Amoris Laetitia, (AL) “The Joy of Love: On Love in the Family”, is the Exhortation written by Pope Francis after the two Synods of Bishops on that topic in October 2014 and October 2015.
AL draws on a long history of Church teaching, and a very intense Synod experience. It draws on both new and old. What’s new above all is an attitude of accompaniment. Pope Francis, like his
predecessors, recognizes the complexity of modern family life. But he puts an added emphasis on the need for the Church and her ministers to be close to people no matter what their situation might be or how far from the Church they might feel: to understand, to accompany, to integrate, and to have their arms open especially for anyone who is hurting. AL is not simply a theoretical text with no connection to people’s real problems.
The biggest challenge of AL is for everyone to read it without rushing and put it into practice. AL lays out proposals for the Church and her pastors to change its focus regarding the family: to accompany, to integrate, to remain close to anyone who has suffered the effects of wounded love. Above all, AL challenges us to be understanding in the face of complex and painful situations. Pope Francis would have us approach the weak with compassion, and not judgement, to “enter into the reality of other people’s lives and to know the power of tenderness.”
We want to respond to this document as our parish put a lot of work into providing our views via the survey undertaken before the Synod. Therefore we want to invite all the parish to an evening where we will discuss how we can best respond to this document in our parish. Thursday 30th June you are invited to a supper at 7– 8.30pm.
In preparation for this we will be publishing two chapters per week (Chapters 3-8 of the letter) so that you can read the letter in advance of the evening and be ready to talk about how we can explore further what it asks of us. Please see below for separate chapters of the document and the whole document. Each week there will be hard copies of two chapters available in the porch.
Could you please let Trish (trishbonnett@rcdow.org) know if you are planning to attend (for catering purposes) We would encourage as many people as possible to take part. We are all part of “The Joy of Love: On Love in the Family”.