We need more than meetings to address the pastoral challenges of today's family

The Holy Family

The General Secretariat of the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops, CCCB, has sent a Preparatory Document to the Bishops of Canada. This is to get ready for the Synod of Bishops that will meet in Rome on October 5-19, 2014. We are told they will be consulting the clergy and laity in their dioceses. A questionnaire will be used to gather information. The process will be repeated in dioceses all over the world and then sent to the CCCB. They will then summarize the findings and take this to the Vatican. This material will serve as a basis for discussion and recommendations.

The participants at the Synod no doubt will have very good intentions, but we have a few questions to put to the CCCB. When was the last time that the faithful heard mention in local parishes the role or any thing else done by the Conference of Catholic Bishops? Should we not evangelize at home before trying to do so to the world? How will the faithful in the pews be helped to live a Christian family life with committees and more meetings? Who in Canada will be consulted as the CCCB prepares for next year's Synod or will the whole process be merely about another successful encounter and it all ends there?

Does Canada really need another questionnaire and further consultation to discover the challenges faced by post-modern Christian families? One of the biggest challenges faced by all Catholic families is that the Canadian bishops never fully backed Humanae Vitae. Many Christian families no longer fully follow the Catechism. Cafeteria Catholicism is preferred. This should be the first item on the bishops' agenda next year. In fact, we have respectfully written to the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops about this issue several times. Our letters and messages have not even been acknowledged.  (more...)

We need more than meetings to address the pastoral challenges of today's family