Bishops invite responses to online survey for Synod on Marriage and the Family

Pope Francis has convened an extraordinary Synod meeting in Rome next year, on marriage and the family and has asked Bishops Conferences worldwide to undertake wide consultation with their people, in order to provide input to the discussion.

The New Zealand Bishops have put the questions from the Synod Preparatory Document into an online survey and have invited people to contribute their views.

The questions are available in this online survey format and all Catholics in New Zealand are encouraged to provide input, by responding to as many or as few questions as they wish. The wording of these questions is the wording supplied by the Holy See in the Synod Preparatory Document, with some minor amendments for clarity in the New Zealand situation. The language of the questions is different to the everyday language we would use here in New Zealand. Please don't let this put you off responding. You may like to focus on the questions that are most meaningful to you.

Catholics living in New Zealand are encouraged to participate, whether they would describe themselves as practising or non-practising or anywhere in between. The Bishops would really like to hear from young people.

Instructions:

• Please keep individual answers to a limit of 500 words per question.
• Sections 4-12 contain questions from the Synod Preparatory Document. Feel free to choose only the questions that are most meaningful to you rather than completing them all.
• You can advance through the questions in the survey without answering all of the questions in a section.
• You might like to write your answers in the Word Document first and then copy and paste into the online survey answer boxes.
• If you wish to complete this survey in the Word Document you can return your response by email to communications@nzcbc.org.nz

For any queries about this survey please contact Simone Olsen, Communications Adviser, NZ Catholic Bishops Conference communications@nzcbc.org.nz ( 04) 496 1725.

The closing date for responses is Monday 13 January 2014.