Church Today

CHURCH TODAY Volume XLV, No. 10 www.diocesealex.org Serving the Diocese of Alexandria, Louisiana Since 1970 October 20, 2014 O N T H E INSIDE Extraordinary Extraordinary Synod Synod of Bishops of Bishops on the Family comes to a close comes to a close Dialogue about issues facing today’s family has come to a close Agenda for next year’s synod will -- ending a historic two-week Ex- come from dialogue of this year’s traordinary Synod of Bishops. Extraordinary Synod More than 250 people from around the world, each appointed by Pope Francis, participated including cardinals, bishops, priests, re- ligious order reps, and lay people. While no definitive conclusions were made, the dialogue will be used to set the agenda for the next meeting of bishops to be held at the Vatican in October 2015. Read more about the issues discussed on pgs. 2-3. This year’s All Saints Day is not a Holy Day of Obligation Because this year’s All Saints Day falls on a Saturday, the obligation to attend Mass has been aborgated (lifted). But All Souls Day is on Sunday, Nov. 2 -- a day when Catholics are obligated to pray for the dead. Find out more about All Souls Day and why it is important to pray for those who have passed on -- page 11. PAGE 2 CHURCH TODAY OCTOBER 20, 2014 Historic Extraordinary Synod of Bishops comes to a close Archbishop Kurtz hopes synod’s final report will ‘refine and clarify’ By Francis X. Rocca Catholics, cohabitating couples bishop said. Catholic News Service and those in same-sex unions. The controversy over the re- The initial report stated, “In Editor’s Note -- The discussions on these two pages show only port prompted the synod’s Gener- VATICAN CITY (CNS) regard to homosexuality, there what was discussed during the family synod. Nothing on these al Secretariat to issue a statement -- Archbishop Joseph E. Kurtz was noted the need for welcom- two pages are definitive conclusions. Pope Francis used the Oct. 14, lamenting that a “value of Louisville, Kentucky, said ing, with the right degree of pru- has been attributed to the docu- he hoped the final report of the dence, so as not to create the im- synod to LISTEN to what people are saying. The Synod in ment that does not correspond to Synod of Bishops on the family pression of a positive valuation October 2015 will generate proposals for the pope’s approval. its nature” and emphasizing that would improve on the assembly’s of that orientation,” the summary it is a “working document, which midterm report in celebrating ex- said. “It was hoped that the same summarizes the interventions and emplary families, encouraging care would be taken in regard to debate of the first week, and is missionary outreach and empha- cohabitation.” sitions which many synod fathers the cardinal said. “You don’t have now being offered for discussion sizing that the church’s pasto- Many members of the synod do not accept and, I would say, to be a rocket scientist to see the by the members of the synod.” ral efforts must be grounded in objected to that statement, saying as faithful shepherds of the flock approach at work, which is cer- Following the cardinal’s ad- Scripture and Catholic teaching. it did not accurately reflect the as- cannot accept. Clearly, the re- tainly not of the church.” dress, the 191 synod fathers split The archbishop, president of sembly’s views. sponse to the document in the dis- Archbishop Stanislaw into 10 discussion groups orga- the U.S. Conference of Catholic Another part of the first re- cussion which immediately fol- Gadecki of Poznan, Poland, pres- nized by language. Archbishop Bishops, spoke to reporters Oct. port that Bishops objected to was lowed its presentation manifested ident of the Polish bishops’ con- Kurtz was one of 18 bishops 15 about the process of recom- the report’s scarce references to that a great number of synod fa- ference, told Vatican Radio that in his English-speaking group, mending amendments to the the concept of sin, and encour- thers found it objectionable.” Cardinal Erdo’s speech was not which also included Cardinal midterm report, which Hungar- aged the assembly to emulate the Cardinal Burke accused acceptable to many synod fathers, Donald W. Wuerl of Washington, ian Cardinal Peter Erdo of Esz- “prophetic tone of Jesus, to avoid leaders of the synod of giving the because it departed from the one of nine members assigned to tergom-Budapest delivered two the risk of conforming to the public a distorted image of the theology of St. John Paul II and draft the synod’s final report. days earlier. mentality of today’s world.” proceedings, almost all of which reflected an ideology hostile to The archbishop said his group Cardinal Erdo’s address Some members of the synod are closed to the press. marriage by seeming to approve completed its work that morning, stirred controversy inside and made their objections public. “All of the information re- of same-sex couples raising chil- a half-day ahead of schedule, and outside the synod hall with its U.S. Cardinal Raymond L. garding the synod is controlled dren, among other ways. had arrived at its recommenda- strikingly conciliatory language Burke, prefect of the Supreme by the General Secretariat of the The midterm report “should tions with “great unanimity.” toward people in situations con- Court of the Apostolic Signature, synod, which clearly has favored be an incentive to fidelity, family Archbishop Kurtz said the trary to church teaching, includ- told Catholic World Report that from the beginning the positions values, but instead seems to ac- ing divorced and civilly remarried the midterm report “advances po- expressed” in the midterm report, cept everything as it is,” the arch- Continued on pg. 10 What was the purpose of the Extraordinary Synod of Bishops? The purpose of the Extraordinary Synod was not to reach definitive conclusions, but to use the dialogue to set the agenda for the next meeting of bishops to be held at Vatican in October 2015. That meeting will generate proposals for the pope’s approval. POPE FRANCIS POSES WITH AUDITORS OF THE EXTRAORDI- Brigitte Paul Kelso Insurance, LLC NARY SYNOD OF BISHOPS ON THE FAMILY as he arrives for the Brigitte Kelso afternoon session at the Vatican Oct. Owner/Agent 10. Pictured next to the pope are 2918 S. MacArthur Dr. Italian Cardinal Lorenzo Baldisseri, Alexandria, La. 71301 general secretary of the Synod of Bish ops, and Archbishop Vincenzo Phone: 318.448.2226 Paglia, president of the Pontifical Fax: 318.448.2280 Council for the Family. (CNS photo) [email protected] OCTOBER 20, 2014 CHURCH TODAY PAGE 3 Synod fathers ask: Does the Church need to watch its language? Emerging theme calls for more appropriate language for today’s pastoral care By Francis X. Rocca two non-voting auditors told Pope Catholic News Service Francis and the rest of the assembly that Catholic parishes should VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- welcome same-sex couples. In official reports of the closed- In their remarks, Ron and door talks at the Synod (sin-id) of Mavis Pirola used the word “gay,” Bishops on the family, an emerg- rather than “homosexual person,” ing theme has been the call for a which has been the preferred term new kind of language more ap- in official Vatican discourse. The propriate for pastoral care today. Pirolas may have taken their cue “Language appeared many, from the pope, who famously many times,” Basilian Father used the word “gay” during an Thomas Rosica, the briefer for inflight news conference in July English-speaking journalists, told 2013. reporters Oct.7, the assembly’s The Pirolas also said much of second working day. “There’s the church’s teaching is expressed a great desire that our language in language that seems to be from has to change in order to meet “another planet” and “not terribly the very complex situations the relevant to our own experiences.” church faces.” Not all synod fathers have One bishop, whom Father the same idea of what language Rosica did not name in accor- the church should adopt or dis- dance with synod rules, report- card. In remarks to the assembly edly told fellow participants that POPE FRANCIS LISTENS as Italian Cardinal Lorenzo Baldisseri, general secretary of the Synod of Bishops, left, Oct. 9, Cardinal Andre Vingt- “language such as ‘living in sin,’ speaks during the morning session of the extraordinary Synod of Bishops on the family at the Vatican Oct. 13. At right Trois of Paris, one of three synod ‘intrinsically disordered’ or ‘con- is Cardinal Peter Erdo of Esztergom-Budapest, Hungary, relator for the synod. (CNS photo/Paul Haring) traceptive mentality’ are not nec- presidents appointed by the pope, essarily words that invite people denounced the “contraceptive mentality” he said leads many to draw closer to Christ and the Cardinal Wilfrid Fox Napier of German Cardinal Walter of the synod, but in September Catholics to think the use of ar- church.” (“Intrinsically disor- Durban, South Africa, told Cath- Kasper, whose controversial he published a widely read essay tificial birth control is not a sin. dered” is a term used by the Cat- olic News Service that “language proposal to make it easier for calling on the assembly to initiate Later that day, Cardinal echism of the Catholic Church to is something we’ve overlooked divorced and civilly remarried a range of major changes in the Vingt-Trois told CNS that, al- describe homosexual acts.) for a good while; we’ve used lan- Catholics to receive Communion church, including in its language, though the church must “find Speaking to the synod Oct.

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