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Pope Saint Paul VI (3 April 1969): “Although the text of the Roman Gradual—at least that which concerns the singing—has not been changed, the Entrance antiphons and Communions antiphons have been revised for Masses without singing.”

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Views from the Choir Loft

Married Couples at the Synod

Fr. David Friel · September 28, 2014

T THE UPCOMING Synod of Bishops on the Family (to be held in Rome October 5-19), participants will include Vatican officials, bishops representing each episcopal conference, special appointees of the Holy Father, and approximately 40 observers. Notably, more than half of the observers will be married couples.

I think it’s great that married couples will be involved in the Synod. There is no question that they are able to bring perspective and experience that the clergy participants are not able to contribute. But it is also true that the clergy members of the Synod are able to bring perspective and experience that the married couples are not able to contribute.

Catholics of recent generations have lived through strange times, in which some roles proper to the clergy have been unduly usurped by the laity (see THIS). This commonplace clericalization of the laity is not a good thing. Yet, as regards the membership of the Synod, I would be the first to agree that the time has certainly come for this type of lay participation. This type of participation is authentic and valuable. Some people, though, would still take it too far.

Consider, for example, the remarks of Mary McAleese, the former president of Ireland:

The very idea of a hundred and fifty people who have decided they are not going to have any children, not going to have families, not going to be fathers, and not going to be spouses—so they have no experience of family life as the rest of us know it—but they are going to advise the pope on family life, it is completely bonkers.

Holding a Synod on the Family with no lay members would, indeed, be dubious, but the claim that celibate clergymen have nothing to offer on the topic of family life is equally ludicrous to the opposite extreme. By the brashness of her remarks, I believe Mrs. McAleese discredits herself.

Ironically, those who decry the thoughts of celibate men concerning marriage are often the first ones to leap at the chance to offer commentary upon celibacy. It is a false assertion that one must have personal experience of a thing in order to evaluate, critique, or make a judgment about it. Think of the seven deadly sins. Must one commit each of them in order to make a judgment that they are unhealthy & sinful, or is it possible to know that a priori? Because God has created a world that is intelligible, we are able to make some judgments even apart from personal experience.

Celibates have something to offer married couples, just as married couples have lessons to teach celibates. One should not forget that, with I suspect few exceptions, members of the clergy all grew up in families and remain part of their families even today. Thus, the claim that they have “no experience” of family life is erroneous.

Moreover, the average priest has spent hours upon hours listening to the struggles of married men and (especially) women. This pastoral experience gives seasoned priests a great deal of insight into the vocation of marriage—probably significantly more insight than a young married couple would have.

So what? My point is this. I am happy to celebrate the inclusion of married couples in next month’s Synod. I think it’s a terrific idea. But I also totally reject the attitude being expressed by some people that commenting on family life should be reserved exclusively to those in the married state.

Those who are married have gifts to share, and so do those who have embraced celibacy. The Lord did, after all, design the Church to be so—a family.

Opinions by blog authors do not necessarily represent the views of Corpus Christi Watershed.

Filed Under: Articles Tagged With: Unity Last Updated: January 1, 2020

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About Fr. David Friel

Ordained in 2011, Father Friel is a priest of the Archdiocese of Philadelphia and serves as Director of Liturgy at Saint Charles Borromeo Seminary. —(Read full biography).

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Corpus Christi Watershed

President’s Corner

    “Music List” • 17th in Ordinary Time (Year C)
    Some have expressed interest in perusing the ORDER OF MUSIC I prepared for the 17th Sunday in Ordinary Time (27 July 2025). If such a thing interests you, feel free to download it as a PDF file. As always, the Responsorial Psalm, Gospel Acclamation, and Mass Propers for this Sunday are conveniently stored at the the feasts website.
    —Jeff Ostrowski
    Communion • “Ask & You Shall Receive”
    All of the chants for 27 July 2025 have been added to the feasts website, as usual under a convenient “drop down” menu. The COMMUNION ANTIPHON (both text and melody) are exceedingly beautiful and ancient.
    —Jeff Ostrowski
    Jeff’s Mother Joins Our Fundraiser
    To assist our fundraiser, Mrs. Kathleen Ostrowski has drawn several beautiful sketches which she offers to all our readers free of charge. If you have a moment, I invite you download them at this link.
    —Jeff Ostrowski

Quick Thoughts

    Pope Pius XII Hymnal?
    Have you ever heard of the Pope Pius XII Hymnal? It’s a real book, published in the United States in 1959. Here’s a sample page so you can verify with your own eyes it existed.
    —Corpus Christi Watershed
    “Hybrid” Chant Notation?
    Over the years, many have tried to ‘simplify’ plainsong notation. The O’Fallon Propers attempted to simplify the notation—but ended up making matters worse. Dr. Karl Weinmann tried to do the same in the time of Pope Saint Pius X by replacing each porrectus. You can examine a specimen from his edition and see whether you agree he complicated matters. In particular, look at what he did with éxsules fílii Hévae.
    —Corpus Christi Watershed
    Antiphons Don’t Match?
    A reader wants to know why the Entrance and Communion antiphons in certain publications deviate from what’s prescribed by the GRADUALE ROMANUM published after Vatican II. Click here to read our answer. The short answer is: the Adalbert Propers were never intended to be sung. They were intended for private Masses only (or Masses without music). The “Graduale Parvum,” published by the John Henry Newman Institute of Liturgical Music in 2023, mostly uses the Adalbert Propers—but sometimes uses the GRADUALE text: e.g. Solemnity of Saints Peter and Paul (29 June).
    —Corpus Christi Watershed

Random Quote

“The authority of the Pope is not unlimited. It is at the service of Sacred Tradition. Still less is any kind of general ‘freedom’ of manufacture, degenerating into spontaneous improvisation, compatible with the essence of faith and liturgy. The greatness of the liturgy depends—we shall have to repeat this frequently—on its lack of spontaneity.”

— Josef Cardinal Ratzinger (2000)

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