OCEANIA/TAHITI - Archdiocese of Papeete celebrates the Year of the Family in 2008: “in this country, that the advertising industry portrays as a paradise, there is really an impressive number of people who suffer from their family life.”

Papeete (Agenzia Fides) - “In this country, at the advertising industry portrays as a paradise, there is really an impressive number of people who suffer from their family life.” These are the words of Archbishop Hubert Coppenrath of Papeete, in his letter on the Year of the Family, which is being held during 2008. The crisis of instability among married couples has affected many countries in the world, including in Polynesia, the Archbishop explained, with “nearly half of the couples living together before marriage and nearly half of the civil marriages ending in divorce. Even those married in the Church and in general, although the marriage may not reach the point of divorce, conjugal life experiences tensions and is lived without love. Then there is domestic violence, abused children, those affected by alcoholism and incest.” In recent years, the Archbishop says, Polynesia has suffered a wave of “ideologies that bring death, that wish to place legal marriages and homosexual unions on par with one another.”
Archbishop Coppenrath asks that the people of Papeete make an effort to fight for the Christian family and focus on positive models of the family. “It is not enough simply to speak of the Christian ideal of marriage, there is a need to convince others of the importance of living and loving. It is not just about informing others, but of reaching concrete steps towards progress in all the places where we live and work.”
Among his practical suggestions, the Archbishop proposes “the quest for renewed objectives where the relationship between the spouses has experienced a breakdown; more attention and time dedicated to the family; forgiveness between parents, between parents and children, and among the children; reflection on the damages that divorce causes on children; a serious preparation for the sacrament of marriage, led by competent persons; an effort to make the family an authentic domestic Church, a place of prayer, where the faith is lived and where there is mutual help in living it out. Archbishop Coppenrath says he is convinced that the Year of the Family will be especially useful in reflecting on this “natural institution desired and founded by God.” (AM) (Agenzia Fides 24/10/2008)