On the occasion of the ad limina visit of the Bishops from the Netherlands in the Vatican, on December 3rd, Vatican Radio interviewed the President of the Dutch Bishops’ Conference, Cardinal Willem Jacobus Eijk. Among other things, he also answered a question about the Synod devoted to the topic of the family.
The next Extraordinary Synod of Bishops in Rome will be devoted to the theme of the challenges concerning the family in the context of evangelization: How did the Bishops receive this news and the preparatory document presented on November 5th?
«We distributed the questionnaire to all the priests, deacons, and lay pastoral workers, asking them to discuss it in the parish councils, to get information directly and not to publish the answers, but rather to give them to the bishops so that they can then transmit them to the Synod. It must be said that, in the Netherlands, there are many gay couples, many couples who live together, and we have less and less Catholics married in Church. There has been a considerable decline, and this is a clear indication that the pastoral care of the family must be a priority in our country».
