AFRICA - The family is not a fashion, but a sacred gift: the African contribution at the next World Meeting

Tuesday, 27 March 2018

Internet

Kara (Agenzia Fides) - Every three years the Church convenes a great international meeting of families all over the world. The 2018 meeting will be held in Dublin, Ireland, from 21 to 26 August. Fundamental objective will be "to celebrate the Gospel of the family". Donald Zagore, theologian of the Society of African Missions, commenting on the news of the participation of Pope Francis at the World Meeting in Dublin, traces for Agenzia Fides an African perspective: "Let us start from a fact: in line with the Synod on the family, sanctioned by the apostolic exhortation Amoris Laetitia, we must recognize the efforts made to give the family the role and dignity it deserves. The family is the foundation of human society. Without the family, society does not exist". "In the European social context - he continues - where gender issues are increasingly felt, with the abolition of sex and identity, with issues such as adoption by homosexual families, and with the attempt to redefine the concept of family - no longer exclusively prerogative of the man-woman couple - we must continue to raise our voice prophetically in order not to self-destruct our society, demolishing what constitutes its essence: the family".
"In this sense - notes Fr. Zagore - Africa has much to teach Europeans. First of all, for Africa, the sanctity of the family is unquestionable and inviolable. The family is not a fashion that can be made and defeated by simple social change. The family is a sacred gift whose values are transmitted with the greatest care from generation to generation. For Africa, the family is the union of a man and a woman, open to procreation. A child is an essential gift of God for the family. He is the symbol of life. He is the future of the family. A child for African families is like a life insurance for European families. This is why an abundance of children remains a blessing for a family".
"Moreover - explains the theologian - if the conditions of women have to be improved, the role and value of both sexes (male and female) are crucial. Being a man or being a woman is not a shame, but rather a pride. Identity is sacred. Women and men are invested with rights and duties based on their identity as men or women. One is born with an identity and the whole purpose of life is to reach the maturity of one's own identity. The full education of man and woman is oriented in this direction".
Fr. Zagore concludes: "The fundamental dynamism of the family lies in this perfect symbiosis of identity (man-woman). Destroying identities means destroying the family. Destroying the family means destroying society". (DZ/AP) (Agenzia Fides, 27/03/2018)


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