if it were its only concern. "Fidelity and indissolubility should be referred   
   to   
   as a gift and call, rather than in the legal terms of duty; they should not be   
   perceived as superimposed on commitment, but rather as deeply integrated into   
   the language of love and within its theological dimension. Marriage should be   
   considered as a call to love and communion".   
    The Spanish group recommends that emphasis be placed on gradualness and   
   processuality in understanding the process by which God communicates the grace   
   of the Covenant, educating by taking into account each person, progressively,   
   in   
   their community, correcting, accompanying and forgiving. As part of divine   
   pedagogy, processuality is also present in Tradition and in the Aparecida   
   document, notes the rapporteur Cardinal Jose Luis Lacunza Maestrojuan. "There   
   are expressions that render marriage and the family absolute, while Jesus   
   relativises them in the Kingdom of God. There are encounters between Jesus and   
   specific persons in specific contexts, but it emphasis should be given to those   
   that occur in the context of the family: Lazarus and his family, Peter and his   
   famiyl ... Jesus always opens doors. God's faithfulness is expressed in the   
   sacrament of marriage, but in a human way: 'quidquid recipitur, ad modum   
   recipientis recipitur'. The indissoluble fidelity of marriage is a mystery that   
   includes fragility. We have a theology of the family and the marriage, but more   
   closely linked to morality. The Magisterium should present the Gospel of the   
   family in an organic and integrated from. Following the thesis of the 'semina   
   Verbi', the many positive values in other types of families cannot be   
   overlooked".   
    Several groups attribute great importance to the preparation of young couples   
   for marriage and the need to support them on their journey. While the French   
   group B notes a significant reduction in marriages in European capitals, the   
   Latin American Cardinal Lacunza, who clarifies that "when talking about young   
   people and marriage, it is done from the perspective of fear, which is not   
   enough, it is an anthropological question: they live in the moment, 'for ever'   
   does not fit in with their way of thinking". Perhaps we could speak about   
   informality: perhaps we have surrounded marriage with so many formalities that   
   do not fit into the minds of young people who often identify formality with   
   hypocrisy. Moreover, to say that they are afraid or do not dare would   
   contradict   
   the experience of many young people who accept the risk of volunteer work or   
   risk for political or other struggles".   
    The French group B also reports that the members have voted unanimously in   
   favour of the proposal that "the proclamation of the Gospel of the family today   
   demands a magisterial intervention to simplify and render more coherent the   
   current canonical theological doctrine on marriage", and that it must support   
   the definition of the family "as a subject of pastoral action".   
    In this regard, the French group, whose rapporteur is Archbishop Paul-Andre   
   Durocher of Gatineau, Canada, notes that "shared pastoral experiences lead us   
   to   
   see that in the Church, speaking about families means speaking about a human   
   reality that is inscribed in time and in space. ... Every famliy has its   
   genealogy that entrenches it in a history and a culture. ... This complexity is   
   the place and the occasion for the manifestation of the mystery and the mercy   
   of   
   God. We wish to express our hope that the Synod will open up a period of   
   patient   
   seeking by theologians and pastors with the intention of establishing the   
   correct directions for family pastoral ministry, translating the horizon of the   
   family to a horizon of communion. We are less in need of adaptations of   
   universal discipline than a solid basis for reflection and pastoral   
   commitment".   
    The concept of family as mission is also recurrent. The Italian group C speaks   
   about the "evangelising value of marriage and the family" and calls for a "new   
   style of closeness to families on the part of the Church, a contagious   
   closeness, a strong and demanding tenderness". The members insist that "the   
   Christian community should be a family of families, measuring its pastoral   
   action according to the style of the family and transmitting in this way a   
   humanising force to the life of the world, to overcome the tendency towards   
   individualism".   
    "The Synod Fathers have found it very useful to refer to Pope Francis'   
   catechesis on the need to harmonise an appreciation of the sacramentality of   
   marriage and attention to its creaturely dimension", write the members of the   
   Italian group A, who also call for the text of the Instrumentum Laboris to be   
   completed with the addition of the spiritual and pneumatological dimension,   
   open   
   to the sensibility of the Eastern tradition. Translated into a more concrete   
   proposal, this makes more explicit the primacy of grace, the recognition of sin   
   and the need to inspire conversion. Grace does not act only at the time of the   
   celebration of the sacrament but rather throughout life, as it is a permanent   
   sacrament like the Eucharist".   
    Cardinal Coleridge, of the English group C, comments on "the need to explore   
   further the possibility of couples who are civilly married or cohabiting   
   beginning a journey towards sacramental marriage and being encouraged and   
   accompanied on that journey", and in the English group D, a number of bishops   
   emphasised that the document should explore further the role of women,   
   recalling   
   that many suffer abuse by their husbands. "We need to be realistic about   
   marital   
   problems rather than simply encouraging people to stay together", the text   
   affirms. In the same group, another prelate remarks that "exemplary families   
   are   
   sometimes difficult for people in painful circumstances to see as positive".   
   Some bishops suggest that the text present the canonical reasons for separation   
   of spouses and reasons for seeking an annulment.   
    Another common concept is the vocation to family life and family spirituality,   
   and therefore the English group A, whose rapporteur is Archbishop Joseph E.   
   Kurtz, suggests a consideration of best practices, "which would show families   
   how to more fully and faithfully live out their vocation". These would include   
   receiving the Word of God in the family, family catechesis and the explicit   
   encouragement of the use of para-liturgical prayers and rituals within the   
   family setting.   
    Cardinal Coleridge's group also suggests that the final document present a   
   series of clear initiatives or strategies to help families and to support those   
   in difficulty, in harmony with the essentially practical nature of this second   
   Synod on the family.   
    The English group A notes that "in the past, the Holy Father often used the   
   final approved texts as a basis for an Apostolic Exhortation and we spoke of   
   the   
   fruitfulness of this approach. However, we recognise the limitations of a   
   document that will be approved at the conclusion of this Synod. Though every   
   effort should be made to provide for streamlined, attractive language, a   
   primary   
   concern was the clarity of well-grounded explanations of Church teaching on   
   marriage and the family".   
    Again considering the final document, the Spanish group B considers the   
   approach of the Synod. "The doctrine is known", its members write, "but the   
   needs of reality and the new emphases of theological reflection must be taken   
   into account in order to truly make a meaningful contribution. More explicit   
   reference is suggested to texts from both the Old and New Testaments (God's   
   nuptial love for His people), as well as the rich post-conciliar Magisterium on   
   the family".   
    The Italian group B comments on the need for a magisterial document: "given   
   that the Synod is not able to respond to the need to reorder in a complete and   
   exhaustive document the complex and diversified doctrine on marriage and the   
   family, it is necessary, on the one hand, to require a magisterial document   
   that   
   responds to this need, and on the other, to consider the pastoral aspects   
   relevant to the issue. In this respect, the Fathers express the need to   
   consider   
   the mission specific to pastoral mediation in the transmission of doctrine".   
      
   ___________________________________________________________   
      
    Other Pontifical Acts   
    Vatican City, 14 October 2015 (VIS) - The Holy Father has appointed:   
    - Fr. Jonny Eduardo Reyes Sequera, S.D.B., as apostolic vicar of Puerto   
   Ayacucho (area 184,000, population 231,000, Catholics 177,000, priests 30,   
   religious 68), Venezuela. The bishop-elect was born in Caracas, Venezuela in   
   1952, gave his religious vows in 1976, and was ordained a priest in 1979. He   
   holds a bachelor's degree in theology from the Pontifical Salesian University,   
   Rome, and a licentiate in moral theology from the Alphonsianum Academy, Rome.   
   He   
   has served in a number of roles, including local superior of the San Lucas   
   Seminary in Caracas, local superior and provincial counsellor in the Don Bosco   
   College of Valencia, provincial vicar, and provincial superior. He is currently   
   master of novices. He succeeds Bishop Jose Angel Divasson Cilvetti, S.D.B.,   
   whose resignation from the pastoral care of the same apostolic vicariate upon   
   reaching the age limit was accepted by the Holy Father.   
    - Bishop Roque Paloschi of Roraima, Brazil as archbishop of Porto Velho (area   
   84,696, population 680,000, Catholics 464,000, priests 44, religious 165),   
   Brazil.   
    - Bishop Pablo Virgilio Siongco David, auxiliary of San Fernando, Philippines,   
   as bishop of Kalookan (area 40, population 1,269,243, Catholics 1,173,422,   
   priests 42, religious 70), Philippines.   
      
   ___________________________________________________________   
      
   For more information and to search for documents refer to the site:   
   www.visnews.org and www.vatican.va   
      
   Copyright (VIS):  the news contained in the services of the Vatican   
   Information Service may be reproduced wholly or partially by quoting   
   the source:  V. I. S. - Vatican Information Service.   
   http://www.vatican.va/news_services/press/vis/vis_en.html   
      
   --- MPost/386 v1.21   
    * Origin: Sursum Corda! BBS=Huntsville AL=bbs.sursum-corda.com (1:396/45)