More courage on the family

Eighteen pages: the result of in-depth study and reflections, respectful of the original spirit of the answers to the Synodal questionnaire. It is the content of the document submitted by the Deutsche Bischofskonferenz – the German Bishops’ Conference (DBK)- to the General Secretary of the Bishops’ Synod in the Vatican. “The vocation and mission of the family in the Church and in the contemporary world. Reply of the German Bishops’ Conference to the questions regarding the reception and reflection on the Relatio Synodi in the preparatory document ahead of the XVI General Ordinary Assembly of the Episcopal Synod for 2015”, is the lengthy title of the document, available online on the website www.dbk.de. Appreciation and criticism. The DBK document is divided according to the chapters of the questionnaire. 1. Listening: the context and challenges involving the family; 2. Christ at the centre: the Gospel of the family; 3. Confrontation: pastoral prospects. The answers showed a positive evaluation of the fact “that the people of God has been consulted also for the preparation of the Ordinary Synod of Bishops 2015”. But in their formulation many questions are considered overly theological and “marked by redundancies and expressions distant from real life: many believers fail to recognize the experiences they have had in marriage and in the family”. That’s why it wasn’t always possible to reply to all the questions and on the whole the participation of the faithful was lower compared to the questionnaire ahead of the extraordinary Synod of 2014″, the German bishops pointed out. Although the intention was to draw the questionnaires closer to the “existential peripheries”, in the questionnaire is presented an ideal picture of the family that is distant from the reality of German society, underlines the document, which highlights the fact that “a large number of Catholic faithful demand concrete steps, in order to bridge the discrepancy between the daily life of families in the parishes and associations and the teaching of the Church”. This discrepancy was already pointed out and described by the German Church ahead of the extraordinary Synod 2014. Attention to developments inside society. An important aspect in the analysis of DBK is that both the answers, as well as the evaluations received by the diocesan coordinators of the pastoral care of marriage and the family, of family education centers, and, in several dioceses, the opinions of the diocesan advice commissions (priests councils, pastoral diocesan councils, councils of the religious), criticise the poor amount of attention given to increasingly multi-religious and multi-cultural societies: the numbers of those without religious reference points continue to grow while the Church’s attention is considered excessively focused on the Catholic environment. Moreover, “the lack of a language that is truly respectful of relationships that don’t correspond to the ideal of the Church and/or are not centered on marriage and the family”, is distant from a legitimate ecclesial reflection. Affection and sensitivity. There is the need to support the family on the basis of the Gospel’s foundation. “It is necessary to rediscover and develop the meaning of the sacrament of marriage as well as its importance in daily life in the pastoral care of marriage and the family”, highlighting the meaning of “domestic Church”, which in Germany appears to be weak. Pastoral care should renew “a respectful approach also towards those whose lifestyle fails to correspond – at least for now – to Gospel teaching”. The German Church addresses situations marked by strong criticism. For the past years the number of marriages between a Catholic partner and a non-religious partner, often distant from faith, has been increasing. Catholic-Evangelical marriages are also increasing. “We are faced with the difficult question of how the Church can support the efforts of the Catholic spouse to live his/her faith and transmit it to his/her offspring without weakening coexistence and loving relationships”. The answers show a prevailing acknowledgement of the difficulty to tackle questions related to the pastoral care of people with homosexual orientations, and to carry out a serene evaluation of single-parent families, as well as of couples united in civil marriage, with situations of crises as well as remarried divorcees. “Pastoral care should take into account the fact that an open communication without prejudices and that doesn’t moralize is needed also by those who consider themselves Christians and Catholics, but who in their marriage and in the family do not live, or cannot live, in full agreement with Church teaching”. For the authors of the document “it is a question of permitting, with affection and sensitivity” that every person “undertakes a personal journey (also in the quest for God), providing advice and accompaniment, but without patronizing attitudes”. As all the compiled questionnaires show, “that Catholics in German dioceses, in some cases with great emphasis, demand that the pastoral of their Church approach the faithful accordingly, drawing inspiration from the positive message of the Gospel”.