Vatican Asks for Parish-Level Input on Synod Document —Will American Catholics get to Participate?
I’d like to ad some perspective here.
The Vatican repeatedly issued publications in times past to make it clear the people from Afrika had souls and that it was the responsibility of local Priests to ensure individuals of color were “brought into the flock”. This was ignored by many in the Catholic Hierarchy before, and after the Civil War.
see: The History of Black Catholics in the United States
As with every issue concerning the Church, a long-term historical perspective has to be taken into account. American Church hierarchy does not have a good record in civil rights issues, IMHO.
I’d like to be hopeful concerning Women and LGBT rights. I’m not holding my breathe.
The Vatican has asked national bishops’ conferences around the world to conduct a wide-ranging poll of Catholics asking for their opinions on church teachings on contraception, same-sex marriage and divorce.
Archbishop Lorenzo Baldisseri, secretary general of the Vatican’s Synod of Bishops, asked the conferences to distribute the poll “immediately as widely as possible to deaneries and parishes so that input from local sources can be received.”
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It asks the conferences to quiz their populations on topics that sometimes have sharply divided the U.S. church, like the Catholic teaching prohibiting the use of artificial contraception, the possibility of a divorced Catholic to remarry or receive Communion, and the number of young people choosing to live together before marrying.NCR obtained a copy of the letter and questionnaire.
While Baldisseri asks in his letter for wide consultation on the questions, an accompanying letter sent with the U.S. version of the Vatican document does not request the American bishops undertake wide consultation in their dioceses.
That accompanying letter, dated Oct. 30, is sent from Msgr. Ronny Jenkins, the general secretary of the U.S. bishops’ conference, and only asks the U.S. bishops to provide their own observations.