"It's really heartening to see so many who want to be involved and have their say." said Isabella McCafferty, a member of the National Youth Council.

The organisers are hoping a lot more people will participate in the survey before it closes at mid-night on 27 August.

Individuals or groups can complete the survey: Click here to have your say if you are under 30 years old.

The New Zealand bishops say Pope Francis "wants to hear from young people and has asked us to ask you! We would like to hear from all young people, whether you feel closely connected to the Church or not."

The organisers of the survey are aware that wording of the questions may put people off. They were supplied by the Holy See in the Synod Preparatory Document and are not like the everyday language used in New Zealand.

"Please don't let this put you off responding. You may like to focus on the questions that are most meaningful to you and skip those you don't wish to answer."

The survey is anonymous and the survey answers do not contain any identifying information.

Hamilton Bishop Steve Lowe says "this is a wonderful opportunity for young New Zealanders to have their voice heard on what matters to them in their lives, their faith and how they feel about the Church."

The survey will contribute to a worldwide initiative by Pope Francis to better understand the lives, attitudes and concerns of young people around the world, in the lead up to the Synod on Young people, faith and vocational discernment in Rome, October 2018.

Source

• Supplied: New Zealand Catholic Bishops
• FaceBook
• Image: FaceBook

Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle of Manila told the Catholic News Service he found the responses "shocking, if I am allowed to use that word".

"Shocking because almost in all parts of the world, the questionnaires indicated that the teaching of the Church regarding family life is not clearly understood by people," he said.

"And the language by which the Church proposes the teaching seems to be a language not accessible to people," he added.

"So this is my hope, not for change - how can you change the biblical teachings?

"But maybe a real pastoral and evangelical concern for the Church: How do we present the good news of the family to this generation, with its limitations, with its greatness, with its unique experiences?

"We should not be talking only to one another," Cardinal Tagle continued.

"The gospel of the family, the good news that is the family, should be presented to families where they are and how they are," the cardinal added.

In February, Pope Francis appointed Cardinal Tagle as one of three presidents of the synod.

The cardinal said that in the Philippines, poverty can cause couples to separate.

Couples are forced to find jobs elsewhere in the Philippines or in other countries and that separation contributes to major challenges for families, especially children, he said.

At the synod in October, bishops will examine responses to the Vatican survey which included questions on communion for divorced and remarried persons, same-sex couples and teaching on contraception.

A second synod in October 2015, will seek to establish guidelines in the pastoral care of the person and the family.

English Cardinal Vincent Nichols warned that it would not be "a speedy process about one or two key issues".

Cardinal Nichols said he had been struck by one survey respondent who stated: "The Church needs to uphold marriage but create space for where it fails."

He said this "captures the heart" of how the Church must respond during the synod process.

Sources

• Catholic News Service
• The Tablet
• Image: National Catholic Reporter

The bishops acknowledged that Church teaching can sometimes be a challenge, with some respondents seeing the teaching "as disconnected from real-life experience".

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Bishop Tom Burns of Menevia said the UK bishops should publish the findings of the survey.

It asked questions on cohabitation, contraception and same-sex marriage.

This is in the interests of transparency, he said.

In an article for The Tablet, Bishop Burns notes "the height and depth and width of the intense pleas made by God's people for urgent attention to their pastoral needs".

"Publish and be delighted!" wrote Bishop Burns in defiance of the England and Wales bishops' conference's insistence that it would not be publishing the survey results, at the request of the Vatican.

He said they should follow the lead of the bishops in Germany and Switzerland who have published the survey's findings.

In total, 16,500 responded to the survey in England and Wales, including many lapsed Catholics.

Eighty percent of those who filled out questions about Communion for the divorced and remarried, same-sex marriage, and contraception were laypeople and 69 percent were married.

An editorial in the The Tablet argued: "The failure to inform English and Welsh Catholics how their views have been summarised comes close to a breach of faith."

One lay Catholic wrote to Cardinal Vincent Nichols of Westminster to ask: "Can you explain why we are not being given access to the results which is, in fact, our data?"

In the United States, a Pew Research study found a majority of American Catholics favour changes to Church teaching, but few expect this to happen.

Sources:

• The Tablet
• National Catholic Reporter
• Catholic Culture
• Image: The Guardian

These are the initial findings in Germany and Switzerland to the Vatican's worldwide survey, that found most Catholics in these countries dispute Church teaching on birth control, premarital sex, gay sex and banning divorced people from remarrying in the church.

The German bishops said while many still respect the Church's ideal of stable marriages and a happy family life, the results of the survey were "sobering".

Less than 3% of Catholic couples said they used Church-favoured natural family planning, sometimes called the rhythm method, they said.

On the positive side, while almost all German Catholics approved of artificial birth control, the survey results show the vast majority are against abortion.

The report also identified that while German Catholics favoured the acceptance of the legal recognition of same-sex union as 'a commandment of justice' and believed the Church should bless the relationships, most did not want gay marriage legalised.

Calling the law that prevents divorced Catholics from remarrying within the Church, "merciless", the report said most Germans found the remarriage rule to be one of unjustified discrimination against these faithful churchgoers.

In response, the German bishops are suggesting the Church should move away from what it called its "prohibition ethics" of rules against certain acts or views and stress "advisory ethics" meant to help Catholics live better lives.

In sexual morality, it should find a way of presenting its views that does not make people feel it is hostile to sex.

Responses to the worldwide survey are being compiled as part of the resource for the October 2014 Extraordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops.

Sources

• Reuters
• ABC News
• Independent Catholic News

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