ASIA/INDIA - Ahmedabad diocese starts “Year of the Family” 2006: vocation and mission of the Christian family in the third millennium

Thursday, 9 March 2006

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Ahmedabad (Fides Service) - To promote reflection on the Christian family, its calling and mission in the third millennium in an era of global culture and major social changes and in view of growing threats to the family such as abortion and divorce, Bishop Thomas Macwan the Catholic Bishop of Ahmedabad in the Indian state of Gujarat has convoked his diocesan community to celebrate a Year of the Family in his 2006.
“The family is the shrine of life, and a Christian family is called to be a domestic church”, the Bishop wrote in a message to families, parishes, movements and associations recalling that the early Christian communities met in homes to pray and ‘break the bread’ and he quotes from some fundamental papal documents including the post synodal exhortation Familiaris Consortio (1981) written by Pope John Paul II on the basis of the findings of the Synod of Bishops on the Family. Underlining the crisis of the family today and the need to protect and support families threatened by many evils including abortion and divorce and superficial and temporary relationships, the Bishop told his people he wished “this Year of the Family to be a time to reflect on the authentic values of the family”. Initiatives organised in the framework of the Year of the Family will include seminars on the culture and understanding of family in the different religions and on measures to promote stable marriages, happy families and harmonious communities.
The Family was also the focal point chosen for the 2004 annual plenary assembly of the Federation of Asian Bishops’ Conferences FABC on the theme “The Asian Family and a Culture of Life ”, which reflected on the traditions and values of Asian families and the problem of extreme poverty afflicting rural and city families.
The Year of the Family in Ahmedabad diocese will also focus on evangelisation of families, spiritual formation of Catholic families, and parish assistance for local poor families. (Agenzia Fides 9/3/2006 righe 26 parole 267)