Ron and Mavis Pirola are former members of the Pontifical Council for the Family. They are also directors of the Australian Catholic Marriage and Family Council. Together with five other couples, they have been tasked to address 200 bishops at the Vatican's Synod on the Family.
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| image courtesy of smh.com.au |
What the group of priests dis not expect was how progressive the theme of the speech would be. The Pirolas said that sex is an essential foundation for marriage. They also mentioned that their relationship and spirituality as sexual attraction brought them together and has sustained their marriage for more than half a century. In part: "That attraction that we first felt and the continued bonding force between us was basically sexual. The little things we did for each other, the telephone calls and love notes, the way we planned our day around each other and the things we shared were outward expressions of our longing to be intimate with each other."
More importantly, they said that the inclusion of gay couples in church would be a model of evangelization across the globe: "Friends of ours were planning their Christmas family gathering when their gay son said he wanted to bring his partner home too. They fully believed in the church's teachings and they knew their grandchildren would see them welcome the son and his partner into the family. Their response could be summed up in four words, 'He is our son'."
Here are some of the other things that they said in their speech:
"Occasionally we looked at church documents, but they seemed to be from another planet with difficult language and not terribly relevant to our own experiences."
"We need new ways and relatable language to touch people's hearts."
The audience was of course speechless. British Cardinal Vincent Nichols had this to say afterwards: "That's not what we bishops talk about mostly, quite honestly. But to hear that as the opening contribution did, I think, open an area ... and it was a recognition that that is central to the wellbeing of marriage often."
The synod was an initiative of Pope Francis for the church to workshop how traditional teachings on a range of family issues such as marriage, divorce and homosexuality can be made more relevant to today's Catholics. The pontiff is expected to issue a final document with recommendations offered by the synod next year.
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