Lineamenta on Family

Lineamenta on Family

THE FAMILY, THE FOCAL POINT OF EVANGELIZATION

All creation has its source in God who created man and woman in His image and likeness (Gen 1:26-27). The foundation of the family is established by God Himself in that act of creation. God, who is love (I Jn 4:8), wants to share and carry on this love when He “inscribed in the humanity of man and woman the vocation and thus the capacity and responsibility, of love and communion” (Familiaris Consortio [FC], 11) “Christian marriage and the Christian family build up the Church. By means of the rebirth in baptism and education in the faith, the child is introduced into God’s family, which is the Church” (FC, 15). The family is the community of persons where parents and children, husband and wife are helping each other to realize the love they have received from God and to live with fidelity the reality of communion in a constant effort to develop an authentic community of persons (FC, 18). In concrete the family is the first school of values and deeper humanity (FC, 66) and a center to discern one’s own vocation and to accept responsibility in search for greater justice (FC, 2). “With their parents leading the way by example and family prayer, children and indeed everyone gathered around the family hearth will find a readier path to human maturity, salvation and holiness” (Gaudium et Spes [GS], 48)
“Parents should regard as their proper mission the task of transmitting human life and educating those to whom it has been transmitted. They should realize that they are thereby cooperators with the love of God the Creator, and are, so to speak, the interpreters of that love” (GS, 50). Indeed, the family is the focal point of evangelization and the parents are the first evangelizers. The family is the “first community called to announce the Gospel to the human person during growth and to bring him through a progressive education and catechesis to full human and Christian maturity”(FC, 2). The parents not only communicate the Gospel to the children, but from their children they can themselves receive the same Gospel as lived by them (Evangelii Nuntiandi [EN], 71) This is an evangelizing action that the lay faithful can do within the family and the family’s educational role represents a ministry of the Church (FC, 38) which has “a very important place in the organic pastoral work”(FC, 40). The family, as foundation of society, has a definite ecclesial task which places itself at the service of the building up of the Kingdom of God in history by participating in the life and mission of the Church (FC, 49). As the center of evangelization, the family is the locus of man’s experiences of communion and Christian values which provides the solid basis for Christian formation and where the young people can be strengthened and be trained for family, social and apostolic life (GS, 42).
In our local Church of the Diocese of San Carlos, we have several groups who are giving some pastoral care to the families like the Couples for Christ (CFC), Marriage Encounter & Enrichment (ME), Christ Family Mission (CHRISFAM), Christian Family Movement (CFM), etc. but these groups are never coordinated to have a well-planned and systematic Family Life Apostolate (FLA). Pastoral care to the families should be given a qualitative focus and calls for a thorough training among the clergy in this diocese about family matters to help and guide families to form a “domestic Church” and build Christian Families in the light of the Holy Family of Our Lord Jesus, the Blessed Virgin Mary and St. Joseph.

Questions for small group discussions:

1. How to make our families a real center of Evangelization and Catechesis?
2. How can we improve our Family Life Apostolate in the Diocese?
3. How can we coordinate all the different groups in the Diocese like the Couples for Christ, Marriage Encounter and Enrichment, Christ Family Mission and Christian Family Movement and other groups to work together for a well-coordinated and systematic Family Life Apostolate?