Voris has been critical of Synod Fathers, including Cardinal John Dew of Wellington, who have called for a more pastoral approach in the area of human sexuality.

Voris is the founder of Church Militant and is known worldwide for his show The Vortex, "where lies and falsehoods are trapped and exposed."

The website claims "Michael will give you nothing but the pure truth of Catholicism while exposing the lies and falsehoods that have infiltrated Holy Mother Church."

He conducted speaking tours of New Zealand in 2012 and and again in 2015.

In October 2015 in his series of posts called Synod Profile Voris singled out Dew because he had called for less "offensive" language towards homosexuals, and supported the idea of opening Holy Communion to those in adulterous unions.

Church Militant has consistently been critical of "so-called progressives" at the Synod on the Family, including Dew.

"Dew of New Zealand is yet another Synod Father advocating for pleasant language, especially on homosexuality," wrote Bradley Eli in a post on churchmillitant.com in October last year.

Why did Voris choose this time to reveal his past?

Voris said he decided to reveal the details of his past when he heard the New York archdiocese was gathering information about his past life with the aim of publicly discrediting him and the work he does.

He says he regrets not revealing the nature of his sins before because it was "limiting God" and perhaps not letting his example inspire others in homosexual lifestyles to turn to God for help.

During the Vortex special, Voris apologised to "anyone who is wounded" by the revelations.

He said he "did not intend to deceive" but only "didn't see the need to provide up-close detail of past sins."

Voris says he does not know what ramifications to his apostolate will come of the revelation.

Source

• lifesitenews.com
• Image: churchmilitant.com

The document, the result of two back-to-back synods of Catholic bishops in 2014 and 2015, will be titled "Amoris laetitia, On Love in the Family."

Cardinals Lorenzo Baldisseri and Christoph Schonborn, alongside Italian lay people Francesco and Giuseppina Miano, will present the document in a press conference.

Several reports said the document is rather lengthy, perhaps even as long as 200 pages. The pope reportedly signed the document on March 19, feast day of St. Joseph and the day marking the inauguration of his papal ministry in 2013.

"I expect the papal document to be a typical Bergoglio combination of challenge and encouragement," said Archbishop Mark Coleridge of Brisbane, Australia.

Coleridge, who attended the 2015 synod as one of two prelates elected by the Australian bishops, said he hoped Francis could both encourage people who are married or contemplating marriage while "unmasking some of the lies and half-truths that have gathered around marriage and the family in more recent times."

Leading Vatican observer John Allen Jr. wrote that the document "is certain to trigger" debates in the Church.

Speaking to reporters flying with him from Mexico to Rome in late February, Pope Francis said the document "will summarize all that the synod said," including about broken families, the importance of serious marriage preparation programs, raising and educating children, and "integrating" divorced and civilly remarried Catholics into active parish life even if they cannot receive Communion.

Sources

The Tablet
National Catholic Reporter
Crux
Image: Crux

The first and third would be daily affairs; the second would be more sporadic. Both participants and observers wondered what effect the second and third would have on the first.

As things turned out, the short answer to that initial puzzlement was "not much," except by way of providing occasional amusement and aggravation. As always, the mainstream media kept looking for confirmation of its Rorschach-blot reading of Pope Francis as the long-awaited papal reformer who would adjust Catholic doctrine and practice to the zeitgeist, especially in terms of the sexual revolution.

The blogosphere, dependent on the mainstream media for what it foolishly regarded as accurate information, was divided between those who enthusiastically shared these hopes for a Franciscan revolution of a liberal Protestant sort, and those who were scared to death that the enthusiasts were right about the pope from the end of the earth.

So the media synod and the blogosphere synod followed their own prepackaged scripts, and were not very interesting as a result.

The actual synod, however, was another matter.

Real issues were debated, with real consequences at stake. Some of this was visible atop the froth of the mainstream media and blogosphere commentary. How would the Catholic Church settle the argument, launched by Cardinal Walter Kasper in February 2014, about its long-standing and doctrinally informed discipline of not admitting the divorced and civilly remarried to Holy Communion? And beneath that debate, other and deeper issues loomed.

Perhaps the most fundamental involved the claims of revelation on the pastoral life of the Church. Did the Catholic Church still affirm the Second Vatican Council's teaching in the Dogmatic Constitution on Divine Revelation, Dei Verbum, on the reality and binding force of divine revelation?

How was revelation to be related to the signs of the times, which the Church was enjoined to read by Vatican II's Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World, Gaudium et Spes? And how did all of that bear on the relationship between mercy and truth, between pastoral accompaniment and pastoral challenge, between one's condition of life and one's ability to receive the grace of the sacraments? Continue reading

Sources

• First Things, from an article by George Weigel, who is Distinguished Senior Fellow of Washington's Ethics and Public Policy Center.
• Image: OSV Weekly

He said that if the bishops thought we were all waiting with bated breath for their decision regarding the divorced remarried receiving Communion, then they really do live in cloud cuckoo-land.

Nowadays divorced Catholics don't just hang around waiting for a bevy of bishops to decide. They follow their consciences and do what they think is right, especially if they have talked to a sensible, pastoral priest.

Sure, many have understandably walked away from the church, but many have stayed having made their own decisions about going to Communion - the internal forum solution.

So really it's irrelevant what the Synod decided.

Even on the gay issue sensible Catholics already understand that talk about people being ‘intrinsically disordered' is not only utterly insensitive; it is also ‘intrinsically' un-Christ-like and evangelically ‘disordered'!

But that doesn't mean the Synod was a failure. It was a success because it recovered something of the church's Catholicity.

Genuine Catholicism implies a universal, multi-ethnic, non-sectarian church, a community of many parts and differing views.

My major criticism of the two popes before Francis is that they were essentially ‘uncatholic'; they promoted a narrow, ‘pure', sectarian church, the antithesis of Catholicity.

That's why they loved outfits like the Neo-Catechuminate and Opus Dei; they are sectarian in structure and intention.

But the bishop of Rome, as Francis likes to be called, encouraged the synod to be genuinely Catholic and, unlike his predecessors, called on participants to express views that differed from his own.

For the first time since Paul VI revived the Synod in 1965, this gathering was actually free. Bishops could speak their minds and weren't constantly second-guessing the pope. Continue reading

• Paul Collins is a Canberra-based historian, author and broadcaster. See his webpage at www.paulcollinscatholicwriter.com.au

NewstalkZB reports that the church describes the selection of 4 New Zealanders as a significant number for a small country, especially one with a small Catholic population.

The Archbishop of Wellington, Cardinal John Dew, and Palmerston North's Bishop Charles Drennan will be voting members.

The chair of Parents Centres New Zealand, Sharron Cole, and bioethics expert, Dr John Kleinsman, will be attending as non voting members.

Cardinal Soane Patita Mafi, Bishop of Tonga, and the Archbishop of Suva, Peter Loy Chong will be representing the Pacific Island nations.

The bishop of Kundiawa, Anton Bal, is representing Papua New Guinea and the Solomon Islands.

Drennan and Loy Chong and Kundiawa have been elected by their respective Bishops' Conferences as their representatives.

Cardinals Dew and Mafi are have been appointed by the Pope.

Cole, a mother of four adult children, says she is keen to offer her experience as an everyday Catholic woman and New Zealander.

"I'm not a theologian and there are lots of women who have that experience," she said.

"I see my role as bringing a pastoral perspective to what effect church teaching has on people in their everyday life."

John Kleinsman is director of the Nathaniel Centre, the New Zealand Catholic Bioethics Centre.

Communications advisor to New Zealand Catholic Bishops Simone Olsen said it was important for isolated geographic regions like New Zealand to be represented.

"I think in this case he has done that by including countries like Tonga and other Pacific nations that are not traditionally Catholic," Olsen said.

More than 360 participants, including 18 married couples from around the world are expected to attend October's Synod of Bishops on the family.

In addition to the 166 synod members elected by their national bishops' conferences, 22 heads of Eastern Catholic churches, 25 heads of Vatican congregations and councils and 10 heads of men's religious orders, the pope appointed an additional 45 synod fathers to take part in the Oct. 4-25 gathering.

Source

• nzherald.co.nz
• newstalkzb.co.nz
• Image: parentscentre.org.nz maristmessenger.co.nz

With a heart full of appreciation and gratitude I want to thank, along with you, the Lord who has accompanied and guided us in the past days, with the light of the Holy Spirit.

From the heart I thank Cardinal Lorenzo Baldisseri, Secretary General of the Synod, Bishop Fabio Fabene, under-secretary, and with them I thank the Relators, Cardinal Peter Erdo, who has worked so much in these days of family mourning, and the Special Secretary Bishop Bruno Forte, the three President delegates, the transcribers, the consultors, the translators and the unknown workers, all those who have worked with true fidelity and total dedication behind the scenes and without rest.

Thank you so much from the heart.

I thank all of you as well, dear Synod fathers, Fraternal Delegates, Auditors, and Assessors, for your active and fruitful participation. I will keep you in prayer asking the Lord to reward you with the abundance of His gifts of grace!

I can happily say that - with a spirit of collegiality and of synodality - we have truly lived the experience of "Synod," a path of solidarity, a "journey together."

And it has been "a journey" - and like every journey there were moments of running fast, as if wanting to conquer time and reach the goal as soon as possible; other moments of fatigue, as if wanting to say "enough"; other moments of enthusiasm and ardour.

There were moments of profound consolation listening to the testimony of true pastors, who wisely carry in their hearts the joys and the tears of their faithful people.

Moments of consolation and grace and comfort hearing the testimonies of the families who have participated in the Synod and have shared with us the beauty and the joy of their married life. Continue reading

Sources

• Vassallomalta
• Image: Church Militant TV News

It was a gripping story, filled with colorful characters.

There were the great lions of the reform camp, such as Cardinal Leo Suenens of Belgium and Giacomo Lercaro of Italy, facing off against the old guard, personified by Italian Cardinal Alfredo Ottaviani, whose episcopal motto Semper Idem, "Always the Same," was an entire ideological program in miniature.

Underneath the drama was the sense that something momentous was happening — a Church that had seemed frozen in place was suddenly on the move.

Whether it was doing so in a wise or haphazard fashion is a matter of debate to this day, but no one denied that the plates were shifting.

Over the past two weeks, that kind of drama has been back on the Vatican beat.

Synods of Bishops under John Paul and Benedict tended to be fairly cut-and-dried affairs.

There were always interesting points made along the way, and while intriguing fault lines opened up and fascinating insights were voiced from different corners of the Catholic world, there was rarely much suspense about the final result.

That certainly cannot be said about the Synod of Bishops on the family in October 2014.

On Monday, the world was stunned when Cardinal Péter Erdő of Hungary, who's serving as the synod's general reporter, delivered what's known as the relatio post disceptationem, the "speech after the debate," meaning a sort of interim report.

In the past when that speech was set to be delivered, sales of No-Doze in pharmacies around the Vatican would spike notably — but not this time. Continue reading

Sources

• Crux
• Image: The Russian Orthodox Church

In late October, the Vatican sent to national bishops' conferences a preparatory document and questionnaire for the 2014 Synod of Bishops on the family with the directive to circulate them "as widely as possible." The questions ask about topics like knowledge and acceptance of church teachings, family transference of the faith, marital issues (including natural law, divorce/annulments, and same-sex unions), and contraception.

Much attention has focused on how various bishops and dioceses would distribute the questionnaire, which NCR made public, and gather responses. While reform groups and lay organizations have joined the data collection push, valid research from social scientists already provides brushstrokes toward a portrait of the modern American Catholic family.

For example, NCR has sponsored a longitudinal study on American Catholic beliefs and practices with surveys conducted every six years since 1987. The most recent version, titled "Catholics in America," appeared Oct. 28, 2011. Similar, extensive work has been conducted by the Public Religion Research Institute (PRRI), the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate (CARA) at Georgetown University, and the Pew Research Center's Religion and Public Life Project.

While not all questions posed by the Vatican fall under the scope of previously conducted studies, a wealth of information still exists.

Currently, Catholics in the United States number 78.2 million, about a quarter of the population. About 25 percent of U.S. Catholics attend Mass weekly. According to the NCR survey, more than half are of the post-Vatican II (born 1961-78) and millennial (born 1979-93) generations. A third are Hispanic. As of 2011, two-thirds have been married (54 percent currently, 69 percent of those validated by the church), and 10 percent live with a partner, while a fifth of respondents reported they have never married.

The synod survey first asks how Catholics understand (Question 1a) and accept (1b) family-related church teachings contained in the Bible, Gaudium et Spes, Familiaris Consortio and other documents. Though not specifically gauging comprehension of these texts, recent studies provide insight into U.S. Catholics' familiarity with such teachings.

In its 2007 survey on marriage, CARA found 34 percent of Catholics reporting high familiarity with church teachings on marriage, and 37 percent somewhat familiar. The percentages jumped when examined through Mass attendance, what CARA identified as "a strong indicator of the general importance of Catholicism in a person's life and of his or her level of commitment to living out the faith." Among weekly attendees, 59 percent describe themselves as very familiar with marriage teachings.

Catholics showed little interest (30 percent) in further learning of marriage teaching, with CARA noting "perhaps because they are already relatively familiar with Church teaching on marriage." At least a quarter expressed interest in learning more about commitment and fidelity; divorce, remarriage and annulments; and interfaith marriage. Just 19 percent were interested in further information about the church's family planning teachings. The preferred medium for such information was print or online resources (40 percent) — almost twice as much as interpersonal interaction, whether in groups, retreats or conversations with their pastor.

For the most part, CARA reported that Catholics could accurately identify church teachings on marriage — it is a sacrament when between two baptized persons; openness to children is an essential part; considered good for individuals and the community — but other studies found that recognition did not necessarily equal adoption.

In the 2011 NCR survey, researchers pointed to a post-Humanae Vitae effect, where the Vatican's rejection of contraceptives dented its moral authority, evident in the five surveys conducted since 1987. The latest figures show Catholics siding with personal conscience as the final decision-maker on the morality of remarriage without an annulment (47 percent), abortion (52 percent), nonmarital sex (53 percent), homosexual activity (57 percent) and the use of contraceptives (66 percent).

Further, Pew found in 2009 that unaffiliated former Catholics, when asked why they left their faith, cited unhappiness with teachings on abortion and homosexuality (56 percent), on birth control (48 percent, too strict for the vast majority), and on divorce and remarriage (33 percent).

At the end of Section 1, the Vatican asks what cultural factors have hindered reception of church teaching. Pew found about a third of Catholics said pop culture or civil law at least somewhat influenced their view of marriage, but more pointed to family experiences (two-thirds) and their faith (55 percent).

In two separate 2011 polls, the PRRI found familiarity a factor in opinions toward abortion or same-sex marriage: Among the 61 percent of Catholics who have a gay friend or family member, two-thirds favored legalizing same-sex marriage (up 11 percent from all Catholics), and more than half of the 60 percent of Catholics who know a woman who has had an abortion support its legalization in most cases. [Read More]

Source

NCR Online
Image: NCR Online