The People of
God’s knowledge of conciliar and post-conciliar documents on the Magisterium of
the family seems to be rather wanting, though a certain knowledge of them is
clearly evident in those working in the field of theology. The documents,
however, do not seem to have taken a foothold in the faithful’s mentality.
Some responses
clearly state that the faithful have no knowledge of these documents, while
others mention that they are viewed, especially by lay people with no prior
preparation, as rather “exclusive” or “limited to a few” and require some
effort to take them up and study them. Oftentimes, people without due
preparation find difficulty reading these documents. Nevertheless, the
responses see a need to show the essential character of the truth affirmed in
these documents.
Some
observations attribute the responsibility for this lack of knowledge to the
clergy, who, in the judgment of some of the faithful, are not sufficiently
familiar with the documentation on marriage and the family, nor do they seem to
have the resources for development in these areas.
Some
observations inferred that the clergy sometimes feel so unsuited and
ill-prepared to treat issues regarding sexuality, fertility and procreation
that they often choose to remain silent. Some responses also voice a certain
dissatisfaction with some members of the clergy who appear indifferent to some
moral teachings. Their divergence from Church doctrine leads to confusion among
the People of God.
Consequently,
some responses ask that the clergy be better prepared and exercise a sense of
responsibility in explaining the Word of God and presenting the documents of
the Church on marriage and the family.
Instrumentum Laboris for Synod on the Family, 11-12
Reflection
– I am presenting bits and pieces of the
preparatory document for the Synod over these next days, so we can unite our
own minds and hearts to the work going on in Rome and keep the Synod fathers in
our prayers.
The Instrumentum
is a careful, sober document—a bit dry, really—as is fitting, since it is
merely intended to raise the issues that need to be discussed and not answer
them. The ‘responses’ mentioned frequently are in reference to the surveys many
took part in over the past year.
I don’t need to be too dry and careful,
fortunately (it would get a bit dull if I did). Paragraphs 11-12 are about the
abysmal failure, on so many levels of the Church, to offer basic catechesis to
its members. This, in my opinion, is one of if not the most serious problem in
the Church, at least in North America.
We cannot talk about the sensus fidelium, the ability of the
faithful in common to know the truth of the Church’s teachings, in a situation
where the most basic and essential matters of doctrine and creed have not been
presented, even, let alone explained in any kind of meaningful way. So the much
touted rejection of the lay faithful of the Church’s teachings on marriage,
sex, procreation, which to the more ‘liberal’ wing of the Church means that
these ancient and biblical teachings should be jettisoned, is unpersuasive.
A large percentage of the lay faithful
cannot name the seven sacraments. They don’t know the Bible. They cannot give
an orthodox definition of the doctrine of the Trinity, the Incarnation, the
Redemption, baptism, or Eucharist. They have no idea what the Marian dogmas are
or what they mean.
I say this not to fault the lay faithful.
Not at all. Whatever guilt there is here lies squarely at the doors of the
clergy here, since it is our responsibility to teach the faith. But blame
laying is pointless—we all have to come to grips with the widespread ignorance of
basic Catholic doctrine and each of us do what we can to remedy it.
This of course directly impinges on the
question of marriage and family life, human sexuality and the Church’s
teachings on it. I would argue that it is impossible to understand, let alone
accept, what the Church says on these matters without knowing their integration
into the whole of Christian faith and life. The whole Gospel of sex, marriage,
and the family is interwoven necessarily and utterly with the whole Gospel
itself—sacrament and Spirit, communion and redemption, grace and mercy, human
sin and brokenness met by the total gift of God in Christ, and everything the
Church has received and passed on about all these matters from the apostles to
now.
If all of that, or much of that, is simply
words on a screen without any living resonance, or worse yet, words that have
never been taught to a person at all because those who were charged to teach
them refused to do so, then of course the call to chastity, the indissoluble
nature of marriage, the essential link of sex and fertility, and the sacredness
of human life from conception, will all be dead letters, heavy and dry laws
without anything to recommend them.
