In view of the Synod on the family to be held in October 2015 in Rome, a group of concerned lay Catholic leaders and pro-family organisations, including Irish Society for Christian Civilisation, gathered to address a filial appeal to Pope Francis asking him to reaffirm categorically the Catholic teaching that divorced and civilly remarried Catholics cannot receive Holy Communion and that homosexual unions are contrary to Divine and natural law.
We note with anguish how the chaste and fecund family model taught by the Gospel is at risk. This family model is the only beacon capable of guiding millions of faithful bombarded by a decades-long sexual revolution and its hedonistic propaganda.
Indeed a breach has been opened in the Catholic Church with pastoral proposals that deny in practise, if not in principle, Our Lord’s doctrine on chastity and the indissolubility of marriage.
In these circumstances, it is paramount that Pope Francis speak out to clarify the growing confusion amongst the faithful and to prevent the very teaching of Jesus Christ from being watered-down.
Who else can dispel the darkness looming over our children’s future should that beacon no longer light their path?
Our young volunteers are on the streets of Ireland collecting signatures, while the members of our sister organisations are campaigning on the streets of Europe, Africa and North and South America.
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Here follows the entire text of the Filial Appeal:
Holy Father,
In view of the Synod on the family to be held in October 2015, we filially address Your Holiness to express our fears and hopes regarding the future of the family.
Our fears arise from witnessing a decades-long sexual revolution promoted by an alliance of powerful organizations, political forces and the mass media that consistently work against the very existence of the family as the basic unit of society. Ever since the so-called May 1968 Sorbonne Revolution, a morality opposed to both Divine and natural law has been gradually and systematically imposed on us so implacably as to make it possible, for example, to teach the abhorrent “gender theory” to young children in many countries.
Catholic teaching on the Sixth Commandment of the Law of God shines like a beacon in face of this ominous ideological objective. This beacon attracts many people—overwhelmed by this hedonistic propaganda — to the chaste and fecund family model taught by the Gospel and in accordance with natural law.
Your Holiness, in light of information published on the last Synod, we note with anguish that, for millions of faithful Catholics, the beacon seems to have dimmed in face of the onslaught of lifestyles spread by anti-Christian lobbies. In fact we see widespread confusion arising from the possibility that a breach has been opened within the Church that would accept adultery — by permitting divorced and then civilly remarried Catholics to receive Holy Communion — and would virtually accept even homosexual unions when such practices are categorically condemned as being contrary to Divine and natural law.
Paradoxically, our hope stems from this confusion.
Truly, in these circumstances, a word from Your Holiness is the only way to clarify the growing confusion amongst the faithful. It would prevent the very teaching of Jesus Christ from being watered-down and would dispel the darkness looming over our children’s future should that beacon no longer light their way.
Holy Father, we implore You to say this word. We do so with a heart devoted to all that You are and represent. We do so with the certainty that Your word will never disassociate pastoral practice from the teaching bequeathed by Jesus Christ and his vicars—as this would only add to the confusion. Indeed Jesus taught us very clearly that there must be coherence between life and truth (cf. John 14:6-7); and He also warned us that the only way not to fall is to practice His doctrine. (cf. Matt. 7:24-27)Asking for Your apostolic blessing, we assure You of our prayers to the Holy Family — Jesus, Mary and Joseph — to enlighten Your Holiness in these crucially important circumstances.
