London: Catholic Voices Academy briefing on Family Synod

Dr Austen Ivereigh

The Extraordinary Synod on the Family, to be held in Rome on 5-18 October, will be a key test for Pope Francis’s reforms: a means of bolstering marriage and family in the face of major pressures in contemporary western society, while at the same time reaching out pastorally to those who feel excluded from the Church. Unlike previous synods, which have been usually dismissed by the media as internal talking-shops, Francis’s reformed synod is taking up a host of hot-button issues where the Church is sharply at odds with contemporary mores — among them contraception and same-sex marriage. Not only is the content ambitious and far-reaching, but the method is new: a year-long ground-up process of discernment, allowing for open and far-reaching debate among cardinals and bishops over communion for the divorced and remarried.

In a 45-minute briefing at the University of Notre Dame in London this Wednesday, 1 October, Dr Ivereigh will explain how Cardinal Bergoglio’s experience of previous synods and of the pastoral issues of the family led him to seek reform of one of the key instruments of collegiality since Vatican II. He will also explain the thinking behind the reforms, what makes this synod different, as well as the issues and disagreements that will enliven the synod’s process.

The briefing from 6.15 to 7.45pm, is open to journalists, CV speakers and other interested parties, and will be followed by an open-mike Q&A.

TO ATTEND YOU MUST REGISTER AT: www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/the-family-synod-a-watershed-in-the-life-of-the-church-tickets-13106352453?aff=eac2

Dr Ivereigh is Catholic Voices coordinator and author of a major new biography of Pope Francis to be published in the UK by Allen & Unwin in December.