German Catholics find Vatican family questionnaire 'too fixated on ideal image of the family', I agree, What do you think?

German Catholics find Vatican family questionnaire 'too fixated on ideal image of the family'
Bridget Mary's Response:
 Sometimes, I think the Vatican lives on another planet because their disconnect with the real world, where most people live and love, is so great!  One fallout is that young adults in Europe and in the U.S. are missing in action when it comes to weekly attendance at Sunday liturgy and active involvement in their parishes. 
It is time for the institutional church to welcome divorced and remarried Catholics to receive the sacraments. It is time for the institutional church to drop its ban on homosexual partnerships and on contraception. 
The real issue is what does it mean to live God's compassion and justice in our church today? 
I believe it means embracing everyone as spiritual equals in the family of God. 
What do you think?
The German faithful and their bishops are speaking out and this could be  a positive sign that change is in the air. As you know, I am an optimist! Do you share my optimism?
Bridget Mary Meehan, ARCWP, www.arcwp.org

The Tablet (subscription)

The German bishops' conference has summarized and commented on the replies of German Catholics to the 46 questions of the second Vatican ...

"The German faithful were not satisfied with the Church’s present teaching concerning remarried divorcees, “mixed” marriages and register office marriages and expect concrete changes from the Church concerning all three. “A pastoral approach which only sees such relationships as sinful and calls for repentance is not helpful as it contradicts the positive experiences which such couples have”, the bishops’ conference report says. German Catholics above all want to see remarried divorcees allowed to receive the Sacraments under certain conditions. “The expectation that the Synod will open new pastoral possibilities is very high indeed”, the bishops say.

The fact that neither the question of homosexual partnerships nor that of the different methods of contraception, both of which had been addressed in the first questionnaire, had been omitted this time had been sharply criticised in the replies.

Those responsible in the Vatican for the coming Synod would be “well-advised to get down to a really committed, sound and communicative preparation” as the pressure of expectations had increased considerably, Bishop Heiner Koch of Dresden, who is responsible for family affairs in the German bishops’ conference and who will be accompanying Cardinal Reinhard Marx to the Synod, underlined."