Cardinal Lorenzo Baldisseri, the secretary general of the Synod of Bishops, has said the questionnaire sent by the Vatican to dioceses around the world asking for their views on the family life and the Church was mostly greeted with “enthusiasm”.
Opening a conference in Rome Wednesday on the theme “Women of Faith and Family: Between Tradition and Modernity” at LUMSA university, he recalled the synodal journey, pointing out how it began in November of 2013.
“We presented a preparatory document accompanied by a questionnaire that was sent to every diocese in the world and was greeted mostly with enthusiasm because, as has been pointed out, this is the first time an investigation has been done from the bottom up, by the people,” the cardinal said, according to a report in Avvenire.
From the responses received, Cardinal Baldisseri continued, “all the problems of the family in all its reality have clearly emerged. The responses were then summarized in the ‘Instrumentum laboris that the Synod Fathers, from Sunday onwards, will deepen to respond to the challenges of the family.”
Critics, however, have maintained the questionnaire was ineffective as many of the laity are too uncatechized to offer meaningful suggestions.
The responses contributed to the Instrumentum Laboris, or working document, for the extraordinary synod that will begin on Monday. An ordinary Synod, developing on the theme of family, will follow in October 2015.
