A hailstorm of headlines this week incorrectly implied the Vatican is changing its teaching on homosexuality. More properly - and more importantly - the Catholic Church may be changing its approach to outreach.
Pope Francis assembled bishops from around the world last week to discuss modern family life. Halfway through the two-week meeting, the Vatican released a provisional document known as the Relatio post disceptationem, which, when translated from the original Latin, means "speech after the debate." As such, the document was composed in a matter of hours to summarize the meeting's content and holds no formal weight - something like lecture notes.
Nevertheless, sections of the document entitled "positive aspects of civil unions and cohabitation," and "caring for...the divorced who have remarried," created quite a stir, with speculation that the Catholic Church will adopt a new tone or change its doctrine.
That was particularly the case with another of the document's 15 sections entitled "welcoming homosexual persons." The section drew praise from progressive Catholics for its exploration of "accepting and valuing their sexual orientation, without compromising Catholic doctrine on the family and matrimony." But conservative Catholics, including those participating in the Synod, raised concerns about the document's language, categorizing it as inaccurate and potentially leading to false expectations.
In answer to the media frenzy and misinterpretation, the Vatican posted a statement on Tuesday, reminding people that the Relatio is a "work in progress." And two high-ranking cardinals recently held a press conference to express concerns about the general public's misinterpretation of the Relatio.
"Are the expectations perhaps of the Synod a little unrealistic?" asked Cardinal Wilfrid Napier, "and is the misinterpretation reflecting what people would like to happen, rather than what is happening or what is going to happen?"
Additionally, the Vatican's news site posted a summary of the Synod debate about the midterm report and its public reception.
"I wouldn't view it as a chastening, but as a rounding out," William Mattison, a theologian at The Catholic University of America, said about the midterm report.
The church accepts those in what it calls "irregular" family situations as they gradually move toward the truth, Mattison said. But it also wants to highlight family life as it's modeled in the Gospel. The debate summary makes adjustments like this and emphasizes in writing aspects that may have been raised on the Synod floor but omitted from the Relatio, he said.
Still, Eve Tushnet, the author of "Gay and Catholic," said she she's heartened by the language in all of the Synod documents.
The midterm report honors the sacrificial love that can take place in gay relationships and the debate summary talks about the beauty and the love that can be given and received when you live a chaste life according to Catholic teaching, she said.
"The most important thing is that people value the gifts gay people have," she said. "I'm OK with moving away from valuing the orientation itself."
Perhaps the most dramatic outcome - intentional or otherwise - of the Synod is that regular people are feeling "heard" and in a meaningful way by a church that is often criticized as too top-down and hierarchical. It seems Pope Francis' habit of dealing mercy to the margins is spreading to other church leaders.
"You don't deny the doctrine, in any way," said Washington Cardinal Donald Wuerl in an interview with Boston Globe's Crux. "But you have to make it apply to people." He went on to say that the church must meet people where they are.
This week, the Synod participants will divide into small groups based on common languages to tackle all of these issues. Then they will make final recommendations to Pope Francis before returning to their respective world posts.
But that won't be the end of the global dialogue. The true outcome of this aptly named "Extraordinary Synod" will unfold over the next year, leading up to a scheduled follow-up meeting in 2015.
Kathryn Elliott covers the Vatican, Pope Francis and all things related to the Catholic Church for HNGN. She is a producer for EWTN News Nightly, an international cable news show airing weeknights at 6 p.m. and 9 p.m. EST on the Global Catholic Television Network. Kathryn has reported for the National Catholic Register, St. Paul Pioneer Press, Catholic Spirit, The Minnesota Daily and The Word Among Us Magazine. She has a BA in professional journalism from the University of Minnesota Twin Cities. Kathryn lives in Washington D.C. Follow her on Twitter at @kmelliott90.
