https://doi.org/10.25167/FF/5367
The problem of marriages between persons belonging to different Christian Churches and Communities, as well as those between Christians and non-Christians, has been a special subject of pastoral concern for the Churches for centuries. The modern processes of worldwide globalization, the result of which is the free movement of people, have caused a significant increase in mixed and similar marriages. It seems that both church legislation and pastoral practices in this area do not show sufficient sensitivity. What was an opportunity here was the 2014-2015 Synod on the Family.
The aim of the research undertaken was, in the first place, to determine precisely the content of important concepts such as: ‘mixed marriages’ and ‘similar marriages’, and to present the canonical-pastoral situation in the area under study. The next research step was to analyze the relevant documents of the Roman Catholic Church related to the 2014-2015 Synod on the Family in terms of addressing / or not addressing the issue of mixed and similar marriages in these documents, and the development of guidelines of a pastoral nature in this area. Methods of comparative analysis based on the search for key concepts and phrases for the issue and their use in individual documents were used. This made it possible to synthetically examine them and draw research conclusions. As a result of the research, it was found that the synod formulated a clear support of the Church for people living in mixed and similar marriages. It also confirmed the urgent need for increased pastoral care for them. They were seen as having great ecumenical potential. They were even called ‘fruitful opportunities.’ What is also important is the Synodal Fathers’ recommendation that ‘critical points’ in the case of mixed and similar marriages should be resolved primarily at the pastoral, rather than normative, level. The objective power of the Gospel and the testimony of faith was also emphasized, especially in cases where one of the parties is a non-believer.
A certain deficit in the presented synodal documents can be seen in the absence of even a slight encouragement addressed to the Christian Churches and Communities and to the heads of non-Christian religions to contemplate together, in their dialogues, the issue of marriage in general and to make a more coordinated attempt to develop a pastoral program aimed at mixed and similar marriages.
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