The contribution of John Paul II in the field of marriage and the family "was not emphasized enough during the Synodal discussions," said Msgr. Stanislaw Gądecki, Bishop of Poznan and President of the Episcopal Conference of Poland, in an interview on Gloria.tv. He hopes "that the short wave of the first part of the Synod will pass and the second part will rely on his teachings."
The Bishop believes that concessions for remarried divorcees are not "the main problem in the current context of marriage and the family. In more than 90% of cases, we are confronted with different questions and difficulties. Therefore, while the issues that were highlighted most by journalists after the first part of the Synod are in fact important, they are not the most important things in the whole context of the [Church's] teaching on marriage and the family."
As for the resistance, especially of younger people to get marry, according to Msgr. Gądecki, "today the pressure on marriage from the outside, in order to change its nature or even to destroy it, is in fact so strong that people cannot easily protect themselves from this. Some particular couples may be strong and may not need help, but most young families usually require support of other people who share from the same motivation and have the same faith. This is why family movements like the Domestic Church or Notre Dame are very useful. Experience in Western Europe shows us that those people remain in the Church who support each other and belong to such movements."
With regard to what was said during the previous Synod about pastoral accompaniment for married couples not only before the wedding but also in the years after the wedding, the Bishop believes that "one should mobilize mature families, who have gathered many years of experience and sometimes can better support young families with their problems than pastors."
