Originally published on Sun October 5, 2014 11:51 am
….This Synod Is Only Phase One
Ahead of the synod, the Vatican sent out a questionnaire seeking input from clergy and lay people on many hot-button issues. The results showed the vast majority of Catholics reject church teaching on sex and contraception as intrusive and irrelevant.
But at the synod, 191 cardinals, bishops and priests will be flanked by only 12 lay observers.
Vatican analyst Robert Mickens says the synod needs to listen to a wider array of Catholics.
"Married people need to be heard," he says. "Gay people and their struggles need to be heard. Single mothers need to be heard. It won't do for a bunch of celibate men, so-called, to be parsimonious with God's mercy."
The two-week-long synod is just phase one, a discussion of issues. It won't be until a second assembly, a year from now, that concrete decisions are taken.
The outcome will not only affect issues of sexual ethics, contraception and divorce. It will ultimately determine the Catholic Church's relationship with the modern world.
Read the entire article: http://www.kunc.org/post/vatican-synod-tests-popes-vision-more-merciful-church
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