A leading Cardinal has described the Synod on the Family as “alive and vibrant” due to prelates’ ability and willingness to speak of their own family experiences.
Crediting the new discussion arrangements formulated ahead of the synod which sees delegates working in smaller groups,Austrian Cardinal Christoph Schönborn told Vatican Radio that the result was the creation of an atmosphere in which prelates related more of their own personal family experiences.
“That was not customary up to now,” the Cardinal said. “You didn’t talk about personal matters. You spoke objectively about Church teaching, what should be done and what had to be done. But this time bishops spoke of their own family experiences – experiences of migration, of their experiences of conflict, separation and divorce but also of the great faith of some family members. Talking about experiences and not theorising made the exchange far more alive and vibrant.”
Describing his own feelings of frustration at previous synods, in which “ we would listen to statements read out one after the other and in no way connected for up to three weeks”, Cardinal Schönborn said such feelings for him had disappeared amid a “far more intensive participation, far greater concentration on each topic, a far more effective way of working and thus far greater satisfaction.”
The Cardinal added that media predictions of “sparks” within certain discussion groups had not come to fruition, possibly because the prelates had actively engaged with “taking a look at the reality in which we live and there is certainly a lot of agreement on that”.
