Synod Can Unify Church
Preparation for the October 2015 Synod on the Family may help the U.S. church face pressing problems.
The church faces a challenge of disunity,
some of it from polarization. Threats to unity have crept into the
church from adversarial politics that permeate cultural warfare and
political skirmishes related to religious liberty, gay rights and the
definition of marriage. At times one feels meanness within our walls.
Concentration on the family, a topic of deep
concern to those who care more about the church’s pastoral life than
its political life, can unite us. No matter what their political
persuasion, most people care more for family concerns than for political
issues.
Among the issues:
In a divided society, what gives children
the security that roots them in God and others? How do families pass on
the faith when the church itself is riven with disagreements?
How do family members support one another even when some choose lifestyles at variance from the norm? Norms change.
How do families support children of divorce?
How are divorced family members helped to feel whole despite the pain
that accompanies divorce?
How can children of gay couples feel welcomed by families and neighbors that are not configured as theirs?
Do single family members have special needs
for lack of one special person in their lives? Do they have obligations,
such as financial ones, based on their ability to offer support to
others?
The church needs a plan to gather data.
Should it be through parish surveys? This is basic data collection, but
if associated with discussion programs, surveys could lead people to a
new understanding of one another. Many people can be reached only
through parishes if they do not participate in church groups. How do we
reach singles, for example?
Should data gathering come through
organizations? This has pros because the groups already exist. Family
life groups can examine what young couples who struggle to establish
families want. They can study how people can develop a religious life
alongside career development.
Religious ed groups can study family life at
various stages. Do grandparents have something to give? For many
families, the older generation can offer children and grandchildren
wisdom acquired over decades.
Vocation groups have data that tells how
family life affects career choices. Catholic school educators are well
placed to show the effects of educational development on family life.
The Diocese of Des Moines, Iowa, led by
Bishop Richard Pates, already is immersed in a year of the family.
Archbishop Blase Cupich of Chicago had begun preparation for the synod
in his previous diocese, Spokane, Wash., before going to Chicago. Both
may have programs other dioceses can imitate.
Issues like poverty are pertinent, but we
need to watch politically oriented groups that would use church pastoral
issues to promote political causes as we go into the next presidential
election campaign. Use of the church for political purposes has been no
small problem of late.
A whole new approach to synod preparation
may lie in seeking what each can do individually to promote healthy
families. Should I view what I do this year through a family filter? How
can I help my own family as I consider the younger generation,
grandparents, newlyweds and singles—who mean so much to me?
A critical U.S. family issue includes
immigrants in the shadows. At work, they fear they might not return home
one day because of something as scary as an immigration raid. Their
undocumented children educated in this country have a tenuous guarantee
of a permanent home, thanks to an executive order by President Obama.
Their parents do not have a similar guarantee, not even a tenuous one.
The Synod on the Family offers challenges
and opportunities. Time is moving rapidly as the church considers Pope
Francis’ request for input. If the U.S. church can change the
conversation to what we can do to empower families, we will have made a
needed statement on unity and what it means to be Catholic today.
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