Public Opinion

Some Church Hierarchs say that the synod on the family that is being called for by the Pope will be based upon doctrine and not public opinion.  Let me translate.  What they mean by "public opinion" is the lived experience of the people on issues that affect the family.  "Doctrine" refers to living with old answers when the world has changed.  In any endeavor, you cannot respond to the new world with old answers.  There was a time when the Christianity was Europe focused.  After WWI there was a great shortage of people.  Many had died and many were wounded for life and not very able to work.  Europe needed more people, especially men.  Encouraging births seemed to make some sense, though social welfare programs did lag.  Today, well, things are a bit different.  It is a global village.  Places that have lots of people can go to places that need people.  The earth has a lot of mouths to feed.  Many more women today want to work at career goals.  People postpone marriage, and so on.  Gay people have been discovered!  With Pope Francis it could be a very interesting synod next fall in Rome.