By Carol Glatz
Catholic News Service

VATICAN CITY (CNS) — The extraordinary Synod of Bishops on the family must put greater focus on the beauty of the Christian vision of marriage and not let an approach of ”welcoming” and mercy override the church’s duty to call people to turn away from sin, according to a number of reports from the synod’s small groups.

While the Oct. 4-19 synod was convened to talk about the pastoral challenges facing today’s families, its midterm synod report put too much emphasis on the problems, which risked making families and young people not want to bother with trying to make a marriage work, some synod groups said.

The frank comments and concerns were outlined in a 35-page compilation of the full written reports the synod’s 10 working groups submitted to the committee drafting the final synod document. The groups also submitted ”hundreds” of proposals for…