Synod on the Family

I have to admit I have not been paying much attention to Pope Francis and the Synod of Bishops on the Family in Rome.  There was so much in the media during the pope's recent visit to our country that we could all be forgiven for a little "pope-exhaustion."

       
As the synod draws to a conclusion this weekend, it does seem that the same tensions we experience in parish life and diocesan life are becoming more public among the bishops and cardinals who are synod delegates.

Not that it's easy to agree, or even to wrap your arms around "the family."  Tom Reese, the perceptive columnist (and fellow Jesuit with Bergoglio) wrote recently five reasons the synod is doomed to fail.  One of them is the sheer number of topics to be covered.  He wrote, "The family touches everything and is touched by everything."  Here are his lists:

Social and economic factors:  unemployment, housing, war, terrorism, climate change, inter religious differences, consumerism, social media, education, etc.  "Every problem in the world has an impact on families, from addictions to political corruption."

Moral issues:  the sexual act itself, fidelity, abortion, contraception, surrogate mothers, homosexuality, divorce, gender equality, child abuse, spousal violence, etc.

Canonical and theological issues:  marriage as a sacrament, annulments, the Gospel sayings of Jesus, liturgical ceremonies, the family in the church, etc.

Phew!

You have to hand it to Pope Francis, though.  He does not seem phased by these discussions/disagreements/verbal sparring.  Again, Father Reese in another column said that Papa Francisco is positively Jesuitical in wanting full discussion, frank conversation, about the issues surrounding the modern family.  Only by honest sharing, in the Ignatian understanding of discernment of spirits, can the Holy Spirit begin to work through all the words and the people speaking to them and listening to them.  

One story does stand out for me, which I read two days ago.  In a press briefing, Archbishop Blase Cupich of Chicago spoke about how hierarchs and church pastors have to listen to persons who may be, in the delicate language of canon lawyers, "in irregular situations."  [Read the whole article here .]  That is, divorced and remarried persons, gay people in permanent relationships, and others.  Cupich said he knew a retired archbishop who said he wants his tombstone to read:  "I tried to treat you like adults."  Then Cupich went on and said, "I think that what he means by that is we really do have to have an adult Catholic response to living the Christian life.  That I think is where the Holy Father is leading us."

Cupich later said, "We should look at a way in which people are not just accompanied but integrated and reconciled.  We have to believe in the mercy of God and the grace of God to trigger conversion, rather than having it the other way around as though you're only going to get mercy if you have the conversion.  The economy of salvation doesn't work that way.  Christ receives people and it's because of that mercy that the conversion happens."

Then Cupich told this story, which to me is astounding that he supports it, and further, that he told it in a public briefing.  A priest told him of celebrating a funeral for an young man who had committed suicide.  The man's mother, the priest said, was divorced and remarried and also "very angry" at God and the church over what had happened.  When she came forward in the Communion line at the funeral Mass, she folded her arms, a common sign that she would not receive Communion [because she was divorced and remarried] but wanted a blessing from the priest.  The priest said to her:  "No, today you have to receive."

The archbishop continued, "She went back to her pew and wept uncontrollably.  She later came back to visit with the priest and began reconciliation."  Cupich went on, "Her heart was changed.  She did have her first marriage annulled; her second marriage is now in the church.  But it was because that priest looked for mercy and grace to touch her heart.  That is something we have to keep in mind.  And I think the Holy Father has talked about that."

Wow.  I wish once I could be so wise, and so merciful.  Ponder that very gospel-like story of mercy beyond measure.