THE Bishops from around the world have commenced the first week of a three week Synod on the Family.
Initial attention has been on liberal versus conservative bishops – the Pope being seen as more liberal.
The issues have been focused on the divorced and re-married; to some extent, same-sex marriage and the Church’s process of annulment.
It would, I ( Fr Dennis) think, be fair to say that the Bishops from developing countries are somewhat impatient with the concentration by Bishops from the developed world on divorce and homosexuality.
However, the scope of the Synod has attempted to be much broader. Especially the Bishops from the developing countries will want to focus on critical issues for their people.
These include acute domestic violence; fathers absent from home seeking work; hunger and shortage of water and the delicate task of handling religious differences within families.
Many of these Bishops will also want the Synod to critically address an international order that in their countries keeps families in poverty and erodes the environment on which they rely.
It seems to me that several positions prevail among the Bishops. Whether liberal and conservative does justice to the variety of views is to be questioned. I read one group maintaining that in our society, including Catholics, people should be free to adopt their own value system without discrimination.
This implies that divorced and remarried people should not be denied Holy Communion and that homosexual people should not be judged because homosexuality is, both an orientation and a choice.
Another line of thought holds that as Catholics, we inherit a faith and moral tradition which is accepted and passed on to the next generation.
Although people who do not live by this tradition should be treated with respect, the tradition of the Church relating to homosexuality, divorce and Eucharist should be, at all times, clear and uncompromising to an admittedly uncomprehending world.
Obviously, it seems to me, the Bishops hold this latter view. No one should be surprised that Pope Francis endorses the Catholic and papal tradition on this or that point. What else would one expect and want?
What the Synod needs to determine has to do with practice. Certainly, the position on divorce and homosexuality is clear. But, what of the practice of denying divorced people Communion? And, if and to what extent, can the Church welcome people who are at the margins?
These will be defined by the Bishops at the Synod. But welcoming people is at the heart of the Francis papacy and, the final decisions of the Synod, will reflect whether they see this merciful practice as more than peripheral to the life of the Catholic church.