A questionnaire about the Church’s teachings, including birth control and same-sex unions, is being distributed to all households in preparation for Synod of Bishops on the Family next October.
It is being carried out as part of the Vatican’s move to gauge pastoral challenges.
Whether they are single, married, widowed, separated, divorced or cohabiting, and whether they are Catholics or non-believers, respondents are being asked for their opinions on a number of Church teachings in line with the Pope’s request.
The Archbishop’s Curia said in a statement that the Maltese Episcopal Conference had commissioned research institute Discern to simplify the questionnaire without removing any of its substance.
So besides having both English and Maltese versions, Discern divided some of the queries into several questions.
The questionnaire is being mailed to all households and is also available online. It should be returned by December 31. It can be left in boxes set up purposely in churches, submitted online, or posted.
If there is more than one person in a household that would like to answer the questionnaire, copies will be available at parish churches or Discern office at the Archbishop’s Curia in Floriana.
In its statement, the Curia urged people not to look up answers if they did not know how to reply but to skip the question and answer the rest of the survey. The aim is to get a picture of what people know and think.
The Synod of Bishops in Rome must receive all the countries’ reports by the end of January. The questionnaire asks whether the respondents accept the Church’s teachings on family life and what cultural factors hinder full acceptance of them.
In a section called ‘Marriage according to the Natural Law’, it asks what importance Parliament, the Courts and Civil Administration give to ‘Natural Law’. It also asks how respondents think the Church should approach non-practising Catholics and declared non-believers who request the celebration of marriage by the Church. In the fourth section, it asks how many young couples they know are living together for a trial period before marriage.
The survey tackles also issues of divorce, annulment, birth control, civil union and adoption by same-sex couples.
The questionnaire is available online at www.kwestjonarju.com.