It doesn't last long, but it was certainly fun to do! EWTN offered me an opportunity to appear on the Nightly News broadcast yesterday - and as it so happens, my flat in Rome for these two weeks was just down the street from their offices. Late yesterday afternoon, I met up with their expert crew, and we trekked over to a small courtyard a little further down the same street, in front of a school. A few puzzled locals must have wondered what we were doing when the lights and camera got set up. I certainly was wondering myself:
EWTN's host went directly to the correct question. Why did Catholic Match partner with Hot Air to cover the Synod? Here's my brief answer:
http://youtu.be/kCVVcESxw0k?t=11m25s
Much of the pre-Synod focus went to issues like divorce, remarriage, the Eucharist, and annulment reform. Those topics are indeed in the mix here, but the emphasis from the Synod seems more to be on how to prevent all that by forming people properly in faith and teaching them the true sacramental meaning of marriage. One telling quote from an earlier Synod briefing was the need to stop worrying whether more comprehensive marriage preparation would reduce the number of weddings at a parish. Better to get it right up front, the discussion concluded, than "filling the Tribunals with marriage issues” later.
This Synod really has young people in mind -- children from both troubled and stable homes, teens who need to know God's plan for marriage before they begin the dating process, and young adults who have begun to seriously look at starting a family in faith. The bishops want to reach all of those audiences and prepare a much more robust support system of pastoral care to educate and form people toward a fruitful, happy, sacramental, and lifetime marriage. That is the proactive path to solve all of the other issues over the long term, which now require shorter-term approaches to heal the pain that failure causes.
I find this all very exciting. And from what I've seen of the participants, I think they do, too.
Next week, the small-group sessions will begin to process all of the ideas and proposals made in this week's efforts. Not only should young Catholics expect the focus to remain on them, they should start engaging with their Catholic communities on that basis, too. It never hurts to get ahead of the curve!
Later today, I'll talk more with Sheila Liaugminas on Relevant Radio about the synod (6 pm ET) and Catholic Match. Be sure to tune in, or listen to the podcast later.
