In an ongoing spirit of openness, Pope Francis and the Vatican have issued a call for further feedback to enlighten the discussions at the conclusion of the Synod on the Family.
The Australian Catholic Bishops Conference received the official “lineamenta”, or preparatory documents, from the Vatican just prior to Christmas.
These are intended to guide the receipt of final input from the individual bishops’ conferences.
In Brisbane, as in other dioceses across Australia, a survey consisting of 30 questions related to family issues and the pastoral response of the church is being made available to all.
This free survey can be accessed https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/familysurvey15
View the accompanying document from the Vatican
Unfortunately the time frame for response is once again brief, closing on Tuesday February 10.
This a logistical necessity in order for the Vatican receive submissions from around the globe by around early March.
Nonetheless the opportunity remains for everyone in the Archdiocese to contribute valuable feedback to the ongoing Synod journey, which will hold its final sessions in October of this year.
Brisbane’s Archbishop Mark Coleridge, along with the Diocese of Darwin’s Bishop Eugene Hurley, will be the Australian Bishops Conference representative at the event.
The theme for the Second Synod on the Family is “The Vocation and Mission of the Family in the Church and the Contemporary World”.
In early 2014 around 750 lay, clergy and religious people from across the Brisbane Archdiocese contributed initial feedback via an earlier installment of an online survey.
Participation in the latest survey is a way to take an active role in shaping how the church shares the Gospel and best respond to the needs of those around us.
As Archbishop Coleridge noted in his most recent Advent Pastoral letter, within the Body of Christ there are many different ways of taking part.
“One of them was by responding to the questionnaire at the start of the Synod process. Another is serious engagement with the questions and tasks that will emerge from the Synod’s first session,” he said.
“All who are part of the Body of Christ should pray for the work of the Synod this year and next – that reasonable hopes will be fulfilled and that the Synod will look at marriage through the lens of the Incarnation, balancing fidelity to the teaching of Christ and his Church with a compassionate and realistic response to men and women in need.”
How do I participate?
You have 2 options:
- Online Survey
- Step 1: Visit https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/familysurvey15 and fill in the online survey.
- Step 2: Submit by Tuesday 10 February
- Hardcopy Response
- Step 1: Download the questionnaire in Word format
- Step 2: Read through the questionnaire. You might like to take some time to consider your response.
- NB. You do not need to answer every question. You can choose particular questions you have an interest in or you may like to give a more general response to the topics.
- Step 3: Write your response, providing no more than a page per question.
- Step 4: Add your parish, age and sex. You do not have to identify yourself.
- Step 5: Mail your hardcopy response to John Paul II Centre for Family and Life, PO Box 81, Ashgrove, 4060
- Step 6: Send by Tuesday 10 February.