The American bishops of the Catholic Church assembled in Baltimore this week for their annual meeting. And they were clucking and fluttering like a bunch of hens, trying to calm the tizzy kicked up by Pope Francis and his kindler, gentler approach to the culture wars.

Last month, Francis convened a (relatively) freewheeling synod on the Church and the Catholic family. Among the topics discussed: what to do about gay parishioners, as well as divorced couples seeking to remarry. (Which is technically impossible, unless you get an annulment first.) This has thrown some of the faith’s more conservative believers into a bit of an uproar and so, the AP reports, the topic got quite a lot of airtime at the meeting.

Cardinal Timothy Dolan, for instance, said the synod was actually a “a synod of consensus” and the pope’s great at “attentive listening.” In other words: Don’t worry, pals, we’re not about to be swarmed with hippie-dippy gay divorcees handing out condoms to school kids! And archbishop Joseph Kurtz insisted that there’s nothing new and crazy here. Remain calm! All will be well!

Kurtz cited his home visits to parishioners, where he wouldn’t give them “a list of rules to follow firsthand,” but would instead “spend time with them trying to appreciate the good that I saw in their hearts,” before inviting them to follow Christ.

“Such an approach isn’t in opposition to church teachings. It’s an affirmation of them,” said Kurtz, who attended the Vatican gathering.

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STORY: http://jezebel.com/american-bishops-trying-to-figure-out-wtf-to-do-with-po-1656993297