NEWS on the
XIV ORDINARY GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF BISHOPS 2015
“The Vocation and Mission of the Family in the Church and Contemporary World.”
Greetings
Towards the end of 2013, the Holy See distributed throughout the world, a set of questions that formed the basis for discussions at the recent III Extraordinary Synod of Bishops held in November 2014.
A number of concerns were highlighted, these included:
1. Marriage Preparation and Accompaniment
2. Marriage breakdown (Divorce and Civil marriage)
3. Access to Tribunals for Annulments
4. Co-habitation
Other issues were also discussed, namely single parent families, child-headed families and persons with a same sex attraction.
As we prepare for the Ordinary Synod of Bishops tasked with examining the Vocation and Mission of the Family in the Church and Contemporary Word, Pope Francis has tasked us with involving all components of our local church, organizations, lay movements and other ecclesial associations with discussing this topic.
In the light of this request, we ask you to complete the following questionnaire on family life issues most prevalent in our Church.
This will assist our Bishops representing the SACBC in providing as accurate a picture as possible of our situation at this General Assembly of Bishops from around the world.
Thank you for taking the time to answer these questions and helping us better meet the needs and assist with the challenges of families in our region. Please pass this information on to as many groups and individuals as possible.
Please click on the link below to complete the online survey.
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1dYll7q_TCShoFYznbRg_3IxLluxl4RD5Y5ppaTWYldY/viewform?c=0&w=1
The form is actually not about understanding ‘family’ at all, in my view. It is all a matter of church view on human sexuality vs. the evolution of modern views about human sexuality.
One of the major concerns of today’s families, Catholic or otherwise, is the walking away from structured religion by our youth.
Our children make our family more of a family.
The words : youth, young adults, advice, collaboration, help, guidance, advise [and many more] are not mentioned in the questionnaire about FAMILY!
I think we as WAACSA are up against a brick wall, outside a fortress, and have to always remember that ‘fear builds walls, love builds bridges!
We have, I believe, presented ourselves to our local Bishops as bridge builders but, seemingly, a bridge is not seen to be a solution to those with power and authority.