Preparing for the Synod on the Family

Holy Kinship painting, altar wing (Flügel eines Altars mit Heiliger Sippe und Kreuztragung), ca. 1470/1490

Lower Rhein. Wallraf-Richartz Museum/ CorboudFoundation, Cologne

The Church is currently engaged in a wide-ranging process of prayerful reflection, discussion and consultation in preparation for the 2015 Synod on 'The Vocation and Mission of the Family in the Church and Contemporary World'. Figures published by the Bishops' Conference of England and Wales show that there was an excellent response tot he last consultation in preparation for the 2014 Synod, despite the fact that the questionnaire was poorly worded and seemed to generate considerable confusion. While the results of the questionnaires were not publish website of the Bishops' Conference:
ed, an interesting breakdown of statistics is available on the

INFORMATION ABOUT THE PRE-SYNOD CONSULTATION PROCESS

Across England and Wales, 16,500 responses to the consultation were received by dioceses via email, post or through online response forms. Analysis of 12,266 online responses indicates that 80% of respondents were laity, 69% were married and 38% were parents. 20% of respondents were in positions of responsibility within the Church as priests, chaplains, catechists, teachers, deacons, seminarians, or pastoral assistants. At least 6% were active in voluntary roles as extraordinary ministers of Holy Communion, readers, musicians, governors of schools, members of diocesan commissions, parish councils or as members of parish organisations. Nearly 1 % of respondents identified themselves as either a lapsed Catholic or a non-Catholic.

Of the respondents, 69% indicated that they are married, 17% single, 6% divorced and a little less than 6% widowed. Just over 1% indicated that they lived in a civil partnership and just under1% indicated that they were cohabiting, with the same proportion divorced and remarried. 0.5% indicated experience of the annulment process.

Distribution across the age ranges was fairly even though weighted towards the older generation: 24% were aged up to 45 years, 30% were aged 65 and older. An additional 1,163 responses were received from 57 other countries which were forwarded to the local dioceses and episcopal conferences of those countries.

A major aim of this blog and the accompanying Facebook group is to provide a forum for intelligent debate among women, in order to ensure that our voices are heard as part of the consultation process for this year's Synod. While we welcome initiatives to consult the laity about matters of family life that affect us all in different ways, we are concerned that women are still excluded from official decision-making processes in the Church, and we are yet to be fully acknowledged as a source of theological teaching and learning rooted in our different experiences of families. We hope that this blog will provide a forum for women to share their responses and reactions to the various questionnaires being circulated and to offer their comments on the synodal process, its aims and the outcomes they hope for.

With this in mind, we have prepared a questionnaire designed specifically for women. This is not an official survey, but we hope to publish some of the responses here and to collate them for submission to the Synod of Bishops by the deadline of 15th April. The questionnaire has been designed to encourage narrative responses that allow women to share their insights and perspectives, though we ask that you limit your response to each question to not more than 200 words. For more information and to download the questionnaire, please go to this link. If you are willing to share your responses, please send your completed questionnaire as a Word document to sophie.ecclessia@gmail.com.

Other useful links:

XIV Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops - 'The Vocation and Mission of the Family in the Church and Contemporary World' - Lineamenta 

The Bishops' Conference of England and Wales have produced a questionnaire with a good guide for prayerful reflection on the questions. 

Catholic Network on Population, Parenthood and Development: this is a new network with a number of helpful resources relating to the Synod, including a page with a range of links. and a theological analysis by Joseph Selling, Emeritus Professor of Moral Theology at KU Leuven.
 
The website of ourcatholicfamily.org has launched a series of initiatives and actions to prepare for the Synod.

Please bear in mind that this is a moderated blog. Only those submissions and comments that make a respectful and informed contribution to dialogue relevant to the Synod on the Family will be included. 

To find out more about this image and the artist, please go to this link.