\nThe cardinals\u2019 helpful essays address the challenge of providing adequate marriage preparation in a secularized world, the need for evangelization and conversion, the relationship between charity and truth, the situation of divorced and remarried Catholics, and the demands of authentic pastoral care. The authors are united in their conviction that the teaching of Jesus Christ must not come into question, and that unabridged Church teaching must find its expression in the modern world. <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\nCarlo Cardinal Caffarra, archbishop of Bologna, cites Pope Francis\u2019 call for \u201cmercy and conversion\u201d but warns that without due carefulness, terms like \u201cmercy\u201d can easily be exploited. Paul Josef Cardinal Cordes, President Emeritus of the Pontifical Council <\/span><\/span><\/span>Cor Unum<\/i><\/span><\/span><\/span>, calls for Church teaching to be preserved without rupture or discontinuity, and deals harshly with the alleged paradigm shift proposed by the German bishops in which the \u201csigns of the times\u201d are declared to be the source of the faith. Jorge L. Cardinal Urosa Savino, archbishop of Caracas, sees a tendency toward secularization and argues that the Church must resist the pressure of the spirit of the world. Cardinal Savino warns that admitting to Communion persons who have civilly remarried after divorce would contradict the longstanding doctrinal tradition of the Church. Camillo Cardinal Ruini, vicar general emeritus of His Holiness for the Diocese of Rome, concurs and proposes, instead, that the problem about admitting the divorced and civilly remarried to Communion should be addressed, in part, by a simplification of the annulment process.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\nMarriage preparation is a recurrent theme in the essays. Joachim Cardinal Meisner, archbishop emeritus of Cologne, discusses challenges which must be addressed in marriage preparation, including an \u201ceducation for love\u201d which reiterates the theme of marriage and sexual morality, including the connection between love and fertility, and the language of the body as an expression of love. Robert Cardinal Sarah, prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, is concerned that especially in the Western world, the majority of young people who wish to marry are already cohabiting. Sexuality taken for granted, Cardinal Sarah writes, is no longer an expression of love but a form of narcissism for two.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\nSpecial problems confronting the Catholic Church in Africa are addressed by John Cardinal Onaiyekan, archbishop of Abuja (Nigeria), who discusses polygamy, premarital sexual relationships, and the importance of offspring. Cardinal Onaiyekan further reminds the reader that the purpose of the synod is not to change Church teaching or to revisit doctrinal issues, such as whether divorced and remarried couples can continue to receive Holy Communion or whether two men or two women can present themselves at the altar for marriage. Rather, the synod has been called to confirm the faith, to study the pastoral challenges confronting the Church, and to allow bishops to compare notes with one another so as to know how best to deal with these pastoral challenges. <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n\u00a0<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
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Well, it\u2019s been an interesting week for Synod-watchers! In what John Allen has wryly called \u201cletter-gate\u201d, Australian Cardinal George Pell reportedly hand-delivered a letter to Pope Francis on October 5, detailing concerns about the structure of the Synod. According to Allen, who relied on a report from veteran Vaticanista Sandro Magister, the letter raised three […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":556,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[43,49,1367,270],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-30529","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-books","category-catholic","category-synod","category-vatican"],"yoast_head":"\n
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