the exercise of pastoral ministry to families “having
within them a person of homosexual orientation”. So
it’s safe to expect an even bloodier skirmish on said
topics to be the main event this time round.
But it would be a great shame if a synod convened to
examine the vocation and mission of the family were to
be reduced to divorce, remarriage and homosexuality.
These touch upon very many families today of course,
and they are therefore issues deserving of air time in a
synod about the family.
But what of the very many Catholic families for
whom these are not the immediate concerns and
pressing issues; families that are faced with a whole
range of other challenges and influences that conspire
to work against them? Where is the pastoral advice for
them? What encouragement will they get from this
synod?
In early July, during his visit to Latin America, Pope
contents page
Page 5
Francis pointed to some of the pertinent issues there
that he personally regards as threats to the family:
“domestic violence, alcoholism, sexism, drug
addiction, unemployment, urban unrest, the
abandonment of the elderly, and children left to
the streets.” Some of these issues are on the
synod agenda, but I can’t see that in reality
they will receive anywhere near
the attention they deserve.
The provision of robust
education of Catholic principles
in relation to marriage, the family
and s