On the Feast of the Holy Family, Cardinal Vincent has issued a pastoral letter to be read out in all parishes on 27th and 28th December 2014.
In the letter, Cardinal Vincent invites all the faithful to 'ponder and pray over all the challenges and opportunities which face the family, and the marriage at its heart, in our society today'.
He invites all to join him in a time of 'spiritual discernment', in the words of Pope Francis. The Cardinal explains that rather than 'collecting together people's opionions', this spiritual discernment 'concerns my sense of where God is present and at work in my life'.
To help with this discernment, the Bishops of England and Wales have produced a document which is to be distributed in parishes and which can be read here.
He invites individuals, families and parish groups to respond to the questions posed in the document and to share these responses with him in order to help him prepare for the Synod in October 2015.
The full text of the pastoral letter can be found here.
The video and audio recordings of the Cardinal delivering the pastoral letter can be viewed here.
