The extraordinary synod on challenges to the family now
meeting in the Vatican is an historic event.
A light has been lit in this meeting –not as bright
as the Pentecost two thousand years ago, not as warm as the Second Vatican Council
50 years ago –but there is light and warmth emanating from the synod hall in
the Vatican.
By calling this synod Pope Francis is encouraging
collegiality in what might well be an unprecedented way.
He has gathered some 200 bishops plus others from around the world
and requested 12 married couples to join the assembly to offer their experience
of family life.
One of the couples, Ron and Mavis Pirola of Sydney,
Australia, spoke before the assembly on opening day. Having been married for 55
years and being the parents of four children they obviously qualify as
representatives of family life in practice.
Perhaps their most telling observation was recounting
an incident in the life of their friends:
“Friends
of ours were planning their Christmas family gathering when their gay son said
he wanted to bring his partner home too. They fully believed in the Church’s
teachings and they knew their grandchildren would see them welcome the son and
his partner into the family. Their response could be summed up in three words, ‘He’s
our son.’”
The Pirolas were simply giving the bishops an example
of the tension that families must face in very day life.
And they linked their example to an observation in
the instrumentum laboris, the working
document which the bishops had received to jump-start their discussion. In part
one, chapter one, number 4 of the instrumentum
laboris the bishops were reminded that the Church looks to the Christian family
in order to fully understand her mystery.
The universal Church can learn from the domestic
church!
The domestic Church, the Christian family,
experiences the same tension which the Church constantly faces, “the tension of
upholding the truth while expressing compassion and mercy.”
In the family the response is “He’s our son.” In the
Church should the response be any different?
The light and warmth of the family is a light and warmth for the Church at large.
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