'A conversion … in the language we use'

Abstract

Pope Francis’ challenge to seek and find an adequate pastoral response to new family situations needs to be taken up boldly. There is no doubt that an important way of doing this is to reflect on the way we, as Church, consider family issues ad intra, but we also need to look at how we seek to communicate truths about the family with and to the world. Is the “Gospel of the Family” offering hope and joy to those in the fold who are struggling with complex family situations? Is it encouraging the conversion of those often deemed to be on the “margins” of the Church? Is our message about family life persuasive – in particular, in our case, in a strongly secularist European context?