Pro-life coalition warns about synod document direction

Tuesday, August 18th, 2015

The pro-life coalition Voice of the Family has warned the working document for the synod on the family threatens elements of Church teaching.

An analysis by Voice of the Family critiqued the Instrumentum Laboris for omissions and ambiguity in wording.

The document “threatens the entire structure of Catholic teaching on marriage, the family and human sexuality”, the coalition warned.

A LifeSiteNews article stated that a tactic similar to one enacted at Vatican II is being used.

In order to get wide agreement, vague, ambiguous and even apparently conflicting language is used to appease all sides.

These expressions were later referred to as “time bombs” which some theologians were able to exploit following the council for the purpose of undermining the Church’s traditional teachings, the article stated.

One example cited by the coalition is the Instrumentum Laboris’s reference to Paul VI’s Humanae Vitae without any use of the word “contraception” or any direct reference to any contraceptive method.

The synod document states that the “two principal points” of Humanae Vitae are first about the role of conscience and second “an objective moral norm” without ever defining that moral norm, Voice of the Family objected.

The Instrumentum Laboris is also faulted for stating that “the family, while maintaining its privileged spot in education, cannot be the only place for teaching sexuality. [par 86]”

The Voice of the Family analysis cited the teaching of St Pope John Paul II in Familiaris Consortio, where the pope leaves open the possibility that sex education can be done solely in the home.

He wrote: “Sex education, which is a basic right and duty of parents, must always be carried out under their attentive guidance, whether at home or in educational centres chosen and controlled by them.”

Voice of the Family co-founder John Smeaton called on Catholics to oppose “the direction being taken at the synod”.

Sources