Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Santiago (Agenzia Fides) - “Family, School of Love, Missionary of Life” is the theme of Chile's national Family Week to be held from the 30 September to 7 October.
In a letter to present Family Week, Archbishop Cristian Caro Cordero of the diocese of Puerto Montt and president of the Chilean Bishops' Family Pastoral Commission, drew from the address given by Pope Benedict XVI on May 13th this year when he opened the 5th General Conference of the Council of Bishops' Conferences of Latin America and the Caribbean in Aparecida, Brazil. He said among other things “the family, patrimony of humanity, is one of Latin American countries greatest treasures" because it is a "school of faith, gymnasium of human and civil values, a home in which human life is born and responsibly transmitted", moreover " for the individual serenity and education of children the family is indispensable".
In a 'Letter to Families' the Catholic Bishops' Conference of Chile states "the family is the best school of love on this earth". The Letter recalls that "in God's plan, matrimony is called to be the source of life, with the husband and wife, mother and father as the central nucleus of the family. Parents hand on the faith, traditions and history; they are responsible for family's growth, the educators of their children". This is why "the family, communion of love and life is called to be a 'missionary of life"'. However this does not make it immune to dangers and attacks provoked by "secularism and moral relativism, migratory movements in the country and over the borders, poverty, social instability civil legislation contrary to matrimony which favour birth conception and abortion and doing so threaten the future of nations". In fact the reason for Family Week, the Commission explains, is to strengthen marriage and family bonds and unity.
Family Week material prepared by the Commission and made available on the Internet, includes reflections on marriage and the family; suggestions for liturgies with the family, with young people or with children; TV advertisement and slogan; a list of Family Week activities organised in the various dioceses. (RG) (Agenzia Fides 28/9/2007; righe 25, parole 344)
