Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Valencia (Agenzia Fides) -On Friday 7 July the work of the Theological-Pastoral Congress opened on the theme "Family and Ecumenism", in the presence of representatives of the Orthodox Churches and Lutheran Churches. In his conclusion Cardinal Nicolás di Jesús López Rodríguez, Archbishop of Santo Domingo (Dominican Republic) underlined "shared points of concern and possible solutions …family pastoral care is a task in the ecumenical field ".
At the morning Session presided by Cardinal Norberto Rivera, Archbishop of Mexico City one of the speakers was the Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith Cardinal William Joseph Levada who gave a talk on "The Family in the Catechism of the Catholic Church". "One of the main challenges in recent times is an attempt by the secularised society to change laws which for centuries and even millennia recognised God’s plan for marriage and the family as it is presented in the order of Creation and which is the common heritage of humanity governed by natural law ” said Cardinal Levada, underlining that "human laws and decisions which fail to respect this fundamental unchanging teaching are contrary to the law of God, and can rightly be considered wrong". "Refusal to obey civil authorities when their demands are contrary to the upright conscience is justified by distinction between service of God and service to the political community”. The Cardinal concluded warmly applauded by quoting the Gospel - “repay to Caesar what belongs to Caesar and to God what belongs to God” -.
"John Paul II, the Pope of the family and of life "was the title of a conference given by Cardinal Stanislaw Dziwisz, Archbishop of Krakow in Poland. The secretary of the late Pope said: "I am convinced that the struggle against abortion had a very special agent in John Paul II. This battle cannot be won without him. He encouraged us on the path to the civilisation of love, respect for life and the family. I am deeply convinced that still today John Paul II sustains and blesses us from the window of the House of the Father". Cardinal Dziwisz said that Karol Wojtyla as a priest, a bishop and later as the Successor of Peter was always "totally dedicated to the family and to life".
Other speakers on the family were Fr. Álvaro Corcuera, director of the Legionaries of Christ and Lidia Jiménez, directress of the Santa María Crusaders. Fr Corcuera in his intervention said " to two pillars" which guide the apostolate of the Legionaries of Christ and the Regnum Christi Movement were "the family as a school of theological values ", where children learn to love and live the faith, and as a ‘school of evangelisation’ with parents and children involved in mission to go and preach the Gospel. For her part Lidia Jiménez, stressed the importance of good preparation for marriage and family life denouncing "manipulation of terms which concern the family, recalling that "marriage is nether a contract, or a pact, it is the image of God’s covenant with his People".
The afternoon session focussed on pastoral experience on the different continents. Cardinal George Pell, Archbishop of Sydney, spoke of the situation of the family in Australia, where "today Christ is probably more trivialised than crucified". He said many young couples are doubtful about marriage, perhaps because "one third of marriages in Australia end in divorce. This creates uncertainty in children of divorced couples, damages their self confidence and their will to undertake the commitment marriage demands".
Cardinal Camillo Ruini, the Pope’s vicar for the diocese of Rome and president of the Italian Bishops’ Conference said "the family is in crisis in Italy too" indicating three paths for effective handing on of the faith in the family: family prayer, family catechesis before and after baptism of children, "a very effective and concrete way", "loving" in the family as reflection of God’s love for every human person.
The situation in Latin America was presented by Cardinal Francisco Javier Errázuriz, Archbishop of Santiago de Chile president of the Council of Latin American Bishops’ Conferences CELAM, who spoke of inadequate “pedagogy in family pastoral " adding that "Latin America and the Caribbean are not islands with regard to the cultural currents which agitate the Western world". Education policies need revising "dominant trends in the filed of values incite to selfishness and prepare for violence emphasising rights more than duties and personal rights more the those of others… human relationships no longer advance towards authentic love, service, gratitude and contemplation".
"Pastoral care of the Family and Life in Europe" was presented by Cardinal Jean-Pierre Ricard, Archbishop of Bordeaux and president of the French Bishops Conference who said not rarely in Europe the attitude to this question is highly subjective, attention is given to pastoral care of the family not only as one particular field of pastoral but as a fundamental dimension of self.
Cardinal Crescenzio Sepe, Archbishop of Naples from his years of experience as Prefect of the Congregation for the Evangelisation of Peoples recalled that "the first ambit of evangelisation of the family is the family itself", with reciprocal evangelisation between husband and wife, children and parents, in a continual process of witness and proclamation of the Gospel from one generation to the next". He also recalled that conjugal and family life has a dynamism which reaches beyond the family to the community and to the whole of society: "the missionary nature of the Church is found in the family the small domestic church, a concrete realisation is a privileged place for the mandate received by the Church". "The evangelising mission of the family, Christian witness of communion and paternal, maternal, filial and fraternal of each of its members personally and as a community has an unrivalled potential for evangelisation" Cardinal Sepe concluded. (JO/RG) (8/7/2006)
