Submit Your Responses by December 13: You are invited to reflect on the Gospel truth about family and marriage, as summarized above or further illustrated in the Catechism of the Catholic Church (nos, 1601-1658; nos 2331-2391) before answering the questions of the survey. Your responses to these questions will provide data for the preparation for the Synod of Bishops in October. You may submit your responses online at www.dio.org or mail a printed version to: Chancery, Archdiocese of Indianapolis, 1400 N. Meridian St., Indianapolis, IN 46202.
In our day, the Church continues to preach the Gospel to all people, the same Gospel received by the Apostles. However, a social and spiritual crisis now exists, especially with regard to the family and marriage. Pope Francis has called for a Synod of Bishops in 2014 to determine the state of the question on challenges to family and marriage. Another synod will follow in 2015 to determine guidelines for the pastoral care of the family and married couples.
Challenges to the Gospel today include widespread cohabitation, same sex unions, the adoption of children by people in a same sex union, the marriage of people of varying religious affiliations, single parent families, polygamy, a disregard for the equality and dignity of spouses, a weakened sense of the permanence of marriage, a feminism hostile to the Church, a reformulation of the concept of the family, the negative impact of the media and legislation on the meaning of Christian marriage and family, and the increase in surrogate motherhood. Within the Church, faith in the sacramentality of marriage and the healing power of the Sacrament of Penance has declined.
The next Synod of Bishops seeks to announce the Good News about the Christian family and marriage in a more effective way to reach hearts and transform them according to God's will made known in Jesus Christ.
The biblical foundation of Christian marriage derives from the creation of man and woman in the image of God. Man and woman are bound in a sacramental union with the purpose of mutual love, fatherhood and motherhood, and the dignity of sharing in the creative work of God himself. Despite the disfigurement of sin, which began with the Original Sin of the Old Testament, Jesus recovers the Biblical foundation of family and marriage and declares anew the unity of husband and wife. Christ raises marriage to the dignity of a Sacrament.
The Church sees the married love of a husband and wife as a sign of the love Jesus has for his Church. The Church also serves society's well-being by defending and promoting marriage and the family.
