Many of you may have already heard different comments on the document and the media has turned to search for details on the most controversial topics, such as - can remarried divorcees once again take communion? While the document responds to these questions, that is not the objective. The main objective is to help us to live as a family, as God intended, that is to say with love, but with a love that is tangible, practical, profound, that manifests in action more than with words.
This document is the result of two synod sessions (dialogues of bishops from around the world) and from a worldwide consultation. The bishops, presbyterates, deacons and laity in all dioceses had the opportunity to answer the questionnaire where we were asked for our opinion regarding the reality of family in our local environment. I responded to that questionnaire and participated in the team that prepared the synthesis that our Bishop sent the Synod. Therefore our diocese has been heard and based on that we can say this document is ours.
Precisely because it is a document derived from consultation from around the world, it can certainly affirm that the topic of family is a difficult one, complex because it concerns many situations, because it develops in very different cultural contexts, and still family is a universal value that continues and will continue to be the basis of society, the institution that equips children to enter all other institutions and structures of society.
By affirming that it is a complex theme it does not avoid the most controversial of topics, but it proposes them from the most profound respect in the tradition of the Church. The document did not change any of the doctrine regarding matrimony and family, but it does invite us to educate and form our conscience so that with freedom we can respond to every individual situation that we are to live in our family history.
To manifest this fidelity in the tradition of the Church, the Pope permanently cites conciliar documents; the Catechism of the Church, Canon Law, but in a special manner gathers the doctrine regarding matrimony and family from recent popes - Paul VI, John Paul II and Benedict XVI.
Before the “irregular situations” the document emphasizes what the Church has always taught. However, it also proposes that we judge from a point of charity, that we respect the conscience of each person, and that we accept that each one of us and all people reach the ideal of matrimony and family in a gradual manner. He restates recent Papal actions that allow local ecclesial tribunals to be more efficient in the processes of marriage annulment and that remarried divorcees are not excommunicated from the Church but must discern their situation with their local priest to find the best solution to their individual situation.
It is a document that references the Word of God throughout its pages. There’s a chapter dedicated to the family from the perspective of Sacred Scripture, but the entire document abounds in quotations from Scripture and the most inspirational pages are precisely the comments from Pope Francis on biblical texts that talk about matrimony and love. The commentary to the hymn on charity from the Letter to the Corinthians is simply extraordinary. You cannot miss it. As I read it, I felt as if the Pope was writing it for me, explaining that which I need in order to be happy with my wife.
In the document we can see it addresses the situation of the family in a holistic manner, it addresses feelings and emotions. It suggests that when the situation requires it, the support of psychologists, doctors and counselors should be sought out to confront problems. It rejects all forms of violence in the family and it sides with victims in all these terrible situations. It understands that there are inevitable situations of divorce, but it asks that the children be cared for as they are the defenseless victims of these decisions. In the end I can only conclude that it is a document that all people of good will must read.
Must a document be read from the beginning? I’ve heard some people who’ve already read it suggest that we begin from chapter four and then the fifth and then the entire document. I believe that is a good strategy, because many will see themselves in those two chapters, and then will be curious to read the rest. What I do think is important is that you know that it is a document for all, it’s like the letter from a good friend that advises us from the heart.
Dr. Jose Antonio Medina is the Director of the Office of Continuting Education for Priests in the Diocese of San Bernardino.