Pope Francis and Cardinal Timothy Dolan of the Archdiocese of New York fondly recall the pontiff’s recent visit to New York during a break at the Synod of Bishops on the Family. (Photo by Father Manuel Dorantes.)
By Dr. Dan McGuire
Do you know what happened at the recent synod on marriage and family? Not if you read the USA Today or Yahoo News. They were consumed with the topics of the divorced receiving communion and gay marriage. However, the synod fathers actually discussed the real problems faced by families today—worldwide – and how the Church might respond to them. A look at how the voting proceeded reveals some disagreements, but also overwhelming support for the traditional teaching of the church. Pope Francis stated that he will have the final word on marriage and family – and it may be soon. So let’s look at what the synod fathers actually wrote.
Vast numbers of people are living in ways that are nothing like Christ’s plan for marriage and family. The Synod Fathers offer a realistic portrait of the contemporary situation. There are a diversity of challenges and situations in different parts of the world—and the pastoral priority in some locations will different than in others. Some bishops are dealing with, marriage in stages, arranged marriages and polygamy; while we in the west might facing cohabitation and contraception.
One way to measure the controversy is by vote tally. Traditionally, the final votes taken at a synod tend to be exercises in unanimity. In several instances at this synod, the final tallies on some sections were quite different; in one case almost half of the synod fathers voted “no”. The level of contention behind such a disagreement in the final report was high – the media were not entirely sensationalizing.
The large number of “no” votes were clustered around those issues which had dominated American media coverage of the debates. The sections dealing with those who divorced and then re-married without a decree of nullity garnered negatives votes second only to the sections dealing with same-sex partnerships. Interestingly, the sections on those two topics that re-affirmed traditional teaching received nearly unanimous approval. There were certainly some bishops who saw possibilities of changes in approach, but there was virtually no support to changes in either doctrine or teaching.
There are some oddities in the report. In section 28, the report states that Jesus asked the woman caught in adultery to go and sin no more. In my Bible it appears as a command, “Go and sin no more.” Perhaps that explains why there were negative votes on this section. And in section 53, the report states that some bishops saw spiritual communion as interchangeable with sacramental communion. Other bishops objected to such a confusing statement.
The final report stresses the beauty and importance of the family as an institution and its contribution to culture worldwide. The report shows that marriage is willed by Christ as an unbreakable union of a man and a woman until death. Married couples are to be open to the gift of new life, and are forbidden to use artificial means to regulate the number births. The report also reminds their brother bishops not to neglect the faithful in their outreach to those sheep who have strayed. Concerning the most contentious issues of divorce and homosexuality, the synod fathers kicked the can down the road by calling for further study.
So what happens next? Pope Francis has already said he will write an Apostolic Exhortation based on the synod final report. As a papal document, this is guided, but not dictated by what done at the synod. As an exercise in collegiality, it does not stray too far from what the other bishops had to say either. It is notable that Pope Francis felt the need to announce he would provide his own Exhortation prior to the end of the Synod proceedings.
In short; I think Pope Francis will remind the Church to meet people where they are, but love them enough not to leave them there. This would be in keeping with the direction his papacy has taken thus far. Pope Francis may delay any writing until the further study called for in the final report (over the issues which lacked consensus) has been completed. He could, of course, simply announce his own resolution of those issues without any further study.
In the meantime, I encourage Catholics to read the final report for themselves. Educate yourself about the challenges that Catholics face in other parts of the world, and ask yourself, “What role am I called to play in strengthening marriage and family?” 
Dr. Dan McGuire is an associate professor of theology at the University of Great Falls. He served as the intellectual formation coordinator for permanent diaconate training in the Diocese of Great Falls-Billings from 2010-2014. His most recent book is, Marching Orders (Catholic Answers Press, 2015).
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