Cole was a New Zealand observer at the 2015 Synod on Families.

She is calling on the church to listen "with deep empathy" to lay people and to "re-examine its teaching on marriage and sexuality, and its understanding of responsible parenthood, in a dialogue of laity and bishops together."

Cole said that while the church's teaching on conjugal love and responsible parenthood in "Humanae Vitae" has "great beauty and depth," couples who struggle with either low-income, mental health problems or other difficulties find it hard to abide by those tenets.

"As an ex-board member of Natural Family Planning, I know that this method of contraception permitted by 'Humanae Vitae' is an effective method for motivated couples," she said.

"Every family has difficulties which might lead them for a period of time to use artificial contraception in the interests of responsible parenting."

"Marriage naturally leads to a desire for children, which is a biological imperative and a great grace of the sacrament."

"In my experience, very few couples suppress this desire, with its constraints tending to be the couple's resources to cope, not selfishness," she said.

"Laypeople are not trusted to make good decisions in conscience, and they often feel subjected to exacting rules which take no account of context or of stages of spiritual development," she said.

She also said that "too many in authority responded to clergy sexual abuse in a way which demonstrated that they lacked the expertise in sexuality and psychology to make good decisions, with the result they became complicit in perpetuating enormous harm, harm done to laypeople."

"There are 270 bishops and cardinals participating in the synod and voting on its outcome," writes Rosie Scammell in Crux.

"A number of other participants, including lay couples and representatives from other churches, have been invited to give their opinions, but will not be able to make decisions on the final text."

"That includes more than two dozen women who have been called to present their views."

"The rows of seats in the synod hall, where Catholic bishops are meeting to discuss family issues, are filled with bishops and cardinals — all male. To find any women, look to the back of the room," she says.

"The women's distance from the heart of the synod hall reflects fears raised by women's groups that their participation is a mere token on the Vatican's part."

Source

• cruxnow.com
• thebostonpilot.com
• Image: ncronline.org thebostonpilot.com

Before leaving he asked Catholics to "remember all who will participate in the Synod especially our own participants from New Zealand and Oceania - Sharron Cole, Bishop Charles Drennan and John Kleinsman, as well as Cardinal Soane Paini Mafi (Tonga) and Archbishop Peter Loy Chong (Fiji), and Archbishop Mark Coleridge (Brisbane), Bishop Eugene Hurley (Darwin) and Dr Maria Harries from Australia."

"It is a real privilege, and responsibility, that Mrs Sharron Cole and Dr John Kleinsman will be with Bishop Charles Drennan and me at this Synod of Bishops." he said.

The working document for the synod was published in June and outlines the three main areas of reflection for the synod:

1. Considering the challenges of the family, such as the socio- cultural contexts of families today, the special needs of the elderly, disabled, migrants, and the family as the place of first formation in affectivity, friendship and love.
2. Discernment of the Family Vocation, examines family life as image of the Trinity, the bond between church and family, and also addresses the fear of marrying among many young people.
3. The Mission of the Family today, celebrating "a symphony of differences".

The next Synodal assembly is entrusted to the Holy Family of Nazareth, Jesus, Mary and Joseph, who urge "us to rediscover the vocation and mission of the family" (Francis, General Audience, 17 December 2014).

The working document provides the following prayer:

Prayer to the Holy Family

Jesus, Mary and Joseph,
in you we contemplate
the splendour of true love,
to you we turn with trust.

Holy Family of Nazareth,
grant that our families too
may be places of communion and prayer,
authentic schools of the Gospel
and small domestic Churches.

Holy Family of Nazareth,
may families never again
experience violence, rejection and division:
may all who have been hurt or scandalized
find ready comfort and healing.

Holy Family of Nazareth,
may the approaching Synod of Bishops
make us once more mindful
of the sacredness and inviolability of the family,
and its beauty in God's plan.

Jesus, Mary and Joseph,
graciously hear our prayer.

Amen.

Cardinal John Dew has been confirmed as the substitute.

He will serve as the representative at the synod should Bishop Drennan be unable to attend for any reason.

The Vatican has confirmed the the Bishops' choice along with of 47 other delegates chosen by bishops' conferences around the world.

Not every bishops' conference was represented in Saturday's list, as some still need to hold their general assemblies where they will select their candidates and substitutes.

Delegates listed in the announcement included 7 from Africa; 3 from Asia; 3 from Oceana; 17 from Europe; and 10 from Central and South America.

The Synod will take place 4 - 25 October.

Like its 2014 precursor, the focus of the 2015 Synod of Bishops will be the family, this time with the theme: "The vocation and mission of the family in the church and the modern world". Continue reading

The media are focused on the possibility that changes may be made in such matters as birth control and reception of the Eucharist by Catholics who have divorced and remarried.

The majority of Catholics who are aware of the synod are focused on those same concerns.

In the meantime, five cardinals are among those who have authored a book that is clearly meant to head off any relaxing of discipline inspired by Pope Francis' pastoral approach.

In fact, they go beyond trying to head off relaxation and actually attempt to refute the pope, though they use Cardinal Walter Kasper (whose views the pope has endorsed) as their ostensible target.

Clearly, they are worried.

However, low expectations are in order.

There may in fact be some pastorally oriented moves at the synod, but it is unlikely that there will be immediate change.

A call for "more reflection, study and prayerful consideration" is the likely outcome.

As with just about everything in the Catholic Church, decisions about what is worth consideration and what should result from such reflection will be made by people representative of no one but themselves.

Though celibate males are a statistically insignificant portion of the human race and even of the Church, the synod for the family will consist of post-middle-age celibate males who, in the phrase jokingly used by clerics, "have no children to speak of".

Those men do not live in families, and probably have not done so since adolescence.

They do not know of what they will speak nor the implications of what they will decide.

Even worse, the larger portion of the Church and the group most intimately involved in the life of families — women — will only be present as a few decorative elements. Continue reading

Source

• Fr William Grimm in UCA News

Maryknoll Father William Grimm is the publisher of ucanews.com.