The Director of the Institute for Advanced Family Studies (IESF) at UIC Barcelona, Montserrat Gas, was invited to inaugurate the seminar entitled "Law, transcendence and contemporary culture", organised by the Faculty of Law in the Universidad Católica de Valparaíso de Chile. The topic chosen for this first session, held on 17 August, was "Key Topics from the Synod of Bishops on the Family".
Dr Gas divided her presentation into three, in the first part she focused on describing the nature and functions of a Synod of Bishops and then went on to analyse the details of this Extraordinary Synod on the Family. Afterwards she analysed the Relatio Synodi, "Pastoral challenges of the Family in the context of Evangelisation", the final document which was produced as a result of the meeting of the prelate and the topics discussed in it. Finally, as a Professor of Canon Law, she also analysed the Instrumentum Laboris, a document that will be worked on by the Bishops at a future meeting planned for October.
Throughout her presentation, the Director of the IESF focused on the main issues in the aforementioned documents, such as intergenerational solidarity, protecting children or equality and complementarity between men and women. The Synod said that it was "aiming to inaugurate a new stage or era in pastoral care for families from the Church" and highlighted the need to look more in-depth into policies that are favourable to families, especially the most vulnerable families, both in economic terms and in terms of social impact.
On the other hand (the Synod) underlined the importance of early education in affectivity and care in families that are either in crisis or not, and the need to achieve a truly positive inculturation in both marriage and the family, especially for new generations.
