Relatio – Circulus Germanicus
Moderator: Cardinal Christoph Schönborn, O.P.
Relator: Archbishop Heiner Koch
With great consternation and sorrow we have become aware of utterances made in public by some synod fathers about people, contents and the synod process. These are in contradiction to the spirit of journeying together, the spirit of the synod, and its ground rules. The images and comparisons used are not just undifferentiated and false, but also hurtful. We decisively dissociate ourselves from them.
In the German language group, it was a mutual concern to add the subtitle “Thoughts and Suggestions for the Holy Father, Pope Francis” to the title of the Relatio Finalis, “The Vocation and Mission of Family in the Church and the World of Today”, thereby clearly characterizing the text as not being a final document. For its introductory part, we suggest referring to the world wide questionnaires undertaken, and to express gratitude and esteem for these.
In the interest of a more pronounced expression of the family as the subject of pastoral care, it should be pointed out that Christian families are called to witness to the Gospel of Marriage, which is entrusted to them, with their lives. Christian married couples and families through this are a part of the new family of Christ, his Church. This is how married couples are allowed to be a sacrament for the world. The “new family of Jesus Christ”, the Church, should encourage, strengthen, and empower married couples to live this witness. In doing so, the Church always also herself learns from the life- and faith-experiences of married couples and families.
At this point, it was important to us to affirm: In the falsely understood effort to uphold the Church's teachings, harsh and merciless attitudes came about again and again in pastoral care, in particular towards single mothers, children born out of wedlock, people in premarital or non-marital life partnerships, toward persons with homosexual orientation, and toward divorced-and-remarried persons. As bishops of our Church we ask these persons for forgiveness.
We also debated extensively the connection of language, thought, and action, in particular with a view toward a humane expression of human sexuality. An appropriate and renewed language is critical in particular for leading maturing children and youth toward a mature human sexuality. This is primarily the responsibility of parents, and cannot be left only to education in schools, the media, and social media. Many parents and people working in pastoral care find it hard to find a language that is both proper and respectful, which explains aspects of biological sexuality within the wider context of friendship, love, enriching complementarity, and the mutual self-gift of woman and man.
The working group found it important to emphasize that a Christian point of view basically assumes that God created man and woman and blessed them so they may be one flesh and fertile (Gen 1:27ff; 2:24). Man and woman are God’s good creation in their equal personal dignity, as they are in their distinctness. Following on from a Christian point of view of the unity of body and soul, biological sex and sociocultural gender can be distinguished analytically, but cannot be fundamentally or arbitrarily separated from one another. All theories that consider the gender of a human being as a social construct and that want to socially enforce an arbitrary exchangeability are to be rejected as ideologies. The unity of body and soul includes the concrete social self-awareness and the social role of man and woman as they are expressed differently in cultures and as they undergo change. Therefore, it is a positive sign of the times which the Church appreciates and supports, that the personal dignity and public responsibility of women finds increasing awareness (John XXXIII, Pacem in terris 22).
We spoke about the connection between baptism and the sacrament of marriage, and the necessity of faith.
The Catholic profession of faith about marriage is based on the words of our Lord in Holy Scripture and Apostolic Tradition, and has been faithfully upheld in its substance by the Magisterium of the Church. Nonetheless, in its theological expression, there are tensions between the dogmatic, moral-theological, and canonistic approaches, which can lead to difficulties in pastoral praxis.
Thus the axiom that “every marriage contract between Christians is a sacrament per se” must be rethought. In societies that are no longer homogenically Christian, or countries with different cultural and religious imprints, a Christian understanding of marriage can no longer be taken for granted even among Catholics. A Catholic who does not believe in God and his revelation in Jesus Christ, cannot automatically solemnize a sacramental marriage, without understanding or perhaps even against his own will. The intention is missing [in such cases] to at least will for that which the Church understands by this act. While the sacraments do not come about through the faith of those receiving them, they can also not come about without them or even against them; at the least, God's grace stays infertile, because it is not accepted freely and willingly with the belief that is determined by love.
Furthermore, the question must be asked about those among our fellow Christians who reject, in accordance with their denomination, the sacramentality of marriage (with the resulting essential properties), whether, contrary to their religious belief, a sacramental marriage has been brought about. This would not mean that, from a Catholic perspective, the legitimacy of non-Catholic marriages would be contested or that the workings of God’s grace in non-sacramental marriages thrown into question. We recognize the multitude of studies on this question and recommend a deeper study of these questions with the goal of a doctrinal re-evaluation and greater coherence of the dogmatic, moral-theological, and canonistic pronouncements on marriage with regard to pastoral practice.
We have an amendment on the matter of interconfessional marriages: With a view to the topic of interconfessional marriage, the positive aspects and the special vocation of such a marriage must be mentioned, since non-Catholic Christians by no means stand outside the one Church, but rather, through baptism and a certain, albeit incomplete, community are part of the Catholic Church (cf. Unitatis redintegratio 3). An interconfessional marriage is also to be seen as domestic Church, and has a specific vocation and responsibility which consists in the exchange of functions within the ecumenism of life.
With a view to the importance of the family in society and the state, the working group emphasized as a point of departure that marriage and family precede the state. They are the foundation and the “vital cell of society” (Apostolicam actuositatem 11). Without families there can be no polity. Therefore, the political commonwealth has a duty to do everything in its power to empower this “vital cell” and support it on an ongoing basis. The “structural recklessness” against families which has been lamented frequently must be overcome. The means to this end are, in particular, access to accommodation and work, access to education and childcare, as well as a fairer tax legislation for families, which recognizes in a just way what families contribute to society. It must be quite clear that it is not the family that has to subjugate itself to economic interest, but the other way around. The commitment to families is at the center of Catholic social teaching, which is an essential part of ecclesial proclamation and evangelization. All Christians are called to get involved in the field of political formation of the social space, and to thereby help that families can live together better and blossom. In this matter, politics must apply the principle of subsidiarity in particular, and not limit the rights of the family. Here, the reminder of the “Charter of Family Rights” is in order. The Church as a whole must commit to contributing actively and in an exemplary fashion in the area of family education, child care, schools, counseling services, and family assistance.
With a view to marriage preparation, the working group was concerned to point out that a brief conversation or a short introduction do not suffice. Since many couples about to be married cannot build on an education formed by the faith, the introduction of a catechumenate of marriage is strongly recommended, which will take at least several months, to really arrive at a mature wedding vow that is carried by the faith, in full awareness of the finality of the bond of marriage and trusting in the faithfulness of the Lord.
The question of responsible parenthood was also one of the central conversation topics of the working group. Following from how God ordered creation, the conjugal love of a man and woman is ordered to transmitting human life. God has made man and woman participants in his creative work and has called them to resemble interpreters of his love, and to put the future of humankind in their hands. This duty of creation man and woman should realise in responsible parenthood. They should decide on the number of children and the amount of time between having them in the eyes of God and under consideration of their economic status, the situation of the soul [sic] and society, of their own well-being and the well-being of the children as well as the well-being of the whole family and society (Gaudium et spes 50). In accordance with the personal and holistic human character of marital love, the right path of family planning is an amicable conversation of the spouses, the consideration of the rhythm, and respect for the dignity of the partner. In this sense the encyclical Humanae vitae (10-12), as well as the apostolic exhortation Familiaris consortio (14, 28-35), should be re-assessed and the preparedness to have children awakened against a mentality often inimical to life and to some extent to children.
Again and again young married couples must be encouraged to have children. From this an opening for the life in family, Church, and society grows. The church can contribute through its many institutions for children to a more child-friendly society and Church. Taking on the challenge of responsible parenthood requires the formation of conscience. Conscience is “the most secret core and sanctuary of a man. There he is alone with God, Whose voice echoes in his depths” (GS 16). The more married couples embark on the path of listening to God in their conscience, and the more they let themselves be spiritually directed by this, the more they will be free within from making decisions based on affective inclinations and on trying to conform to the way society around them behaves. For the sake of the freedom of conscience, the Church with all her strength rejects any attempt at enforced state measures of contraception, sterilization, or even abortion.
We extensively discussed the integration of civilly remarried divorcees into the community of the Church.
It is well known that in both sessions of the synod there was an intense struggle over the question of whether, and to what extent, remarried divorcees, when they want to take part in the life of the Church, under certain conditions could receive the sacraments of Confession and the Eucharist. The debates have shown that there are no simple and generic solutions. We bishops have experienced the tensions connected to these questions as much as many of our faithful, whose concerns and hopes, warnings and expectations, have accompanied us in our deliberations.
The discussions clearly show that a clarification and deepening is required to more deeply delve into the complexity of these questions in the light of the Gospel, the Magisterium of the Church, and the gift of discernment. That said, we can mention some criteria that help to discern. The first criterion is given by Saint Pope John Paul II in FC 84, when he invites to the following: “Pastors must know that, for the sake of truth, they are obliged to exercise careful discernment of situations. There is in fact a difference between those who have sincerely tried to save their first marriage and have been unjustly abandoned, and those who through their own grave fault have destroyed a canonically valid marriage. Finally, there are those who have entered into a second union for the sake of the children's upbringing, and who are sometimes subjectively certain in conscience that their previous and irreparably destroyed marriage had never been valid.” It is therefore the responsibility of pastors to walk the path of discernment together with the afflicted. It will be helpful here to collectively, in an honest assessment of conscience, take steps of reflection and penance. The divorced-and-remarried should ask themselves how they treated the children when the marriage community fell into crisis. Where there attempts at reconciliation? What is the situation of the partner left behind? What is the effect of the new partnership on the wider family and the community of the faithful? How is this affecting the role of being an example to younger people who should consider marriage? An honest appraisal can strengthen the trust in the mercy of God which is refused to no one who brings his failure and distress before him.
Such a path of reflection and penance can, in the internal forum, with a view to the objective situation in conversation with the confessor, contribute to the personal formation of conscience and to a clarification to what extent access to the sacraments is possible. Everyone must assess themselves, following the words of the Apostle Paul, which applies to everyone who approaches the table of the Lord: “Let a man examine himself, and so eat of the bread and drink of the cup. For any one who eats and drinks without discerning the body eats and drinks judgement upon himself. That is why many of you are weak and ill, and some have died. But if we judged ourselves truly, we should not be judged.” (1 Cor 11:28-31)
The modi of the third part of the instrumentum laboris were worked on in a good synodal spirit, like the first two parts, and decided upon unanimously.
Archbishop Heiner Koch
Relator of the German Circle
20 October 2015