Update- The Vatican Is Asking For Lay Opinion !!

Wow ! 
 This is stunning news !!

 

This article below is edited from today's National Catholic Reporter in the USA. by Joshua J. McElwee : NCR National correspondent. I've added extra details on the UK.

"The Vatican has asked National Bishops' Conferences around the world to conduct a wide-ranging poll of Catholics asking for their opinions on church teachings on contraception, same-sex marriage and divorce.

Archbishop Lorenzo Baldisseri, secretary general of the Vatican's Synod of Bishops, asked the conferences to distribute the poll "immediately as widely as possible to deaneries and parishes so that input from local sources can be received."

The poll, which comes in a questionnaire sent to national bishops' conferences globally in preparation for a Vatican synod on the family next October, is the first time the church's central hierarchy has asked for such input from grass-roots Catholics since at least the establishment of the synod system following the Second Vatican Council.


The upcoming synod, which Pope Francis announced earlier this month, is to be held Oct. 5-19, 2014, on the theme "Pastoral Challenges of the family in the context of evangelization."The questionnaire was sent on Oct. 18 from Baldisseri to the Presidents of the world's individual Bishops' conferences.

It asks the conferences to quiz their populations on topics that sometimes have sharply divided the U.S. church, like the Catholic teaching prohibiting the use of artificial contraception, the possibility of a divorced Catholic to remarry or receive Communion, and the number of young people choosing to live together before marrying. NCR obtained a copy of the letter and questionnaire.
 
While Baldisseri asks in his letter for wide consultation on the questions, an accompanying letter sent with the U.S. version of the Vatican document does not request the American bishops to undertake wide consultation in their dioceses.

That accompanying letter, dated Oct. 30, is sent from Msgr. Ronny Jenkins, the General Secretary of the U.S. bishops' conference, and only asks the U.S. bishops to provide their own observations.

"In his correspondence, Archbishop Baldisseri requests the observations of the members of the Conference regarding the attached preparatory documents and questionnaire that will provide a basis for the preparation ... for the extraordinary synod," Jenkins writes.

Helen Osman, the secretary of communications for the U.S. bishops' conference, said Thursday that Jenkins was out of the office for the day and was not available to comment on how the U.S. bishops might pursue consultation for answering the questions.

Among topics bishops' conferences are asked in the Vatican document to question their Catholic populations about:

  • How the church's teaching on "the value of the family" is understood today. "In those cases where the Church's teaching is known, is it accepted fully or are there difficulties in putting it into practice?" the document asks. "If so, what are they?"

  • Whether cohabitation, the problem of divorce and remarriage, and same-sex marriages are a "pastoral reality" in their church. "Does a ministry exist to attend to these cases?" the document asks. "How is God's mercy proclaimed to separated couples and those divorced and remarried and how does the Church put into practice her support for them in their journey of faith?"

  • How persons in same-sex marriages are treated and how children they may adopt are cared for. "What pastoral attention can be given to people who have chosen to live these types of union?" it asks. "In the case of unions of persons of the same sex who have adopted children, what can be done pastorally in light of transmitting the faith?"

  • Whether married couples have "openness" to becoming parents and whether they accept Humanae Vitae, an encyclical written by Pope Paul VI that prohibited artificial contraception use by Catholics. "Is this moral teaching accepted?" it asks. "What aspects pose the most difficulties in a large majority of couple's accepting this teaching?"
THE UK QUESTIONNAIRE ONLINE
In contrast to the Americans, the Catholic Bishops Conference of England and Wales has set up an online survey here that Catholics in their countries can use individually to respond to the Vatican questions.

I've added the key texts below taken from The Catholic Bishops Conference of England and Wales website here.

"Family life is the focus of an extraordinary general session of the Synod of Bishops that will meet at the Vatican between 5-19 October 2014.

Around 150 Synod fathers will take part in the meeting to discuss the "pastoral challenges of the family in the context of evangelization." It is expected to last two weeks.

This is only the third 'extraordinary' synod since Pope Paul VI reinstituted synods in 1965. According to the Code of Canon Law, an “extraordinary general session” of the synod is held to “deal with matters which require a speedy solution.”

The second stage focusing on this important subject will be the 2015 Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops.

Questionnaire

You can actively participate in the preparation for the Synod by visiting our questionnaire on SurveyMonkey:


Preparatory Document

On this page you can read the synod's preparatory document - or Lineamenta.

1980 Synod on the Family

You can also look back on the last Synod of Bishops meeting on the family held in 1980 that resulted in the document Familiaris Consortio.
Visit the full UK section here.


Baldisseri asks in his letter that the conferences respond to the questions by the end of January.

Baldisseri also states that Pope Francis wants the October 2014 synod to only be the first step in evaluating these questions and that he intends to address the questions again during a planned synod in 2015 marking the 50th anniversary of the synod's establishment.

The October meeting, the accompanying preparatory document states, will "define the 'status quaestionis' " while the 2015 synod will "seek working guidelines in the pastoral care of the person and the family."

"Concerns which were unheard of until a few years ago have arisen today as a result of different situations, from the widespread practice of cohabitation, which does not lead to marriage … to same-sex unions between persons," the preparatory document states.
Other issues specifically identified in the document as "requiring the Church's attention and pastoral care" include:

  • Mixed or interreligious marriages;
  • Single-parent families;
  • Polygamy;
  • "A culture of non-commitment and a presumption that the marriage bond can be temporary"; and
  • "Forms of feminism hostile to the Church"
"A reflection on these issues by the Synod of Bishops, in addition to it being much needed and urgent, is a dutiful expression of charity towards those entrusted to the Bishops' care and the entire human family," the document states.

 Fr. James Martin S.J made this initial response to the NCR article on his FB page -

" First off, this is indeed new. While in the past bishops were encouraged to promote discussion in their dioceses before a synod, there were never any outright polls, and certainly nothing on a worldwide basis. 

 Second, needless to say, the questions are not going to say, "Should we overturn this church teaching?" 

Nonetheless, the Vatican will surely get a better sense of how the teachings are being "received," to use a theological term, by the faithful. Third, it is true that the U.S. bishops seem to have received a sort of exemption from doing the polling--at least it seems that way, on the basis of the cover letter. 
 But that doesn't mean that they can't do it, or that they won't do it. And even if none of the US bishops choose to adopt the poll (which is hard to imagine) the Vatican will be hearing from the rest of the world through a poll, which is both good and new.

Also, it makes me smile because for years when some people would speak about the "sensus fidelium" (that is, the "sense of the faithful") as an important part of the way that the church lives and grows, a few people would protest, "But the church is not a democracy! And we don't do polls!"

People often forget the Second Vatican Council's teaching on this matter in "Lumen Gentium": "They [the laity] are, by [reason of] knowledge, competence or outstanding ability which they may enjoy, permitted and sometimes even obliged to express their opinion on those things which concern the good of the Church."

Finally, it's a sign, in case we needed to be reminded, that the Holy Spirit is at work in everybody. From the Pope, to the local bishop, to your pastor, to the sister teaching in your school, to the director of religious education at your parish, to the mother of three, to the man who holds out the collection basket, to the college student struggling with her faith, to the fellow who cleans the church bathrooms, to the Catholic baptized just last Easter.

The Holy Spirit is at work in her church and in her people. And she will make her voice heard, this time through these polls, because she desires to speak.
"

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