Questionnaire Reponses Regarding the Family: Love, Fidelity, and Marriage Remain Values to Seek After
For Austrian Catholics, love, fidelity, marriage and family are greatly important values to seek after. This is seen in the over 34,000 responses to the questionnaire attached to the preparatory document for the extraordinary general assembly of the Synod of Bishops. According to the responses, religion occupies an important position in relationships and in the family, as a result, for example, of the agreement regarding Christian education. There are many points, however, where the teaching of the Church and the positions taken by Catholics there diverge, above all with regard to contraception, issues of divorce and remarriage, relationships before marriage, and homosexuality. The majority of Catholics stated that they are in favor of the divorced and remarried being admitted to the sacraments of the Eucharist and Reconciliation. There was also a significant response from those who reject the church’s teaching on methods of birth control, as they held that this was a question that should be left to the responsibility of the parents. One criticism seen was that the Church, from their perspective, did not take seriously the enough the reality of the failure of marriages.