Pope's letter for Dublin World Meeting of Families presented
(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis has written a letter to the
organisers of next year’s World Meeting of Families, who presented
the event at the Vatican press office on Thursday morning.
The Meeting is scheduled to take place in Dublin, Ireland
from August 21st to 26th 2018 on the theme ‘The Gospel of the Family: joy to
the world”.
In the letter addressed to Cardinal Kevin Farrell,
head of the new Vatican office for Laity, Family and Life, the Pope says he
hopes the Meeting will be a way for families to deepen their reflection on the
document ‘Amoris Laetitia’ which he wrote at the conclusion of the two
recent synods on the family.
At the press conference, the cardinal stressed the
importance of preparations that will take place in parishes and dioceses ahead
of the event. This catechesis must involve lay people as well as clergy, he
said, reaching out especially to individuals and families who have grown away
from the Church.
"As Pope Francis said we need to be a Church that
goes out to the peripheries of society to those people who don't listen to us
at the present moment, to those families who have lost their way or who do not
go to church any more".
Also present at the press conference was the Archbishop
of Dublin Diarmuid Martin who highlighted the complex combination of
faith and secularization which characterizes his country today. He said the
meeting will be a challenge for the archdiocese but also an opportunity to
underline the importance of family life for Irish society as a whole.
Archbishop Martin said the Church must learn to accompany
families and address the real day-to-day difficulties which he hears about from
those in his own archdiocese:
"They’d be talking about work, leisure,
homelessness, how to make ends meet, how government subsidies are being cut
back, how they’d have sleepless nights worrying about their teenage children -
these are the challenges they have to be supported in so that they can carry
out this essential role in society and that people really give them the support
and confidence to do that".
Both leaders hope the meeting will not be a one-off event,
but rather a chance for the whole Church to deepen its reflection on the Pope’s
words in 'Amoris Laetitia', seeing the family as a vital resource for
sharing the message of God’s love with the world.
Neither of them would confirm the Pope’s presence at the
Meeting next year, but they did share their hopes that he’ll be attending the
event – a hope also expressed in the promotional video for
the World Meeting of Families.
Please find below the full text of Pope Francis’ letter
for the World Meeting of Families
To the Venerable Brother Cardinal KEVIN FARRELL, Prefect of
the Dicastery for the Laity, the Family and Life
At the end of the Eighth World Meeting of Families, held in Philadelphia in
September 2015, I announced that the subsequent meeting with Catholic families
of the world would take place in Dublin. I now wish to initiate preparations,
and am pleased to confirm that it will be held from 21 to 26 August 2018, on
the theme “The Gospel of the Family: joy for the world”. Indeed, it is my wish
for families to have a way of deepening their reflection and their sharing of
the content of the post-Synodal Apostolic Exhortation Amoris Laetitia.
One might ask: does the Gospel continue to be a joy for the world? And also:
does the family continue to be good news for today’s world?
I am sure the answer is yes! And this “yes” is firmly based on God’s plan. The
love of God is His “yes” to all creation and at the heart of this latter is
man. It is God’s “yes” to the union between man and woman, in openness and
service to life in all its phases; it is God’s “yes” and His commitment to a
humanity that is often wounded, mistreated and dominated by a lack of love. The
family, therefore, is the “yes” of God as Love. Only starting from love can the
family manifest, spread and regenerate God’s love in the world. Without love,
we cannot live as children of God, as couples, parents and brothers.
I wish to underline how important it is for families to ask themselves often if
they live based on love, for love and in love. In practice, this means giving
oneself, forgiving, not losing patience, anticipating the other, respecting.
How much better family life would be if every day we lived according to the
words, “please”, “thank you” and “I’m sorry”. Every day we have the experience
of fragility and weakness, and therefore we all, families and pastors, are in
need of renewed humility that forms the desire to form ourselves, to educate
and be educated, to help and be helped, to accompany, discern and integrate all
men of good will. I dream of an outbound Church, not a self-referential one, a
Church that does not pass by far from man’s wounds, a merciful Church that
proclaims the heart of the revelation of God as Love, which is Mercy. It is
this very mercy that makes us new in love; and we know how much Christian
families are a place of mercy and witnesses of mercy, and even more so after
the extraordinary Jubilee. The Dublin meeting will be able to offer concrete
signs of this.
I therefore invite all the Church to keep these indications in mind in the
pastoral preparation for the next World Meeting.
You, dear Brother, along with your collaborators, have the task of translating
in a special way the teaching of Amoris Laetitia, with which the Church wishes
families always to be in step, in that inner pilgrimage that is the
manifestation of authentic life.
My thoughts go in a special way to the archdiocese of Dublin and to all the
dear Irish nation for the generous welcome and commitment involved in hosting
such an important event. May the Lord recompense you as of now, granting you
abundant heavenly favours.
May the Holy Family of Nazareth guide, accompany and bless your service, and all
the families involved in the preparation of the great World Meeting in Dublin.
From the Vatican, 25 March 2017
FRANCIS
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