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Jean-Pol Grandmont
Church News

No Catholic Church doctrine changes expected after Synod

The white paper, Instrumentum Laboris, has been released ahead of October's much anticipated III Extraordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops, where the Church will enter into a self examination on how teaching on the family should change, under the heading, "Pastoral Challenges of the Family in the Context of Evangelisation".

The initial findings are based on the responses to questions in the preparatory document which was divided into eight groups of questions on marriage and the family. 

A questionnaire document was distributed worldwide last year to a significant number of dioceses, parishes, movements, groups, ecclesial associations and families, academic institutions, specialists, both Catholic and non-Catholic, all interested in sharing their reflections.

In the document the Catholic Church has admitted that it must take some of the blame for what it calls a 'crisis of faith' among its followers.

The paper also suggests many of the problems come from the Church's weakened moral credibility due to abuse scandals and the lavish lifestyles of some priests.

The Vatican has also conceded in the review of its guidance that its rigid teaching on issues such as sex before marriage, divorce, contraception and artificial insemination has created a "deep" gap with ordinary Catholics that could be hard to bridge. 

The paper also suggests many of its problems come from the Church's weakened moral credibility due to abuse scandals and the lavish lifestyles of some priests.

However, the document has reiterated the church's opposition to same-sex marriages, saying that "there are absolutely no grounds for considering homosexual unions to be in any way similar to God's plan for marriage and family".

Peter Williams from Catholic Voices told Premier's News Hour the Synod was never expected re-write Church doctrine.

The document also suggested creating more marriage tribunals in parts of the world where they don't exist to handle annulment requests, removing the time-consuming automatic appeals or shifting to an administrative, rather than judicial process altogether.

Pope Francis has spoken out about the need for a merciful approach to the divorce-remarried issue, but it remains unclear how far he is willing to go to welcome these Catholics into fully participating in the sacramental life of the Church.

Finally, the Vatican noted that threats to the family come from everywhere, including social media, with family members spending more time checking their smart phones, saying they were "hijacked by these instruments" over maintaining virtual relationships than with one another. 

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