“Familiaris Consortio” - still valid document about the family
The basic and, at the same time, a breakthrough document in which John Paul II formulated the position of the Church towards the family, as well as divorced people and living in new, already non-sacramental relationships - is the exhortation Familiaris Consortio. It was written after the 5th Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops on "The Family as the Object and Subject of Mission", which took place in Rome from September 26 to October 25, 1980. The Holy Father signed the Exhortation a year later, on November 22, 1981. It is worth adding, that Familiaris Consortio is the most important - and fully binding - document of the Magisterium of the Church on the family, as well as divorced people and those who are trying to find themselves in new relationships.
Motive for writing the exhortation
The reasons for writing it are twofold. First of all, John Paul II wanted to notice the rapid, most often negative, but not exclusively, changes that the modern family undergoes. The Pope writes about it in the opening words of his document: “The family in the modern world, as much as and perhaps more than any other institution, has been beset by the many profound and rapid changes that have affected society and culture. Many families are living this situation in fidelity to those values that constitute the foundation of the institution of the family. Others have become uncertain and bewildered over their role or even doubtful and almost unaware of the ultimate meaning and truth of conjugal and family life. Finally, there are others who are hindered by various situations of injustice in the realization of their fundamental rights.” (FC 1).
In these troubled times, the Church should come to the rescue to support marriage and the family - the basic and most important communities in which a person can and should learn to build relationships with others, to love and to be loved. “ Knowing that marriage and the family constitute one of the most precious of human values, the Church wishes to speak and offer her help to those who are already aware of the value of marriage and the family and seek to live it faithfully, to those who are uncertain and anxious and searching for the truth, and to those who are unjustly impeded from living freely their family lives. Supporting the first, illuminating the second and assisting the others, the Church offers her services to every person who wonders about the destiny of marriage and the family” (FC 1).
The second reason for writing the exhortation was the desire to apply the teachings of the Second Vatican Council to the life of the Christian family. This teaching can help in solving many contemporary problems of family life (FC 2). The exhortation Familiaris Consortio consists of four parts.
The main content of the exhortation
The first part is entitled: BRIGHT SPOTS AND SHADOWS FOR THE FAMILY TODAY. John Paul II points out that contemporary culture, especially the mass media, very often distorts the image of family life. It also discusses the impact of both positive and negative aspects of the present day on the family: “On the one hand - the Pope writes - in fact, there is a more lively awareness of personal freedom and greater attention to the quality of interpersonal relationships in marriage, to promoting the dignity of women, to responsible procreation, to the education of children. There is also an awareness of the need for the development of interfamily relationships, for reciprocal spiritual and material assistance, the rediscovery of the ecclesial mission proper to the family and its responsibility for the building of a more just society. On the other hand, however, signs are not lacking of a disturbing degradation of some fundamental values: a mistaken theoretical and practical concept of the independence of the spouses in relation to each other; serious misconceptions regarding the relationship of authority between parents and children; the concrete difficulties that the family itself experiences in the transmission of values; the growing number of divorces; the scourge of abortion; the ever more frequent recourse to sterilization; the appearance of a truly contraceptive mentality”.(FC 6)
The second part was entitled: THE PLAN OF GOD FOR MARRIAGE AND THE FAMILY. The basic concept is "communion" - deep community. Marriage is a communion of love for both spouses, through the sacrament it is also a communion of spouses with God. The communion of persons (communio personarum) of the family. The role of marriage is beautifully described by Tertullian, a Christian writer from the third century, quoted by John Paul II: "How can I ever express the happiness of the marriage that is joined together by the Church strengthened by an offering, sealed by a blessing, announced by angels and ratified by the Father? ...How wonderful the bond between two believers with a single hope, a single desire, a single observance, a single service! They are both brethren and both fellow-servants; there is no separation between them in spirit or flesh; in fact, they are truly two in one flesh and where the flesh is one, one is the spirit." (FC 13).
The title of the third - the most extensive - part of the document is THE ROLE OF THE CHRISTIAN FAMILY. The Pope discusses in detail the four basic tasks of the family: FORMING A COMMUNITY OF PERSONS, SERVING LIFE, PARTICIPATING IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF SOCIETY, and SHARING IN THE LIFE AND MISSION OF THE CHURCH. It is especially worth paying attention to the very strong emphasis on the dignity and mission of women. What is significant is the Synod Charter of the Rights of the Family, which consists of fourteen fundamental rights necessary for the emergence and functioning of the family, and the theological view of the Christian family as a believing and evangelizing community, a community in dialogue with God and a community at the service of man.
Final part - PASTORAL CARE OF THE FAMILY: STAGES, STRUCTURES, AGENTS AND SITUATIONS - discusses various forms of family pastoral ministry. In the first chapter, John Paul II analyzes in detail the problem of preparation for marriage from childhood, the theological significance of the wedding rite, the problem of evangelization of baptized people, but also people who do not believe or practice but want to marry in the Church, and the importance and various forms of pastoral care for families. The final fragment of this part is devoted to the pastoral care of families in difficult cases (e.g. when the whole family emigrates, one of the parents stays away from home for a long time or when these are mixed marriages) and pastoral care in irregular situations (trial marriages, persistent free unions
, Catholics, who have only entered into a civil marriage, persons who are separated or divorced, who have not remarried, and those who have remarried and persons without a family).
Special highlights
It is worth making a more detailed analysis of this part of the exhortation, contained in number 84. John Paul II recalled - clearly - that all, regardless of their life or marital situation, are called to salvation. Consequently, the Church cannot leave those who, already bound by the sacramental bond of marriage, have tried to remarry. John Paul II also assured that the Church "will make tireless efforts to make available to them the means of salvation it has at her disposal." Following this, he encouraged pastors to carefully discern the situation of each divorced person who was subject to their care. He explained that " There is in fact a difference between those who have sincerely tried to save their first marriage and have been unjustly abandoned, and those who through their own grave fault have destroyed a canonically valid marriage." He showed that " Finally, there are those who have entered into a second union for the sake of the children's upbringing, and who are sometimes subjectively certain in conscience that their previous and irreparably destroyed marriage had never been valid.”
So, he called on pastors and the whole community of the faithful to " help the divorced, and with solicitous care to make sure that they do not consider themselves as separated from the Church, for as baptized persons they can, and indeed must, share in her life." John Paul II reminded that regardless of the fact that these persons, due to the situation of their conscience, cannot participate in sacramental communion, they remain members of the Church community. He explained that the faithful can realize their relationship with God through, among others: “listen to the word of God, to attend the Sacrifice of the Mass, to persevere in prayer, to contribute to works of charity and to community efforts in favor of justice, to bring up their children in the Christian faith, to cultivate the spirit and practice of penance and thus implore, day by day, God's grace”.
He also encouraged the divorced and living in new relationships to "cultivate the spirit and penitential deeds so that they would obtain God's grace from day to day". He also called the whole community to pray for them so that the Church would turn out to be "a merciful mother, sustaining them in faith and hope." He opened up the prospect of using the sacrament of Penance and the Eucharist, but on the condition of renouncing sex in a new relationship, fully upholding the moral doctrine of the Church, in the light of which every extramarital sex act is classified as a grave sin.
John Paul II explained, therefore, that " Reconciliation in the sacrament of Penance which would open the way to the Eucharist, can only be granted to those who, repenting of having broken the sign of the Covenant and of fidelity to Christ, are sincerely ready to undertake a way of life that is no longer in contradiction to the indissolubility of marriage. This means, in practice, that when, for serious reasons, such as for example the children's upbringing, a man and a woman cannot satisfy the obligation to separate, they take on themselves the duty to live in complete continence, that is, by abstinence from the acts proper to married couples."
The Holy Father, showing great openness to divorced persons and living in new relationships, at the same time, in a manner that leaves no doubt, upheld the teaching of the Church on the basis of preventing the faithful who are in such a situation from entering Eucharistic Communion. In the same chapter of the exhortation Familiaris Consortio, he explained that " They are unable to be admitted thereto from the fact that their state and condition of life objectively contradict that union of love between Christ and the Church which is signified and effected by the Eucharist". He added hopefully that " With firm confidence the Church believes that those who have rejected the Lord's command and are still living in this state will be able to obtain from God the grace of conversion and salvation, provided that they have persevered in prayer, penance and charity.”
During the pontificate of Saint Pope John Paul II, throughout the Church were developed the pastoral care of non-sacramental couples, whose aim is to accompany divorced and remarried persons on the path of faith.
2015 Synod of Bishops and Pope Francis
The bishops debating on October 5-25, 2015, during the ordinary assembly of the Synod of Bishops, took up a number of topics present in the exhortation Familiaris Consortio. Much time was devoted to discussing: the contemporary situation of the family; preparation for marriage; admitting divorced persons, living in new relationships, to the sacraments; attitude towards those who are homosexual and the mission of the family in our time. During the synodal discussions there was general agreement about the necessity to accompany and receive wounded families, according to the "pedagogy of mercy". The idea was to avoid sectarian attitudes and to reconcile pastoral ministry with doctrine, without "Watering" this doctrine. With regard to homosexual persons, there are several different positions, with the general attitude that such persons should be accepted without discrimination. The last sentence on many issues regarding the role of families today belongs to Pope Francis, which we see in the post-synodal document “Amoris Laetitia”
Until Tomorrow
fr. george