A reset of church teaching on sexuality

Sir, – Thanks to Garry O’Sullivan for his amazingly lucid remarks (Letters, November 8th). Many highly placed authorities in the church, from Cardinals Suenens, König, and Martini to Cardinals Marx and Hollerich would agree with him that a reset of church teaching on sexuality is overdue. This is one aspect of the current synodal process.

The working document just published by the general secretariat of the synod lets Catholic voices be heard from all over the world and portrays a joyful, honest, constructive church community. A typical contributor says: “The People of God ask that the Church be a refuge for the wounded and broken, not an institution for the perfect. They want the Church to meet people wherever they are, to walk with them rather than judge them, and to build real relationships through caring and authenticity.”

Ironically, Archbishop Viganò, who is the fiercest critic of the synodal process and of its architect Pope Francis, unwittingly confirms this alluring picture as he attempts to blacken it. He warns that the process “touches the nature of the institution, seeking to deconstruct it in a democratic and synodal key under the false pretext of a rediscovered ‘wider spiritual dimension’ and promoting an ‘ecumenical’ approach to the world, dialogue with sects and false religions, and a renunciation of the evangelisation of peoples, replacing it with an ecological and philanthropic message.”

Great resets in church history (the apostolic synod of Jerusalem in Acts 15, the councils of Nicea, Trent, or Vatican I) have always sparked bitter controversy between the innovators and the defenders of the status quo. Let’s hope that the good-natured approach of Pope Francis and his synod will be able to allay such bitter resistance. – Yours, etc,