Dear Parishioners,
Pope Francis has called an Extraordinary Synod planned for 5-19 October 2014 on the Pastoral challenges facing the family in the context of Evangelisation.
The Bishops have been asked to seek input by as many of the faithful as possible. His Excellency Bishop Tarabay with the Bishops of NSW explain the purpose of the Synod and how we can participate in a letter and I have included excerpts below.
It is important to realise that the Extraordinary Synod, like the Second Vatican Council, will be a pastoral rather than a doctrinally-focused gathering. We hope that this will help the Catholic and wider community to respond to the real-life challenges faced by families.
Therefore, the Catholic moral teaching on basic issues such as sexuality, marriage and family will remain in place.
The Church, under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, seeks your contribution to a conversation the Holy Father has invited us to enter, and we hope for a wealth of thoughtful and prayerful responses as we work to maintain Gospel truths, strengthen family life, and reach out and help all people caught up in difficult situations.
The Holy Family offers us a unique model of family life. What is particular to Jesus, Mary and Joseph, is not that they were immune to life’s concerns. On the contrary, persecution and hardship dogged them. Yet Jesus Christ lived in the heart of their home, and we see in both Our Lady and St Joseph, people who remained attentive to God’s Word.
May the work of this Synod help inform our church how to respond more effectively to the pastoral issues faced by families.
And speaking of family I was invited to speak with Year 9 students Our Lady of Lebanon College on family. We realised the same values we hold for being good friends is what we hold for being a good family and they are the same values that Jesus teaches us.
Our Maronite Eparchy of Australia is invited to participate in answering these questions which can be found on the link below:
https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/MaroniteSurveyFamilySynod
