Here are the final suggestions of the Theological and Pastoral Congress
on the theme: "Twenty Years since Familiaris Consortio:
The Anthropological and Pastoral Dimension". Our excerpt begins
with a brief overview of the Family as Domestic Church. The
representatives of the various Pro-Life and Family Movements met, from
21 to 24 November 2001, in the Old Synod Hall to discuss the lights and
shadows of the twenty-year period since the Apostolic Exhortation Familiaris
consortio was published. Here are the final directions of the
Symposium.
The Family: "domestic Church"
The Exhortation has strengthened our conviction that the Christian
family is "a Church in miniature", a "domestic
Church" (Ecclesia domestica) (cf. Familiaris consortio,
n. 49).
The Gospel of the Family is proclaimed in the Church. It is here that
the family has received it. This proclamation means growth in the faith,
enrichment in catechesis and encouragement to live a life under the
banner of self-giving and a common life of solidarity.
But there is also an announcement of the Gospel to non-Christians, to
non-believers, and here too the Christian family is called to have a
strong missionary commitment. It all passes through the life witness
that Christian homes radiate around them: a joyful, warm, welcoming and
open witness of the spirit of the Gospel. This is the important message
of Familiaris consortio, its mission is the outreach of the
family apostolate.
Pastoral Care of the Family
The pastoral care of the family has been greatly improved. As John
Paul II said to our Congress, "after the publication of Familiaris
consortio, the Church's interest in the family increased, and the
pastoral care of families has become the priority in countless dioceses
and parishes" (Message to the Congress of the Pontifical Council
for the Family on the 20th anniversary of Familiaris consortio 23
November 2001, n. 4; ORE, 9 January 2002, p. 6). We could see
pastoral care of the family at work in the experiences presented at our
Congress. These experiences, that came from all the continents, show us
how many Christian homes are motivated by the love of the truth about
the family. They witnessed enthusiastically to the Good News that
inspires them. They show the true features of the family to those around
them. As the Holy Father says, "in its humility and simplicity, its
witness of domestic life can become a most effective vehicle of
evangelization" (ibid.).
Pastoral care of the family has made its primary task that of helping
young couples, who can be assailed by doubts about their ability to live
life-long conjugal fidelity. Those in pastoral care are also aware now
of how to provide care for divorced and remarried couples. The criteria
provided in Familiaris consortio are clear and have been
respected. The Church is not empowered to modify what is based on the
teaching of the Lord. But divorced couples who have remarried at a civil
ceremony must not feel that they have been put outside the Church. As
the Holy Father says: "The Church, which was set up to lead to
salvation all people and especially the baptized, cannot abandon to
their own devices those who have been previously bound by sacramental
marriage and who have attempted a second marriage. The Church will
therefore make untiring efforts to put at their disposal her means of
salvation" .
"I earnestly call upon (everyone) to help the
divorced, and with solicitous care to make sure that they do not
consider themselves as separated from the Church, for as baptized
persons they can, and indeed must, share in her life" (Familiaris
consortio, n. 84).
This Good News of the family has already been splendidly
illustrated on three occasions at the Holy Father's World Meetings with
Families: in Rome in 1994, in Rio de Janeiro in 1997, during the
International Year of the Family and then again in the Year 2000 in Rome
with the Jubilee of Families. We invite families across the world to the
next World Meeting, that will take place in Manila, the Philippines, in
January 2003,
Conclusions
At the end of our reflection on the current situation of families and
the pastoral care of families, 20 years after the publication of the
Post-Synodal Exhortation Familiaris consortio, we wish to
formulate several conclusions.
Preparation for Marriage
1. The family community must be considered in the unity of its
different members when we consider its reality as the basic good for
society and for the Church (Pontifical Council for the Family, Family
and Human Rights, 1999, n. 16). We warmly invite those who are
preparing for marriage to reflect on their future as they envision it,
with the help of the pastors and lay persons who are guiding them. It is
a good thing to encourage future spouses to discover how rich their love
should be so that they may understand the dimensions of totality,
fidelity and conjugal chastity. This understanding must lead them to
understand the definitive character of their own obligation to each
other.
2. We encourage pastors to present to the faithful preparing for
marriage the teaching of the Church on conjugal morality as it is
expounded in the Encyclical Humanae vitae and re-presented in the
Letter to Families. The pastors have to teach the future spouses.
The main goal of the preparation is to bring future couples to accept a
basic openness to life as part of their married life.
Christian and catechetical formation
3. We urge Christian parents to take their mission as educators of
their children seriously, making sure that they will be well formed.
They should be aware that through catechetical formation they pass on to
their children their own human and spiritual inheritance. They should be
concerned to preserve a Christian atmosphere of freedom, of mutual
respect and of moral responsibility in their home. With daily prayer in
the family and the first simple explanations that parents must give
their children, they will be able to initiate them gradually to the
truths of faith.
Responsibility for sexual education
4. Parents must know and feel that it is they themselves who are
responsible for the sexual education of their children (Pontifical
Council for the Family, Sessualitā umana: veritā e significato.
Orientamenti educativi in famiglia, 8 December 1995). This
responsibility remains, even when education for sexuality is provided by
other educational communities. It is first and foremost through the
witness of their conjugal love and mutual respect that they will be able
to invite their children to discover the beauty of responsible love, in
the framework of the truth and formation in genuine freedom. Parents
will soon be concerned to teach their children the human values of
generosity, of self-giving, of respect for others, of self-control and
temperance (Familaris consortio, n. 37; Evangelium vitae,
n. 92). They will know how to respond without evasion to their
children's questions on sexuality. Their answers must be clear, simple,
and adapted to what the child can understand and assimilate. Always
prepared to listen, parents will be able to enjoy their children's
trust, and in this area of formation parents will keep their own special
role.
Family rights to be recognized at the institutional level
5. We address politicians and legislators, to urge them to defend the
values of the family in the local and regional institutions and in the
parliaments (cf. Charter of the Rights of the Family that was
presented by the Holy See to all persons, institutions and authorities
concerned with the mission of the family in the world today, 22 October
1983). May the voice of the families of the world be heard as a
guarantee of the future of nations. May the rights of families be
clearly proclaimed and recognized. May families know how to organize
themselves at the political level to bring their full weight to bear in
the face of militant minorities that are opposed to the family and to
life. Real dialogue has to be established in all nations on the
fundamental issues of the rights of families, of family education and of
the contribution that the State should offer to family education.
Integral vision of the human person and of his vocation
6. It is necessary to situate the contemporary situation of the
family and of family life in "an integral vision of man and of his
vocation" (Humanae vitae, n. 7; Familiaris consortio,
n. 32), in an authentic anthropology. The complex problems connected
with the ethics of human life feel the effects of the obscuring of the
close connection between the family and procreation as God desires it.
This is due to a positivist and scientistic prejudice which breaks the
unity on the level of the persons between the family and the service to
life, as though procreation were a problem that concerns scientists in
their laboratories. Procreation is broken up into a complex of difficult
cases, with the risk of losing an integral understanding of the person,
the family and of life. We ask the Pontifical Council for the Family to
make this matter the object of a special study and to give greater
emphasis to the fact that the family founded on marriage, is the subject
of procreation in the plan of God the Creator.
Openness to life
7. The openness of conjugal love to life is an urgent aspect to be
rediscovered. The contraceptive mentality that Familiaris consortio
denounced 20 years ago, unfortunately still infects many of our
communities. We need to increase the efforts of pro-family and pro-life
presence and action: in society (laws and family policies), in culture
(thought, literature, the media), and in Christian communities (renewal
of the spirit of openness to life).
8. One of the most important fruits of Familiaris consortio is
the renewal of the pastoral care of the family in the Bishops'
Conferences, dioceses, parishes, and apostolic movements throughout the
Church. In this area considerable progress has taken place in the past
20 years.
Pastoral care of marriage preparation
9. Despite all that has been achieved, there is still much to be
done. There are still many dioceses in which the pastoral care of
families lacks adequate structures. Pastors frequently express the
urgent need for the formation of pastoral workers. Here, the work of the
Institutes for the Study of Marriage and the Family, and the Centres for
Responsible Procreation are proving extraordinarily fruitful. We ask
that they receive greater attention, so that in union with the
Magisterium of the Church and integrated into the intellectual,
scientific, social, political and juridical reality of our countries,
their role in forming effective agents of family ministry may develop
ever more.
Refugee families
10. Today, more than ever, refugee families are a serious problem.
They receive asylum in temporary shelters, or in refugee camps, but
often lack what is strictly necessary and are not protected by the
authorities who accept them. They can be subject to pressures in the
area of reproductive health, that includes their being
forced to fall back on abortion, sterilization or "emergency"
contraception. A document (Pontifical Councils for Health Pastoral Care,
for Migrants and Itinerant People and for the Family: The Reproductive
Health of Refugees. A Note for the Bishops' Conferences, Vatican
City, 14 September 2001) was recently published by the Holy See to
invite the local Churches to show concern for these families, to see
that their rights are respected and to offer them the defence they might
need.
Parishes principal places for pastoral care of families
11. Parishes must be the principal place for family ministry within
the global exercise of the Church's pastoral care. The courses of
preparation for marriage and forms of family catechesis that are an
important educational means are not usually developed. It is important
to ensure the collaboration of prepared couples and individuals who come
from the parishes and apostolic movements. In this area, we recommend to
bishops, parish priests and the leaders of Catholic organizations to
confirm the spirit of solidarity and complementarity, that will
contribute to an effective family apostolate.
12. Centres of Family Guidance are turning out to be effective
sources of support for the pastoral care of families. They are intended
to be local units that support families in the social, juridical,
ethical, pastoral, responsible procreation sectors where they are very
helpful for families.
Let us look to the future with determination and hope
Let us look to the future with determination because, as members of
Christ's Church, committed in different capacities to the family
apostolate of this Church, we feel responsible before God and before
men, for the health of families, for their vitality, their balance,
their future. This responsibility cannot be limited merely to private,
domestic or spiritual aspects of the family, but must extend to the
social and political areas. Those who defend the family, its values, its
vital role in society, must make their voice heard at local and regional
meetings, in national parliaments, in international organizations,
wherever the future of families is decided. For this activity, the Charter
of the Rights of the Family is a fine tool to use for reference and
dialogue. The pastoral care of families in faithfulness to its goals has
to promote commitment in the political arena, to make the rights of the
family accepted in society. This is a service to humanity.
Let us look to the future with hope, because the Lord of the family
and of life is always at work. He gives life to families of the whole
world, and gives them the necessary energy to remain faithful to their
vocation and mission. The families of all nations, witnesses to love and
fidelity, are the light that brightens a world that is beset with
perplexities, doubts and dangers. We pray the Lord that he will help
families to be faithful to what they are for the common good of all men
and women and for the future of humanity.
Vatican City, 20 December 2001.
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