VATICAN CITY (CNS) – Bishops around the world are being asked to take a realistic look at the situation of families under their care and at how effective pastoral and educational programs have been at promoting Church teaching on sexuality, marriage and family life.

The preparatory document for the extraordinary Synod of Bishops on the family, which will be held in October, 2014, ends with 38 questions about how Church teaching is promoted, how well it is accepted and ways in which modern people and societies challenge the Catholic view of marriage and family.

Archbishop Lorenzo Baldisseri, general secretary of the synod, asked bishops to distribute the document and questionnaire “as widely as possible” to deaneries and parishes, summarize the responses and send them to the Vatican by the end of January.

Distributing an outline of the chosen topic and related questions and seeking responses from bishops, religious orders and interested Catholic groups is a normal part of the preparation for a synod. Archbishop Baldisseri, encouraging even wider consultation, did not specify how bishops should seek input.

The Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales put the questionnaire online in late October, leading to news stories about “polling” Catholics for their opinions and suggestions.

The extraordinary synod on “pastoral challenges to the family in the context of evangelization” was convoked by Pope Francis for Oct. 5-19 and will bring together presidents of bishops’ conferences, the heads of Eastern Catholic churches and the heads of Vatican offices to describe the current situation and “to collect the bishops’ experiences and proposals in proclaiming and living the Gospel of the family in a credible manner,” the document said.

A second gathering, a world Synod of Bishops on the family, will be held in 2015 “to seek working guidelines in the pastoral care of the person and the family,” it said.