As synod concludes, bishops issue message, approve document; Pope weighs in

October 20, 2014

The 14th and 15th general congregations (sessions) of the Third Extraordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops on the Family took place on October 18.

Preaching at Terce, Archbishop Paul Bùi Van Doc of Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, told the synod fathers that “Christ is the only hope for family life for the people of today and tomorrow … Do we believe in the strength of God, or in the strength of the world? The strength of the world destroys everything: life, love, the human family. The life of faith instead results in a life of love.”

The synod fathers then issued a message in which they expressed appreciation for families and highlighted the struggles they face. Family life, the message stated, is “a mountainous trek with hardships and falls. God is always there to accompany us.”

“Conjugal love, which is unique and indissoluble, endures despite many difficulties,” the message stated. “It is one of the most beautiful of all miracles and the most common … The high point which sums up all the threads of communion with God and neighbor is the Sunday Eucharist when the family and the whole Church sits at table with the Lord … In the first stage of our Synod itinerary, therefore, we have reflected on how to accompany those who have been divorced and remarried and on their participation in the sacraments.”

This message was distinct from the relatio synodi-- the key “report of the synod” that sets the agenda for discussions in the year preceding the October 2015 Synod of Bishops on the family. Unlike the controversial October 13 report, the new report had many references to Sacred Scripture and documents of the Magisterium.

The synod fathers had the opportunity to vote on each of the report’s 62 paragraphs, and the Holy See Press Office published the vote tallies for each paragraph. For example, paragraph 56, which stated that it is “totally unacceptable” for aid to poor nations be contingent upon legalization of same-sex marriage, passed by a 159-21 margin.

Every paragraph received a majority vote, but three paragraphs failed to receive the required two-thirds supermajority. Paragraphs 52 and 53 stated that the synod fathers had disagreements over the issue of admitting remarried persons to Holy Communion and that the issue required further study. Paragraph 55 stated that some families have persons with a homosexual orientation, that they are to be accepted with respect and sensitivity, and that same-sex unions are not remotely similar to marriage.

Cardinal Raymond Burke called the final document “a significant improvement” over the October 13 interim report.

“I would say that it provides an accurate, if not complete, summary of the discussions in the Synod Hall and in the small groups,” he told Catholic World Report. “It is a blow to those who wrote the material which did not reflect the Church’s teaching regarding the homosexual condition and homosexual acts, which implied that the Church wants now to relax its perennial teaching, and which tried to introduce material regarding so-called ‘same-sex unions’ into the discussion of Christian marriage.”

Pope Francis then delivered the synod’s concluding address and described the two-week synod as “a journey of human beings, with the consolations there were also moments of desolation, of tensions and temptations, of which a few possibilities could be mentioned”:

One, a temptation to hostile inflexibility, that is, wanting to close oneself within the written word, (the letter) and not allowing oneself to be surprised by God, by the God of surprises, (the spirit); within the law, within the certitude of what we know and not of what we still need to learn and to achieve. From the time of Christ, it is the temptation of the zealous, of the scrupulous, of the solicitous and of the so-called – today – “traditionalists” and also of the intellectuals.

The temptation to a destructive tendency to “do-goodism,” that in the name of a deceptive mercy binds the wounds without first curing them and treating them; that treats the symptoms and not the causes and the roots. It is the temptation of the “do-gooders,” of the fearful, and also of the so-called “progressives and liberals.”

The temptation to transform stones into bread to break the long, heavy, and painful fast (cf. Lk 4:1-4); and also to transform the bread into a stone and cast it against the sinners, the weak, and the sick (cf Jn 8:7), that is, to transform it into unbearable burdens (Lk 11:46).

The temptation to come down off the Cross, to please the people, and not stay there, in order to fulfil the will of the Father; to bow down to a worldly spirit instead of purifying it and bending it to the Spirit of God.

The temptation to neglect the “depositum fidei” [the deposit of faith], not thinking of themselves as guardians but as owners or masters [of it]; or, on the other hand, the temptation to neglect reality, making use of meticulous language and a language of smoothing to say so many things and to say nothing! They call them “byzantinisms,” I think, these things…

“Dear brothers and sisters, the temptations must not frighten or disconcert us, or even discourage us, because no disciple is greater than his master; so if Jesus Himself was tempted-- and even called Beelzebul (cf. Mt 12:24) – His disciples should not expect better treatment,” he added.

 

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Further information:

• Congregazione generale: Omelia di S.E. Mons. Paul Bùi Van Doc, Arcivescovo di Thành-Phô Hô Chí Minh (Viêt Nam) durante la preghiera dell’Ora Terza (Holy See Press Office)
• Archbishop Van Doc: do not be ashamed of the Gospel (Vatican Radio)
• Synod14 - Message of the III Extraordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops (Holy See Press Office)
• Synod14 - "Relatio Synodi" della III Assemblea generale straordinaria del Sinodo dei Vescovi: "Le sfide pastorali sulla famiglia nel contesto dell’evangelizzazione" (Holy See Press Office)
• Synod on Family shows Church whose doors are always open (Vatican Radio)
• Synod's final report shows nuance on homosexuality, remarriage (CNA/EWTN News)
• Cardinal Burke: The "Relatio Synodi" is "a significant improvement over the text of the 'Relatio post Disceptationem'" (Catholic World Report)
• Pope Francis speech at the conclusion of the Synod (Vatican Radio)