AMERICA/MEXICO - Archdiocese of Mexico: Sunday, March 2 is Family Day, in preparation for the World Family Encounter

Mexico City (Agenzia Fides) - This coming Sunday, March 2, there will be a Family Day organized, in the Archdiocese of Mexico, by the Archdiocese’s Committee for Family Pastoral Ministry, in cooperation with the John Paul II Pontifical Institute for Studies on Marriage and the Family, in Mexico. According to the staff, the Family Day “will help promote unity in the family.”
Cardinal Norberto Rivera Carrera, Archbishop of Mexico, has sent a message to the faithful, calling for promotion of and participation in the event, as an opportunity “to heighten awareness, among the people of God, of the World Family Encounter that, as the Holy Father has indicated, will take place in our country and our diocese, in January of 2009.” He also reminds Catholics that society “cannot ignore the value of the family, built on matrimony” and the Church “cannot but announce that, in accord with God’s plan, matrimony and the family cannot be substituted nor can it admit other alternatives.” “The Christian family has, today more than ever, the heroic and vital mission of transmitting the faith,” where parents “are the primary agents in the evangelization of their children, who are a precious gift from the Creator, starting with teaching them their first prayers.”
According to the itinerary, the event will begin at 10am with a Music Festival. At 11am, there will be a floral offering made in honor of Servant of God John Paul II, the great defender of life, matrimony, and the family, followed by an encounter with the Cardinal, who will offer a special blessing for families and all those present. The act will conclude with the Holy Mass, at 12 noon in the Cathedral, presided by Cardinal Norberto Rivera. (RG) (Agenzia Fides 28/2/2008; righe 22, parole 284)