Cathal BarryArchbishop Eamon Martin tells Cathal Barry he plans on hitting the ground running
Archbishop Eamon Martin has revealed plans to develop a “very strong” charter of family rights to ensure the entitlements of Catholic families are defended.
The Archbishop of Armagh told The Irish Catholic he would like to see a “revisiting” of the Church’s 1983 Charter of the Rights of the Family that would “articulate the rights and entitlements of families” in today’s world.
Archbishop Eamon said such a charter would outline “very clearly” the Church’s position on key issues such as the right to life, education and the entitlement of parents to raise their children in accordance with their faith.
Furthermore, the archbishop insisted that the charter would enable the Church “to call on policy makers, on the governments North and South” to uphold the rights of Catholic families.
“To have a very strong charter of family rights is something that I think would be well worth looking at in coming months,” he said.
Speaking to this newspaper on the final day of the Synod of Bishops on the Family in Rome, Archbishop Eamon also revealed his intention to establish an apostolate of family prayer to “help families pray together”.
“A lot of young parents are simply unsure about how to go about praying with their children so an apostolate of family prayer is something I would be very interested in developing in Ireland in the next year or two. Prayer for the family, but prayer in the family,” he said.
Looking back at the three-week-long meeting of world bishops, Archbishop Eamon said the Synod on the Family had been a “very important moment” in his life as a bishop.
He said he valued the opportunity to hear from the world’s bishops about the “different nuances in their pastoral programmes and their pastoral care of their people” while at the same time, sharing with them the “struggles and joys” of his own experience as a Church leader.
Acknowledging that the meeting was an opportunity to “exercise” collegiality with other Church leaders and the Pope, the archbishop said it was a “great honour” for him to have such an experience “so early” in his ministry.
Praising the final report of this year’s assembly, Archbishop Eamon noted the key text was “wholly different” to the synod’s working document, the Instrumentum Laboris.
“It’s a very much fuller and more developed document. It’s tighter and shorter. I think it benefits from a very beautiful and powerful articulation of the vision for marriage as held by the Catholic Church,” the Primate of All-Ireland said.
Noting that the final report “captures in a comprehensive and stark way the real challenges that there are out there to living in a family today”, the archbishop insisted that the document does so in an “empathetic” way.
The primate said he felt the synod fathers had benefitted from reading responses to the questionnaires that had been distributed to the faithful prior to both the 2014 and 2015 synods, referring also to beneficial “listening meetings” he held with “very strong lobby groups from various parts of the spectrum”.
“All of that listening, if you multiply it up by the number of synod fathers who were there, you are actually getting a document that is enriched by the reality of family life in the world today.”
Final report
Archbishop Eamon said “a very definite pastoral imperative” exists in the synod’s final report.
“That pastoral imperative is to go out, to listen and to integrate more into the life of the Church those who may be hitherto on the peripheries. That of course is totally in keeping with Pope Francis’ manifesto Evangelii Gaudium where he has asked the Church to put everything into a missionary key,” he said.
Turning to some of the more controversial sections of the synod’s report, namely the paragraphs dealing with Communion for divorced and remarried and people in same-sex unions, Archbishop Eamon said there “has always been this sense among people who are not living the Church’s teachings that somehow they are excommunicated, that they aren’t part of the Church”.
The archbishop insisted, however, that while such people “may not be living the Church’s teaching”, they are “still members of the Church” and “we want them to be”.
“I think that is difficult for many people to understand but the key to it all is to be able to balance the tension between doctrine and pastoral practice, between mercy and justice, between forgiveness and reconciliation. The only way we can balance those is in the person of Jesus Christ,” he said.
Turning his attention to Ireland, Archbishop Eamon said the synod was a “fantastic resource” that provided a “springboard for our preparations” for the World Meeting of Families which the Pope has announced will take place in Dublin in 2018.
The archbishop said the synod’s final report “provides us with a manifesto type document to begin the pastoral action needed” for the renewal of the Faith in Ireland, adding that it had made him revaluate his own approach to pastoral practice in his archdiocese.
“It has made me examine my own pastoral practise, my own systems and approaches in the diocese. I have to say, speaking very honestly from my own point of view, I have found myself wanting.
“I think that it has given me a lot to think upon. We have just launched our pastoral plan and we have left a space on it for a response to the synod. Our people, teams, parish pastoral councils and commissions are at the ready for the material from the synod to decide what pastoral actions to take,” he said.
Dismissing the need for further consultation, Archbishop Eamon said he would be “disappointed” to return to Ireland and hold “more talking shops”.
“I think there is enough in this synod to be establishing family support systems, support structures for marriage preparation, for the initial years of marriage and for families in difficulty,” he said.
Archbishop Eamon also said he wanted to put into place “a network of families” as suggested by Indonesian and Indian bishops at the synod.
The archbishop insisted that after much reflection he had been “convinced” that the future agents of family ministry in Ireland “will be other families”.
“We somehow need to find ways of empowering young couples, with their young families to become agents of the new evangelisation and family support for other families. I see a very joined up thinking of family catechesis, family support, the new evangelisation and the establishment of parish pastoral councils throughout Ireland who are actively involved in pastoral ministry to other families.
“There is loads there for us to be getting on with and we ought to hit the ground running,” he said.