Who Are the Participants in the Bishops' Synod on Family?

(Vatican) 253 participants, are going to the III. Extraordinary Assembly of the Synod of Bishops. Among them, 14 couples will be present as experts or as auditors. The published list of the participants was announced by the General Secretariat of the Synod of Bishops on Tuesday. From the 5th-19th October, they will speak at the Vatican on the theme "The pastoral challenges of the family in the context of evangelization".

Previously there were only two extraordinary meetings in the years 1969 and 1985, which dealt with the relationship between Episcopal Conferences and collegiality of the bishops and with the implementation of the Second Vatican Council.

Of the 253 participants in 2014 191 will be actual Synod Fathers. Of these 162 will take  part from their own offices: including 25 Leaders of Dicasteries of the Roman Curia, 114 Presidents of the Bishops from around the world (36 from Africa, 32 from Europe, 24 from America, 18 from Asia and four from Oceania) and thirteen representatives to Rome of Uniate Eastern Churches, including representatives of the persecuted Christians of the Middle East and the Chaldean Patriarch of Baghdad, Raphael Louis I. Sako, Archbishop Sviatoslav Shevchuk as well as the majority of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church. Add to this the Secretary-General, the Under Secretary and the members of the Permanent Council of the Synod of Bishops, like Archbishop Timothy Cardinal Dolan of New York, Archbishop Donald Cardinal Wuerl of Washington, Archbishop Luis Cardinal Tagle of Manila, Archbishop Odilo Cardinal Scherer of Sao Paulo and Archbishop Wilfrid Cardinal Napier of Durban, where they are not already participating in other functions like Christoph Cardinal Schönborn, who is also chairman of the Austrian Bishops' Conference.

Three other synod fathers are posted by the Federation of Superiors General of the Catholic religious orders. It is the Superior General of the Jesuits, the Capuchins and the Josephites of St.. Leonardo Murialdo.

The Synod Personally Appointed by Pope Francis

26 Synod members are directly appointed by the Pope. Among them is Cardinal Walter Kasper (Germany); Cardinal Godfried Danneels (Belgium); Cardinal Angelo Sodano (Dean of the College of Cardinals); Father Antonio Spadaro SJ, the editor of the Roman Jesuit journal La Civiltà Cattolica ; Titular Archbishop Victor Manuel Fernandez, the special supporter of Pope Francis Rector of the Pontifical University of Buenos Aires (Argentina) and Cardinal Fernando Sebastian Aguilar, a personal friend of the Pope, who a few months ago was ruled against by the Spanish prosecutor's office because of "homophobia". Also included will be Archbishop Cardinal Carlo Caffarra of Bologna and Archbishop Angelo Cardinal Scola of Milan.

The synod fathers are still 62 other participants who are divided into three groups. They include 16 experts who are invited to work with the Special Secretary Archbishop Bruno Forte of Chieti-Vasto (Italy), including the couple Francesco Miano (Professor of Moral Philosophy at the University of Tor Vergata in Rome and former President of Italian Catholic Action) and Giuseppina Miano-De Simone (Professor of Philosophy at the Faculty of Theology of Naples).

Fourteen couples as experts and auditors

The second group consists of 38 auditors who have speaking rights but not voting rights, including thirteen couples. A couple comes out of Iraq as a "witness of Christian family life in an Islamic environment". The other couples are from Brazil, the Democratic Republic of Congo, the Philippines, South Africa, Chile, Rwanda, Lebanon, Italy, Australia, France and two married couples from the USA.

The third group consists of eight "fraternal delegates" of other Christian Churches as observers: Bishop Hilarion, the "foreign minister" of the Moscow Patriarchate of the Russian Orthodox Church; Metropolitan Athenagoras as a representative of the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople; Ndanganeni Peter Phaswaha, as representative of the Lutheran World Federation; Benebo Fubara-Manuel as a representative of the World Communion of Reformed Churches; Valerie Duval-Poujol as representative of the Baptist World Alliance, Paul Butler, representing the Anglican world community as well as representatives of the Syrian Orthodox and the Coptic Orthodox Church.

From the German-speaking area   come following Synod: Archbishop Reinhard Marx, Cardinal  of Munich and Freising as President of the German Bishops' Conference; Archbishop Christoph Cardinal Schönborn of Vienna as President of the Austrian Bishops' Conference; Bishop Markus Büchel of Sankt Gallen as President of the Swiss Bishops' Conference; Cardinal Gerhard Müller as Prefect of the Congregation for Doctrine and the Faith; Cardinal Kurt Koch, President of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity; Cardinal Walter Kasper (personally appointed by the Pope) and Ute Eberl as auditor.

Little good can be expected from Ute Eberl   as representative of the  Pastoral Marriage and Family.  Vatican Radio interviewed her about the appointment, as she said today:

" I expect that  because of the questionnaire, which has shown significant results in Germany, we will provide some answers as a church and world church. People of faith have said: this is how we live. And that does not fit with what the Church tells us. Now the Church is about to give answers. My big expectation is that we are going to get there together on the way to look at how we can  serve the people who live in marriage and family, I stress that: can be served - with all its challenges in happy and very unhappy days that are there too. 

It is very different world wide when the Instrumentum Laboris is read through. For the German Church, I think, the really the big question is how do we deal with the issue of divorce and remarriage; and how will we deal with it if same-sex couples want a blessing of the Church. The big question is, how can we, the people today- and I live in Berlin in a city where the Catholic Church has always been a minority -  how can we proclaim the good news in this situation. 

I think the extraordinary Synod is really there for the questions that need to be on the list which we can find out together. It will  probably be decided only a year later. But it is a pastoral synod. It is to highlight ways.  And because I think  the exchange with one another is very important. "

Reorganization of the Synod?

In two weeks, the synod, the experts and auditors will discuss the Instrumentum laboris  the working paper, which was distributed by the General Secretariat in June. The aim of the Synod was there, says Secretary Lorenzo Cardinal Baldisseri, "in order to show today's world  the beauty and the value of the family, resulting from the proclamation of Jesus Christ, who takes away  anxiety and gives hope"

The Synod's efforts are also held as a new way to promote a "dynamic participation" of the Synod Fathers. We will take steps says Cardinal Baldisseri, "to adopt rules or lay hands on a real reorganization of the Synod organism". The cardinal didn't name details.

There are no final documents  provided, as it is only to "the first stage" of the Synod of Bishops, with the 14th Ordinary Session of the 4th-25th October 2015 under the theme  "Jesus Christ reveals the mystery and appeal of the family"  which will conclude  its second stage.

Text: Giuseppe Nardi
image: Asianews

Trans: Tancred vekron99@hotmail.com

Link to Katholisches..

AMDG