Bishops will be convening in Rome in the coming days to attend an extraordinary synod with the theme ‘Pastoral challenges for the family in the context of evangelisation’.
The Catholic Church maintains “that there are absolutely no grounds for considering same-gender unions to be even similar or even remotely analogous to God’s plan for marriage and family”.
It also stresses its belief that “men and women with homosexual tendencies must be accepted with respect, compassion and sensitivity.” And “every sign of unjust discrimination in their regard should be avoided”.
To define the word ChurchI shall quote Pope Paul VI when he said: “Because the Church is a communion, there must be participation and co-responsibility at all her levels.”
The forthcoming meeting has been labelled by the Maltese Church authorities as being an assembly that will be a defining moment in the history of the Church.
In his simplicity and joy, Pope Francis looks intent on re-invigorating the Church with pastoral messages that are easy to understand, positive, promote compassion and bear witness to the love and divine mercy of Jesus Christ. Having families flourish in a stable and loving relationship is important from a personal, civil and, more so, a spiritual perspective. Doing good and avoiding evil as a basic moral tenet of life does not exclusively belong to our faith or any other, for that matter.
Just as in civil society, the family constitutes an important nucleus of the Church.
Is it not true that the difficulties faced by the family have today incrementally increased? The working paper prepared in anticipation of the synod mentions many of them: secularisation, cohabitation, broken families, divorce, families on the verge of poverty, teenage pregnancies, violence and abuse, the pressures of having both parents work and same-gender families. How does one explain and correlate the gospel message to those who are experiencing one of these situations?
One of the many dilemmas facing Christians worldwide is the ever-dwindling numbers of church-goers. Participation in Church activities is sometimes considered not necessary for one to form part of the Church. No, I am not only referring to regular Sunday Mass but also to participation in other pastoral activities.
The word Church is derived from a Greek word meaning assembly. It must be an assembly of all who profess faith and vow allegiance to the teachings of Christ.
I perceive an evangelical Church as the shepherd or carer, a provider of emotional and spiritual support to all including the emarginated, the sick and the infirm. In carrying out this duty, the carers must have a vocation calling, the requisite training, knowledge, disposition and patience to be there to support people in their pains and joys.
The coming family synod faces a difficult and daunting task
The coming synod faces a difficult and daunting task but it promises to be an exciting opportunity to re-establish us members as a source of evangelisation and to enhance our intimate encounter with Christ.
It will certainly attempt to find a compassionate solution to retaining all sheep within the fold without contradicting Church doctrine. It will evaluate the reasons for the decline in the number of people receiving the sacrament of reconciliation. Church activities have to be focused on the core message of our faith and move the attention away from rituals that have overtaken the liturgy.
Evangelisation is not about telling stories, festivities, petards and band marches. It is about leading the faithful to an amazing experience to such an extent that one would profess the gospel through one’s living example. The Church will not move away from its doctrine which has been written, passed down through the ages and guided by divine intervention.
However, I can see the Church delivering the Christian message with a renewed strength and vigour that would attract droves back to Church assemblies.
Evangelisation is about repeatedly explaining the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. Let no one forget that His life is the most significant episode in history that changed humanity to a more profound perspective of life and death, the main virtues being forgiveness and mercy. Evangelisation is about always savouring the attractiveness and meaning of one’s calling in life being clerical or married or single, for that matter.
It is about bringing to practice the teachings of Christ in our encounters with other members of the Church.
Evangelisation is about increasing and improving the participation of the family in pastoral activities thereby showing the importance of God in the presence of the family.
Evangelisation is about showing right from wrong without in any way alienating persons who might be finding spiritual difficulties in their life. It must be a non-judgemental show of prudence and tolerance to complex situations that we might not necessarily have an understanding of today.
Evangelisation is about dispelling the reasoning that religion does not have a place in civil issues. It’s not about excommunicating those who express themselves incongruent to the teachings of the Church. It’s the other way round: Christian values can mould civil issues.
Evangelisation is about teaching people to come out of a spiritual state of isolation and solitude because the message has always been that we are not alone.