Top clergy considering whether Catholicism must change its approach to sex and marriage Monday blew away some long-time Vatican watchers by saying the Church must “turn respectfully” to non-traditional relationships — including unmarried and same-sex couples — and “appreciate the positive values” those unions may have.
The comments came in a document cardinals prepared as a summary of what has happened during the first half of the two-week long “synod” Pope Francis had called. The document was the first real information the Vatican has released on what’s gone on in the meeting of 190 top clergy, who are launching a deeper look at church teaching and practice around family issues. It’s meant to guide further talks during the synod and in coming months.
The document reaffirmed that traditional teachings are the “ideal” but was remarkable to some in its openness and lack of emphasis on condemnation of untraditional relationships.
On same-sex unions, the document said, “Without denying the moral problems connected to homosexual unions it has to be noted that there are cases in which mutual aid to the point of sacrifice constitutes a precious support in the life of the partners.”
The Rev. James Martin, a Catholic writer with the Jesuit magazine America, wrote the document was “stunning.”
“The Synod said that gay people have ‘gifts and talents to offer the Christian community.’ This is something that even a few years ago would have been unthinkable, from even the most open-minded of prelates — that is, a statement of outright praise for the contribution of gays and lesbians, with no caveat and no reflexive mention of sin,” Martin wrote. “That any church document would praise same-sex ‘partners’ in any way (and even use the word ‘partners’) is astonishing.”
Similar language was used when discussing everything from living together to divorce. In a section titled “the relevance of emotional life,” the clergy wrote that in a society with economic challenges and changing norms a “greater need is encountered among individuals to take care of themselves, to know their inner being, and to live in greater harmony with their emotions and sentiments, seeking a relational quality in emotional life. In the same way, it is possible to encounter a widespread desire for family accompanied by the search for oneself. But how can this attention to the care for oneself be cultivated and maintained, alongside this desire for family? This is a great challenge for the Church too. The danger of individualism and the risk of living selfishly are significant.”
What concrete changes could come of this language wasn’t clear, and many lines in the document were phrased as questions. Many Catholics who have left the church cite teachings that ultimately condemn things like being gay or using contraception. Some leading clergy involved in the meeting immediately challenged the document and pushed for more edits and detail. Some wanted there to be a clarification that Catholicism teaches “some unions are disordered.” Some challenged the idea that holiness and truth can be found outside the church when you’re talking about core issues like marriage.
The document is a kind of jumping-off point for discussion. It will be rewritten again when the synod closes this weekend and is meant to launch a year of conversations and reflections among Catholics. In the fall of 2015, Pope Francis has planned a second synod at which actual pastoral changes could be proposed.
In releasing the document at a news conference at the Vatican, Luis Antonio Tagle, a top cardinal from the Philippines, noted debate was just beginning: “The drama continues.”
“In pastoral terms, the document published today by the Synod of Bishops represents an earthquake, the ‘big one’ that hit after months of smaller tremors,” John Thavis, one of the deans of Vatican reporting, wrote Monday.
On people who marry outside the church or create families without marriage, the document wrote, a “new dimension of today’s family pastoral consists of accepting the reality of civil marriage and also cohabitation. . . .” and “In such unions, it is possible to grasp authentic family values or at least the wish for them. Pastoral accompaniment should always start from these positive aspects.”
Longtime Vatican reporter John Allen wrote the document could offer a perspective on family and sex akin to the one the landmark Second Vatican Council did on ecumenism, or the Catholic Church’s relations with other parts of Christianity. While before Vatican II, many Catholics hesitated to even walk into a Protestant church, after such “taboos were gone,” Allen wrote Monday. “Without overdramatizing things, something similar may be going at the 2014 Synod of Bishops on the family vis-a-vis people living in what the church considers “irregular” situations.