By Kimberley Heatherington, OSV News
OSV News – In the decade since Pope Francis issued a wide-ranging document on pastoral care for the family, the Catholic Church in the U.S. has leaned into ministries that address often hidden suffering, including infertility, child loss and domestic violence, according to an expert who assists the U.S. bishops on marriage and family ministry.
“There are also ministries that are shedding light on the beauty of caregiving (for) aged family members, and families that are welcoming their homes to children in foster care or by way of adoption,” said Julia Dezelski, associate director of Marriage and Family Life for the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Secretariat of Laity, Marriage, Family Life and Youth.
“‘Amoris Laetitia’ emphasized the need for the Church to meet families in every situation of need,” Dezelski told OSV News. “These ministries are doing this.”
Released in April 2016, “Amoris Laetitia” is a lengthy papal missive on married life and love, children, extended family, education and related challenges, with special attention to integrating wounded or marginalized families into the life of the Church.
Latin for “The Joy of Love,” “Amoris Laetitia” is drawn, as is customary, from the opening phrase of the post-synodal apostolic exhortation, which runs more than 50,000 words. Pope Francis issued the document to synthesize and offer guidance on topics addressed in the back-to-back, worldwide synods of bishops on the family at the Vatican in 2014 and 2015.
“Amoris Laetitia” garnered an uneven reception. While Church leaders generally praised the exhortation’s aim of improving pastoral care for families, it met swift and sharp criticism for some ambiguities that appeared difficult to reconcile with Church teaching, especially pertaining to divorced Catholics in new civil unions, without a prior declaration of nullity, and their reception of the Eucharist. Disagreement among theologians and Church leaders persists over these elements.
These lingering questions, however, have not dampened efforts to integrate Pope Francis’ wider reflections on pastoral accompaniment for families. Some U.S. dioceses issued local guidance on the implementation of “Amoris Laetitia,” and the Diocese of San Diego used it to convene a local synod on families that led to a new diocesan department for family life.
Five years after the release of “Amoris Laetitia,” the USCCB in 2021 approved “Called to the Joy of Love: National Pastoral Framework for Marriage and Family Life Ministry,” which was designed to assist U.S. dioceses with the pastoral planning “Amoris Laetitia” envisioned.
“God’s plan for marriage and family life corresponds to the deepest desires of men and women for lasting happiness and true joy,” the USCCB document states in its introduction.
“Today, pastoral leaders face the challenge of addressing numerous marital and family situations that are more complex than in previous decades,” it stated. “This framework attempts to present pastoral approaches to many of these situations with the hope that all people experience the Gospel of the family as a joy that fills hearts and lives.'”
“Called to the Joy of Love” identifies four pillars for ministry with families and “recommendations for nearly every area of pastoral care,” Dezelski said.
Now, 10 years after “Amoris Laetitia” was issued, efforts continue to realize the document’s vision, which relies on “meaningful structures in parishes that can meet the needs of families individually,” she said.
“The spirituality of marriage and the family remains an area of great theological depth that has not yet been fully developed,” she said. “However, there are signs that the family is becoming better understood and appreciated as a domestic Church, and the unpacking of what this means for the family – in its fullest meaning – is still underway.”
Other ministry experts say that “Amoris Laetitia” has not yet led to major programmatic changes in their fields, but may have opened minds to fresh approaches.
That appears to be the case for marriage preparation, according to Mary-Rose Verret of Witness to Love, a “catechumenate model” of marriage formation which she co-founded with her husband, Ryan Verret. While “Witness to Love” preceded “Amoris Laetitia,” its central elements track with the exhortation’s call for marriage preparation to be rooted in a parish community and include virtues-based formation with mentors chosen by the couple. The mentors, who meet certain objective criteria, accompany the couple in their sacramental journey to the altar, help integrate them in parish life, and provide trusted support and friendship beyond the day they say “I do.”
“I think the first few years after ‘Amoris Laetitia’ came out, there wasn’t any change,” Mary-Rose Verret said. “But we saw that people who were the decision-makers at the diocese or parish level were at least open to a conversation and open to the idea that doing the same thing we’ve always done that’s not working, (and) maybe we need to revisit that.”
In 2025, according to Ryan Verret, the Witness to Love platform saw a 50% increase in use. They and their volunteer mentors anticipate guiding 5,500 engaged couples in 2026.
“Amoris Laetitia” underscored “accompaniment,” but “I don’t think people really know what it means,” Verret said. “It’s not to walk just at someone’s side, with no direction. It’s not just to leave them either. And it’s also not to walk behind and push them, or think you have a better understanding than they do of where they’re going. Our ultimate goal is to be just one step ahead of them, and walking with them.”
The Verrets are the only North American married couple appointed to a consulting role with the Vatican’s Dicastery for Laity, Family and Life. In 2022, that dicastery released “Catechumenal Pathways for Married Life: Pastoral Guidelines for Local Churches,” a pastoral outline that drew from on preparing engaged couples for the sacrament of matrimony through continuous, lifelong formation that begins even in childhood.
The guidelines drew from “Amoris Laetitia,” and “we are now seeing the implementation of these guidelines across dioceses,” confirmed Dezelski.
But leaders in ministries focused on divorced Catholics say they have yet to see the same attention given to their challenges.
“I think ‘Amoris Laetitia’ was opening the door. I think we have to still walk through the door,” said Patty Breen McNeil, a Catholic who has spoken and written about going through divorce and the process for a declaration of nullity, commonly called an annulment.
Lisa Duffy, founder of Journey of Hope, a ministry that supports separated and divorced Catholics, noted that the Church prepares couples for marriage, not divorce, so there are naturally more questions about that area of pastoral accompaniment. However, “In my estimation, ‘Amoris Laetitia’ simply added to those questions,” especially around annulment timelines and admission to the Eucharist, she said.
“I’ve spoken with people who believe the annulment process across the board now only takes 30 days, and they’re surprised when they hear that’s not the case,” she said. “Typically, they’ve heard other changes have been made, but length of time seems to be the one they’re most interested in discussing.”
Although pastoral ministry for divorced Catholics lacks the framework articulated for those leading marriage preparation, McNeil and Duffy said individual Catholics and parishes should be mindful of the existing need and work to meet it.
“What the Church can do to be more supportive – more pastoral – is to just recognize folks,” McNeil said. “That there are divorced and annulled and civilly remarried people who are in our pews every Sunday.”
Pastoral inattention will increase the risk of parish and even drift from the Church into other Christian denominations, she warned.
“If you don’t have a place where you can feel like you’re seen, or you’re noticed, or you’re cared for – and you’re going through one of the most difficult situations in your life – it’s really easy to walk away from an institution,” she said. “Or to go to the non-denominational Church down the road, because, ‘Hey, they’ve got divorce care on Thursday night, and then I have my kids, and they have free child care, and they’re going to give us dinner, too.'”
Duffy agreed.
“I see a lot of Catholics distance themselves from those who are divorced instead of offering friendship and support,” she said. “Just because you’re a friend and a support to someone who’s divorced, doesn’t mean you condone divorce. It simply means you’re showing Christian compassion for those who are suffering.”
Kimberley Heatherington is an OSV News correspondent. She writes from Virginia. OSV News staff contributed to this story.
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