The family, the Synod and life were at the center of the Plenary Assembly of the Polish Bishops‘ Conference
The "value of the sacrament of marriage and of the family for Christian life and the growth of the Church" are "irreplaceable." The Bishops of the Polish Episcopal Conference stated this in the press release at the end of the Plenary Assembly, held in Warsaw, this year March 11th and 12th.
The document, which contains the results of the meeting, reflects the debate on issues regarding the family, marriage, communion for the divorced faithful and education. "The teaching and the tradition of the Church make it clear that people living together in non-sacramental unions deprive themselves of the opportunity to approach Holy Communion," but that "pastoral care must be assured for those living in such unions, so that they may—says the text—keep their faith and remain a part of the church community." The pastoral care for people who are not married with the sacramental rite must also embrace "their children, who have the right to full participation in the life and mission of the Church." On the issue of de facto unions was addressed by Stanislaw Grygiel, head of the Pontifical Institute for Studies on Marriage and Family, and Dariusz Kowalczyk, professor at the Gregorian University and Dean of the Faculty of Theology. In their reflections on the theological aspects concerning the possibility of admitting divorced persons to the sacrament of Communion, they emphasized the "chaos" that this would cause to the teaching on the indissolubility of the conjugal bond, "without helping people who are in that situation and without any positive effect for the ministry."