A single parent writes to the Synod: “Why aren’t we represented?”

From Katrina Fernandez over at Aleteia, raising a very good point:

I know it seems like a small thing, silly perhaps, but I keep scanning the headlines and reading the news looking for those two small words. Small words with significant meaning. Single. Parents. Each time I read a news article about the discussions within the synod of the family yet see no mention of single parents, my heart sinks a little more. They’ve got everyone there—divorced and remarried, same-sex couples, women wanting more authority in the church, Protestant spouses of Catholics who want to receive Communion, representatives of the Church Universal from every part of the globe, and even members of non-Catholic organizations. Every irregular family mix you can think of … except single parents. Why? Why is such a large group of individuals constantly underrepresented and ignored? One in four American children are being raised in single-parent households. Those number are significant. These children and their struggling parents deserve to be represented in this synod. So why aren’t we? The fact that we continually get ignored in larger Church discussion makes me think our bishops don’t think single parents matter enough to be of significant interest. That, or maybe they just don’t know what to do with us.

Read it all.