Many Catholics in England and Wales are concerned at a legalistic and punitive response by the Church to those who cannot live up to the ideal of marriage.
That was one of the conclusions of a report summarising responses to consultation by the England and Wales bishops ahead of next month’s synod on the family.
The responses came from more than 2000 Catholics in 16 dioceses.
The 28-page document noted that the admission of divorced and remarried Catholics to Holy Communion was consistently contentious.
One diocese listing it as the principal issue of concern and another stated it was the “single most common theme”.
“Many write of happy and fulfilling marriages but often with a sting in the tail regarding their children having difficult and broken relationships and not keeping the faith,” the summary noted.
“The disturbing and damaging effect on children is frequently referred to.”
A number of parents refer to the difficulty of passing on the faith to their children who perceive the Church as holding “outdated and misogynistic views”.
The summary stated: “Virtually no-one is opposed to the ideal of marriage but many are disturbed by the legalistic and punitive response of the Church to those who cannot live up to the standard.”
Cardinal Vincent Nichols of Westminster said one of the major challenges facing the synod was how to identify a pattern of conversion that would allow the divorced and remarried back into full communion with the Church.
“How do we find accompaniment for these people,” he said.
The cardinal noted that the divorced are not a “category”, but are “people on a pilgrimage, like all of us”.
Cardinal Nichols also said he believed the Catholic Church had not yet fully developed the concept of what a sacramentally-valid marriage involved.
Evidence for this, he said, were the reforms of the annulment process announced by Pope Francis earlier this month.
Sources
- Catholic Herald
- The Tablet
- Image: Spectator