Conservative Catholics dissatisfied with final synod report

Catholic bishops changed course on their softening tone on gays and divorcees Saturday in a final report released by the Synod on the Family, a two-week gathering of Catholic leaders called by Pope Francis to discuss matters of marriage and family.

A draft report published last week took an accepting stance towards homosexuality, divorce, and cohabitation, issues on which the Vatican has historically stood fast. Traditional Catholic doctrine calls homosexual sex “intrinsically disordered.”

A revised final version released over the weekend took out much of the controversial language, but obvious divisions within church leadership and the lack of conclusions in the report have observers asking whether the Roman Catholic Church is watering down its teaching on family issues.

Progressive groups applauded the initial draft, calling it a “crack in the ice that we have been waiting for, for a very long time,” said Francis DeBernardo, executive director of New Ways Ministry, a Catholic gay rights group. The draft report called on the church to welcome homosexuals, saying they have “gifts and qualities to offer the Christian community.”

Conservative bishops said the final version, which neutralized the tone on hot-button issues like homosexuality and communion for divorced and civilly remarried couples, should reassure concerned church members. They argued last week’s draft was “unacceptable” and reflected the liberal theology of a handful of bishops, not the majority opinion of the synod as a whole.

But the synod was unable to pass amendments on homosexuality and divorce, pointing to deep divisions among the bishops. Between the first and second drafts, working groups made up of almost 200 bishops from around the world proposed 460 amendments to the report. Three paragraphs—one on gays and lesbians and the other two on divorce and remarriage—were not approved with the mandatory two-thirds majority vote.

The report “fails to resolve the confusion caused by the synod,” according to Voice of the Family, a coalition of pro-family Catholic groups. “Although the final report contains some significant improvements on the original draft, the voting numbers reveal that most Synod Fathers remain open to proposals contrary to Catholic teaching.”

The final report called on the church to treat homosexuals with “respect and sensitivity,” but reasserted the church’s teaching that marriage is between a man and woman. Questions of cohabitation and communion for divorced people were not settled and require further study, according to the report.

“We’re not giving in to the secular agenda. We’re not collapsing in a heap,” said Cardinal George Pell, a conservative voice in the synod, in an interview with the Catholic News Service after the meetings ended Sunday. He said scriptural teaching was notably absent in the first draft of the report. “Christ’s teaching on marriage is not put there as a burden. It works in the long run. It is there to protect us.”

The final report is not doctrine. It is designed to be a discussion guide for the church until the second Synod on the Family, scheduled for October 2015.