EUROPE/SPAIN - “Although the faith is often subject to social and cultural marginalisation, men and women today still long to hear the Good News of Christ”: Message from Lay Congress

Monday, 15 November 2004

Madrid (Fides Service) - In a message issued at the end of a Lay Congress in Spain lay Catholics said that concern for the situation in Spain marked by lack of faith in God, moral relativism does not discourage them indeed “it strengthens our desire to propose the Christian way of life to all men and women, and to be witnesses of hope brought by Jesus Christ Son of God, when he entered human history”. Some 2,000 people from dioceses, associations and movements attended the Congress held 12 - 14 November in Madrid.
The Message continued: “only holiness, which is the name of humanity transformed by Jesus Christ, can meet the aspirations of the men and women of our time”. This is why the congress participants said are aware of their “mission, to communicate new life in Jesus Christ, present in the communion of the Church and in the daily lives of all men and women. We realise that although the faith is often subject to social and cultural marginalisation, men and women today still long to hear the Good News of Christ”.
The message highlights 5 main areas where renewed Christian presence is necessary: “among youth”, with their aspirations, searching, frustration, always open to a simple and illuminating encounter with Jesus Christ, who alone can speak to the human heart; “the family”, founded on matrimony between a man and a woman, open to live and in need of adequate legal protection and to be nourished and sustained by the Gospel in view of its mission; “society” and its many areopagi, need for the wisdom of Christian life so as not to be lost in the present day confusion and absence of meaning; “the world of the economy and labour economic”, gripped by profound changes and consumer mentality, needs a new experience of the dignity and significance of human work; lastly in the “mass media”, which forge cultures and mentalities, it is necessary to make heard the voice of Christian experience filled with humanity. “To meet these challenges - the message concludes - we must live in the communion of the Church, nourished by the teaching of the Bishops and sustained by the witness of holiness of her most worthy sons and daughters”. (R.Z.) (Agenzia Fides 15/11/2004, righe 28, parole 376)


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