At 9:00am today, in the presence of the Holy Father, the seventh General Congregation of the Synod of Bishops on the Family began in the Synod Hall at the Vatican, continuing the general deliberations in correspondence with the parts and chapters of the Instrumentum laboris.
Before beginning the scheduled discussion for today, there was a continuation of the discussion on the themes from the sixth General Congregation in order to hear the remainder of interventions which were not delivered because of time constraints at the session held yesterday afternoon.
Then, Cardinal André Vingt-Trois, Archbishop of Paris (France) and President delegate, introduced the discussion of today's session: The pastoral challenges concerning openness to life (Part III, Chapter 1) by introducing Mister and Mrs. Arturo and Hermelinda As Zamberline, Respondents for Équipe Notre-Dame for the entire region of Brazil, who are present at the Synod as auditors. Mister and Mrs. Zamberline shared their testimony with the Synod Fathers.
Today, the seventh General Congregation will be consecrated to one subject presented in the third part of the Instrumentum laboris which speaks of openness to life and the responsibility for education. This morning, we will focus our attention and our discussion on Chapter 1 which raises more particularly the pastoral challenges concerning openness to life. In this context, we touch upon some very intimate aspects and dimensions of our existence, to which substantial differences emerge between the Christian understanding of life and sexuality and those of a lifestyle that is strongly secularized.
This is the reason why knowledge and the hospitality of the Magesterium regarding openness to life (123-125) are essential. In fact, there are many who have difficulties understanding the distinction between natural and regulated methods of fertility and contraception. The principal causes of this difficult welcome (126-127) result from the difference between anthropological Christian conception and that of the dominant mentality. Thus the pastoral point of view (128) needs to be made better known using new language and in collaboration with the world of scholarship, so as to present the coherent anthropological vision which the Church proposes.
All of this is not without consequences to the practice of the sacraments (129) on the part of couples who often do not believe that the use of contraception is a sin and therefore do not consider it to be material for confession and receive communion without any hesitation.
Finally, we must encourage an open mentality toward life (130-131) in order to counteract the contraceptive mentality and the diffusion of an individualistic anthropological model which results in some parts of the world in a strong demographic decline along with resulting human and social consequences which are not always considered. In this context, we must recognize the usefulness of family planning that is tied to dioceses and family associations which become witnesses to the beauty and the value of an openness to life.
Conscious of the importance of this witness to life in the eyes of our neighbours, let us listen now to the testimony of another married couple: Arturo and Hermelinda As Zamberline, Respondents for the region of Brazil for Équipes Notre-Dame. They come right from the heart of that great country where the monumental statue of Christ, the Redeemer reminds everyone that his holy image is the symbol of his protection and of his blessing which radiates over all of Brazil and over all Brazilians.
His Holiness Pope Francis,
Very Eminent Lord Cardinals,
Very Excellent Lord Bishops,
Most Reverend Lord Fathers,
Dear Gentlemen and Ladies,
We wish, initially, to express our gratitude to the Holy Father for the confidence he placed in us in convoking us. We are immensely honoured. Nevertheless, we do not hide our fear of such a great responsibility. From the very beginning, we want to say: we are here as a married couple, bringing our family and pastoral experience. We are not theologians or specialists in the matter, only our trust in God calms us.
We are Hermelinda and Arturo, Brazilians, married 41 years ago. We have three children, a daughter-in-law and a granddaughter. We have belonged to Our Lady’s Teams Movement since 1994, and at present we are responsible for the Movement in Brazil, whose charism is conjugal spirituality. It has been in existence since 1938 and is present in 70 countries. At present, we are 137,200 members in the world, of which 45,500 are in our country.
We were asked to talk on The Openness of Spouses to Life, a text found in the third part of the Instrumentum laboris, chapter 1. We begin with a quotation from Sacred Scripture:
God created man in His own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female He created them. And God blessed them, and God said to them, ’Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it!’ (Gn 1:27-28).
God created us man and woman, so that we would be joined in one flesh, so that we would love one another with a love that comes from Him, so that we would build ourselves mutually through that love and so that we would generate life ( Henri Caffarel, Espiritualidade Conjugal, 22). No married couple is allowed to keep for itself the wonderful graces and fruits of matrimonial life.
Recalling our Movement’s mission, to help married couples to sanctify themselves, Father Henri Caffarel, our founder, affirms: no married couple has the right to be sterile (Sacramento, Casamento do dia a dia, 39.Henri Caffarel). Of course, sterility is not limited to not having children. We understand it as a deliberate closed position to God’s creative gift, which is expressed in the different dimensions of conjugal love. To transmit to their descendants human life, the man and the woman, as spouses and parents, cooperate in a unique way in the work of the Creator (Code of Canon Law, 372).
The sexual act is legitimate, desired and blessed by God, and the pleasure that derives from it contributes to the joy of living and to the wholesome structuring of the personality. It is the expression of love, which in the beginning can be passion, but which will have to be increasingly humanized. Married couples who make love are the ones who express with the body what is happening in their heart. To arrive at harmony, it is necessary to be able to cultivate the desire to the point of a wholesome eroticism. It is necessary to continue to be passionate and to be attentive to one another (Casamento, Sacramento do dia a dia, 28-29.cf. Henri Caffarel).
The way of managing one’s sexual life is very important for the humanization of the human being. Father Caffarel proposes a fascinating course: from sexuality to love. A married couple is the place where the three functions of sexuality are articulated: the function of relation, the function of pleasure and the function of fertility. The married couple commits itself to integrate, in a balanced way, those three dimensions.
Sexuality is lived in relation with one’s neighbour and with God. It is called to become a language of love, of communication of life (Equipes de Nossa Senhora, Padre Caffarel: Profeta do Matrimônio, 35).
Something imposes itself: it is absolutely necessary to guide married couples for the human and Christian perfection of the sexual relation. Sexuality is a factor of sanctification, and at present it needs to be saved from the unhealthy eroticism that reduces the human being to only one dimension (Profeta do Matrimônio, 31, Henri Caffarel).
The generation of children is a sublime gesture of love for the donation of life. It is to make possible for a new being the entrancing adventure of life, of love, of discovery, of encounter and of final plunging into the heart of a God who is the supreme fulfilment of every being. The married couple is not fertile only because it generates children, but because it loves itself and, loving itself, opens itself to life. Different from those that, by free choice, decide, egotistically, not to receive life (Equipes de Nossa Senhora, Casamento, Sacramento do dia a dia, 38). The fundamental task of matrimony and of the family is to be at the service of life (Familiaris consortio, 28) and, therefore, “every marital act must remain open to the transmission of life (Humanae vitae, 11).
For good reasons, without egoism, spouses might want to space the birth of their children, aiming at responsible maternity and paternity (Code of Canon Law, 2368). Periodic continence and regulation of birth based on self-observation are in agreement with the objective criteria of morality (Code of Canon Law, 2370).
Given the seriousness of the environment in which we find ourselves, we must admit without fear that many Catholic married couples, including those who try to live their marriage seriously, do not feel obliged to use only natural methods. It is no different in Our Lady’s Teams. We must say, moreover, that in general, they are not questioned by confessors. On one hand, married couples are open to life and reject abortion; this is a fact. On the other, we do not perceive in preaching and spiritual attention insistence on the doctrine of Humanae Vitae.
Theoretically, birth control through natural methods is good; however, in the present cultural environment it seems to be lacking in practicality. Married couples, mainly young ones, live a pace of life that does not enable them to practice those methods, since they must ask for time for training, and time is a rare product in the world in which we live. And worse still: since it is often being superficially explained and, because of this, badly used, the natural method earns a reputation for being unsafe and very often inefficient. Therefore, we admit once more, with sincerity, that it is not followed by the majority of Catholic married couples.
As birth control must be shown as a necessity, married couples, in the great majority, do not reject the use of other contraceptive means. In general, they do not consider them a moral problem. We must consider, however, that sexual relations are oriented to the transmission of life, but also to the service of conjugal love. “There is nothing surprising, at that moment keeping in view the force of the sexual instinct. However, what is not normal is that a great number of Catholic married couples is immersed in this anguish (Henri Caffarel, Carta Mensal das ENS, October 1968).
The ENS Movement elaborated a subject of study, years ago, entitled To Evangelize Sexuality. In that document we see the disparity between the moral doctrine and the practice of married couples. As it is an important matter, a study began in the Movement entitled The Theology of Sexuality, based on the catecheses of Saint John Paul II’s Theology of the Body.
Holy Father, Synoodal Fathers, ladies and gentlemen, if at least married couples found light and support with the clergy it would already be a great encouragement! Many times contradictory advice aggravates their confusion. We ask, the Magisterium to give the Fathers and faithful the great lines of a pastoral pedagogy, which helps to adopt and observe the principles agreed to by Humanae Vitae (Equipes de Nossa Senhora, Padre Caffarel: Profeta do Matrimônio, 57).
Necessary and urgent is the pronouncement of an easy and safe orientation, which responds to the needs of the present-day world, without wounding what is essential of Catholic morality, which must be amply diffused.
We end by reiterating our total and unconditional fidelity to Jesus Christ, through the Holy Father and the Church.
Before beginning the scheduled discussion for today, there was a continuation of the discussion on the themes from the sixth General Congregation in order to hear the remainder of interventions which were not delivered because of time constraints at the session held yesterday afternoon.
Then, Cardinal André Vingt-Trois, Archbishop of Paris (France) and President delegate, introduced the discussion of today's session: The pastoral challenges concerning openness to life (Part III, Chapter 1) by introducing Mister and Mrs. Arturo and Hermelinda As Zamberline, Respondents for Équipe Notre-Dame for the entire region of Brazil, who are present at the Synod as auditors. Mister and Mrs. Zamberline shared their testimony with the Synod Fathers.
Introduction by Cardinal André Vingt-Trois
President delegate
Today, the seventh General Congregation will be consecrated to one subject presented in the third part of the Instrumentum laboris which speaks of openness to life and the responsibility for education. This morning, we will focus our attention and our discussion on Chapter 1 which raises more particularly the pastoral challenges concerning openness to life. In this context, we touch upon some very intimate aspects and dimensions of our existence, to which substantial differences emerge between the Christian understanding of life and sexuality and those of a lifestyle that is strongly secularized.
This is the reason why knowledge and the hospitality of the Magesterium regarding openness to life (123-125) are essential. In fact, there are many who have difficulties understanding the distinction between natural and regulated methods of fertility and contraception. The principal causes of this difficult welcome (126-127) result from the difference between anthropological Christian conception and that of the dominant mentality. Thus the pastoral point of view (128) needs to be made better known using new language and in collaboration with the world of scholarship, so as to present the coherent anthropological vision which the Church proposes.
All of this is not without consequences to the practice of the sacraments (129) on the part of couples who often do not believe that the use of contraception is a sin and therefore do not consider it to be material for confession and receive communion without any hesitation.
Finally, we must encourage an open mentality toward life (130-131) in order to counteract the contraceptive mentality and the diffusion of an individualistic anthropological model which results in some parts of the world in a strong demographic decline along with resulting human and social consequences which are not always considered. In this context, we must recognize the usefulness of family planning that is tied to dioceses and family associations which become witnesses to the beauty and the value of an openness to life.
Conscious of the importance of this witness to life in the eyes of our neighbours, let us listen now to the testimony of another married couple: Arturo and Hermelinda As Zamberline, Respondents for the region of Brazil for Équipes Notre-Dame. They come right from the heart of that great country where the monumental statue of Christ, the Redeemer reminds everyone that his holy image is the symbol of his protection and of his blessing which radiates over all of Brazil and over all Brazilians.
Testimony of Arturo and Hermelinda As Zamberline
Respondent couple for Our Lady's Teams (Brazil)
His Holiness Pope Francis,
Very Eminent Lord Cardinals,
Very Excellent Lord Bishops,
Most Reverend Lord Fathers,
Dear Gentlemen and Ladies,
We wish, initially, to express our gratitude to the Holy Father for the confidence he placed in us in convoking us. We are immensely honoured. Nevertheless, we do not hide our fear of such a great responsibility. From the very beginning, we want to say: we are here as a married couple, bringing our family and pastoral experience. We are not theologians or specialists in the matter, only our trust in God calms us.
We are Hermelinda and Arturo, Brazilians, married 41 years ago. We have three children, a daughter-in-law and a granddaughter. We have belonged to Our Lady’s Teams Movement since 1994, and at present we are responsible for the Movement in Brazil, whose charism is conjugal spirituality. It has been in existence since 1938 and is present in 70 countries. At present, we are 137,200 members in the world, of which 45,500 are in our country.
We were asked to talk on The Openness of Spouses to Life, a text found in the third part of the Instrumentum laboris, chapter 1. We begin with a quotation from Sacred Scripture:
God created man in His own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female He created them. And God blessed them, and God said to them, ’Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it!’ (Gn 1:27-28).
God created us man and woman, so that we would be joined in one flesh, so that we would love one another with a love that comes from Him, so that we would build ourselves mutually through that love and so that we would generate life ( Henri Caffarel, Espiritualidade Conjugal, 22). No married couple is allowed to keep for itself the wonderful graces and fruits of matrimonial life.
Recalling our Movement’s mission, to help married couples to sanctify themselves, Father Henri Caffarel, our founder, affirms: no married couple has the right to be sterile (Sacramento, Casamento do dia a dia, 39.Henri Caffarel). Of course, sterility is not limited to not having children. We understand it as a deliberate closed position to God’s creative gift, which is expressed in the different dimensions of conjugal love. To transmit to their descendants human life, the man and the woman, as spouses and parents, cooperate in a unique way in the work of the Creator (Code of Canon Law, 372).
The sexual act is legitimate, desired and blessed by God, and the pleasure that derives from it contributes to the joy of living and to the wholesome structuring of the personality. It is the expression of love, which in the beginning can be passion, but which will have to be increasingly humanized. Married couples who make love are the ones who express with the body what is happening in their heart. To arrive at harmony, it is necessary to be able to cultivate the desire to the point of a wholesome eroticism. It is necessary to continue to be passionate and to be attentive to one another (Casamento, Sacramento do dia a dia, 28-29.cf. Henri Caffarel).
The way of managing one’s sexual life is very important for the humanization of the human being. Father Caffarel proposes a fascinating course: from sexuality to love. A married couple is the place where the three functions of sexuality are articulated: the function of relation, the function of pleasure and the function of fertility. The married couple commits itself to integrate, in a balanced way, those three dimensions.
Sexuality is lived in relation with one’s neighbour and with God. It is called to become a language of love, of communication of life (Equipes de Nossa Senhora, Padre Caffarel: Profeta do Matrimônio, 35).
Something imposes itself: it is absolutely necessary to guide married couples for the human and Christian perfection of the sexual relation. Sexuality is a factor of sanctification, and at present it needs to be saved from the unhealthy eroticism that reduces the human being to only one dimension (Profeta do Matrimônio, 31, Henri Caffarel).
The generation of children is a sublime gesture of love for the donation of life. It is to make possible for a new being the entrancing adventure of life, of love, of discovery, of encounter and of final plunging into the heart of a God who is the supreme fulfilment of every being. The married couple is not fertile only because it generates children, but because it loves itself and, loving itself, opens itself to life. Different from those that, by free choice, decide, egotistically, not to receive life (Equipes de Nossa Senhora, Casamento, Sacramento do dia a dia, 38). The fundamental task of matrimony and of the family is to be at the service of life (Familiaris consortio, 28) and, therefore, “every marital act must remain open to the transmission of life (Humanae vitae, 11).
For good reasons, without egoism, spouses might want to space the birth of their children, aiming at responsible maternity and paternity (Code of Canon Law, 2368). Periodic continence and regulation of birth based on self-observation are in agreement with the objective criteria of morality (Code of Canon Law, 2370).
Given the seriousness of the environment in which we find ourselves, we must admit without fear that many Catholic married couples, including those who try to live their marriage seriously, do not feel obliged to use only natural methods. It is no different in Our Lady’s Teams. We must say, moreover, that in general, they are not questioned by confessors. On one hand, married couples are open to life and reject abortion; this is a fact. On the other, we do not perceive in preaching and spiritual attention insistence on the doctrine of Humanae Vitae.
Theoretically, birth control through natural methods is good; however, in the present cultural environment it seems to be lacking in practicality. Married couples, mainly young ones, live a pace of life that does not enable them to practice those methods, since they must ask for time for training, and time is a rare product in the world in which we live. And worse still: since it is often being superficially explained and, because of this, badly used, the natural method earns a reputation for being unsafe and very often inefficient. Therefore, we admit once more, with sincerity, that it is not followed by the majority of Catholic married couples.
As birth control must be shown as a necessity, married couples, in the great majority, do not reject the use of other contraceptive means. In general, they do not consider them a moral problem. We must consider, however, that sexual relations are oriented to the transmission of life, but also to the service of conjugal love. “There is nothing surprising, at that moment keeping in view the force of the sexual instinct. However, what is not normal is that a great number of Catholic married couples is immersed in this anguish (Henri Caffarel, Carta Mensal das ENS, October 1968).
The ENS Movement elaborated a subject of study, years ago, entitled To Evangelize Sexuality. In that document we see the disparity between the moral doctrine and the practice of married couples. As it is an important matter, a study began in the Movement entitled The Theology of Sexuality, based on the catecheses of Saint John Paul II’s Theology of the Body.
Holy Father, Synoodal Fathers, ladies and gentlemen, if at least married couples found light and support with the clergy it would already be a great encouragement! Many times contradictory advice aggravates their confusion. We ask, the Magisterium to give the Fathers and faithful the great lines of a pastoral pedagogy, which helps to adopt and observe the principles agreed to by Humanae Vitae (Equipes de Nossa Senhora, Padre Caffarel: Profeta do Matrimônio, 57).
Necessary and urgent is the pronouncement of an easy and safe orientation, which responds to the needs of the present-day world, without wounding what is essential of Catholic morality, which must be amply diffused.
We end by reiterating our total and unconditional fidelity to Jesus Christ, through the Holy Father and the Church.
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