Irish Bishops Won’t Release Survey Results

By Evie Butland
Catholic Herald
February 13, 2014

http://www.catholicherald.co.uk/news/2014/02/13/irish-bishops-wont-release-survey-results/

Pope Francis will lead the extraordinary synod later this year (Photo: CNS)

The Irish bishops have said they will not be releasing the results of a survey of Catholics ahead of the Extraordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops which is due to take place at the Vatican in October.

The Vatican ordered the worldwide survey on ‘Pastoral Challenges in the Family,’ exploring issues such as cohabitation, contraception, and Holy Communion for the divorced and remarried.

After publishing some statistical information from the survey, the Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales said last week it would not release detailed results, unlike the German and Swiss bishops’ conferences.

Both Ireland and the English and Welsh Churches claim that the Vatican asked them to keep the outcome of the survey confidential. A spokesman for the Irish bishops told The Irish Catholic that they would not be releasing a statement about the results.

However, the German bishops’ report elaborates on the differences seen in the survey, “above all when it come down to pre-marital cohabitation, the status of divorced and remarried, birth control and homosexuality.”