With the U.S. Bishops meeting in but a few weeks, items on the agenda are already starting to trickle out. Among them, a proposed pastoral letter on marriage.
According to the NCCB:
If approved, the marriage initiative, to be carried out in three phases, would begin in January 2005 and extend at least through 2007. A preparation and development phase, including a process of consultation and research, would occur in 2005 and 2006. The writing and approval phase, dealing with the pastoral letter itself, would come in 2006 and 2007. Beginning in 2007, an implementation and follow-up phase would include publication of the pastoral letter and further implementation activities based on the main themes of the letter, carried out by various Conference committees and other groups, e.g., revision of marriage preparation national guidelines, models for parish ministry, specific resources and applications for different cultural groups, and TV/radio spots.
I wonder if the institution of marriage will still be around to defend in 2007 by the time the bishops figure out what they want to say about marriage, but at least it's a move in the right direction.