Vatican City, 10 September 2015 (VIS) – This morning in the Paul VI Hall the Pope received in audience the participants in the International Meeting of the Equipes Notre Dame (Teams of Our Lady, END), held in Rome on the theme, “Here I am Lord, send me”. The Equipes are a lay movement focusing on married spirituality, established in response to the needs of couples to live fully the sacrament of marriage, using its own method and exploring the complex reality of married couples today. The END were founded in France in 1938 upon the initiative of a number of couples and the priest Fr. Henri Caffarel, whose cause for beatification has been received in Rome.
Recalling the upcoming Synod on the family, Francis invited the members of the END to pray for the Synod Fathers and for what they must reflect upon in the assembly on the “vital cell of our societies … in the difficult current cultural context”, and devoted his discourse primarily to the missionary role of the Equipes Notre Dame.
“Christian couples and families are often in the best position to announce Jesus Christ to other families, to support them, to strengthen and encourage them. What you live in the couple and the family – accompanied by the charism typical of your movement – this profound and unique joy that the Lord enables you to experience in the intimacy of domestic life, between joy and suffering, you must bear witness to … so that others, in turn, take the same path”.
The Pope encouraged all the couples to live deeply the “concrete aspects of commitment” of the movement, such as prayer in couples and in the family, a “beautiful and necessary tradition that has always supported the faith and hope of Christians, and unfortunately abandoned in many regions of the world”. He also emphasised the importance of monthly dialogue between spouses, “that well-known and challenging ‘need to sit down’ that is counter to the habits of our frenetic and agitated world riven with individualism”. Finally, participation in the life of a team brings “the wealth of teaching and sharing, as well as the help and comfort of friendship”. In this respect Francis underlined the mutual fruitfulness of meeting with the accompanying priests, and thanked the couples of the END for the support and encouragement in the ministry of their priests “who always find, in contact with your Equipes and your families, priestly joy, fraternal presence, emotional balance and spiritual paternity”.
The missionary task of the movement is of supreme importance and the Holy Father indicated various fields of action, such as accompanying young couples and forming them in faith before and after marriage, or closeness to wounded families, “of whom there are so many these days, due to unemployment, … health problems, bereavement … the imbalance caused by distance or absence, or a climate of violence. We must have the courage to enter into contact with these families, in a discreet but generous way, materially, humanly and spiritually, in those circumstances in which they are vulnerable”.
Finally, the Pope encouraged couples to “be instruments of the mercy of Christ and the Church towards those whose marriage has failed. Never forget that your conjugal fidelity is a gift from God, and that mercy has been shown to every one of us. A united and happy couple can understand better than any other, from within, the harm and the suffering caused by abandonment, betrayal, and a lack of love. It is necessary, therefore, that you bring your witness and your experience to help Christian communities to discern the real situations in which these people find themselves, to welcome them with their wounds, and to help them to journey in faith and in truth, under the gaze of Christ the Good Shepherd, to take part in the life of the Church in an appropriate way. Nor must you forget the unspeakable suffering of the children who experience these painful family situations….
(Vatican Radio) During his Sunday Angelus last weekend Pope Francis called on parishes and religious communities to take in one migrant family who has fled war and hunger in their own country. He said that welcoming refugee families would be part of the build-up to the upcoming Jubilee Year of Mercy, which will begin this December. Since then Catholics around Europe have been heeding that call. The Jesuit Refugee Service has been contacted by thousands of people eager to host refugees in their homes, provide clothing or offer other help to those in need. JRS France has seen an upsurge in interest from those who want to help. It already runs a project called the “Welcome to France programme” which matches host families with asylum seekers needing short term accommodation. Speaking to Lydia O’Kane, Michel Croc of JRS France says that what he has heard is that “Bishops are organising to transmit this call from the Pope to their parishes and they are building relationships with the cities too.” He goes on to say that with the project they run, those who they welcome “is a friend for us, he is a human being…” Listen
In more than 15 cities in France, JRS matches an asylum seeker to a family or religious community that can host the asylum seeker for up to one month. The guest also rotates to other homes until space is available in a government centre for asylum seekers. Many of those who come to France have fled from countries in the Middle East and Africa. But in Paris many of the asylum seekers that are being assisted are from Afghanistan. Meanwhile, as more and more people over to help, JRS Europe says it’s stepping up its operations. (from Vatican Radio)…
Dear Brothers and Sisters, Good morning! Today I would like to focus our
attention on the connection between the
family and the Christian community . This bond is natural, so to speak,
because the Church is a spiritual family and the family is the domestic Church
(cf. Lumen Gentium , 9). The
Christian community is the home of those who believe in Jesus as the font of
brotherhood among all human beings. The Church journeys among her people, in
the history of men and women, of fathers and mothers, of sons and daughters:
this is the history that matters to the Lord. The great events of worldly
powers are written in history books, and there they will remain. But the
history of human feelings is written directly in the heart of God; and that is
the history that will endure for eternity. This is where life and faith are
located. The family is the place of our irreplaceable and indelible initiation
into this history… into this history of life in its fullness, which will
culminate in heaven with the
contemplation of God for all eternity, but which begins in the family! And that
is why the family is so important. The Son of God learned the human story in this way, and he walked in
it to the very end (cf. Heb 2:18; 5:8). It is beautiful to contemplate Jesus
and the signs of this bond! He was born into a family and there “he learned
about the world”: one shop, four homes, a tiny village. Yet, living for 30
years there, Jesus absorbed the human condition, welcoming it in his communion
with the Father and in his apostolic mission. Then, when he left Nazareth and
began his public ministry, Jesus formed around him a community, an “ assembly ”, that is, a con-vocation of
people. This is the meaning of the word
“church”. In
the Gospels, the assembly of Jesus takes
the form of a family and of a hospitable
family , not an exclusive, closed sect: there we find Peter and John, but
also the hungry and the thirsty, the stranger and the persecuted, the sinner
and tax collector, the pharisee and the
multitude. And Jesus never stops accepting and speaking to everyone, even those who no longer expect to encounter God
in this life. That is an important lesson for the Church! The disciples were
chosen to care for this assembly, for this family of God’s guests. In
order to maintain this reality of the assembly of Jesus in today’s situation,
it is indispensable to renew the covenant between the family and the Christian
community. We could say that the family
and the parish are the two places where the communion of love, which finds
it’s ultimate source in God, takes place. A Church truly according to the
Gospel cannot but take the form of a
hospitable home , with its doors open, always. Churches, parishes, institutions,
with closed doors must never be called churches, they should be called museums! And
today, this covenant is crucial.
“Against the ideological, financial and political ‘centres of power’, we place
our hopes in these centres of evangelizing love, rich in human warmth, based on
solidarity and participation” (Pont.
Cons. per la Famiglia, Gli insegnamenti di J.M. Bergoglio – Papa Francesco sulla famiglia e
sulla vita 1999-2014 , LEV 2014, 189),
and also on
forgiveness between us. To strengthen the bond between the
family and the Christian community
today is indispensable and urgent. Certainly, there
is need for generous faith to rediscover
the understanding and courage to renew this covenant. Families at times draw
back, saying that they cannot live up to this: “Father, we are a poor family
and even a little worse for the wear”, “We aren’t able”, “We already have so
many problems at home”, “We don’t have the strength”. This is true. But no one
is worthy, no one is able to live up to it, no one has the strength! Without
the grace of God, we can do nothing. Everything is given to us, given freely!
And the Lord never comes into a new family without working some miracle. Let us
remember what he did at the wedding of Cana! Yes, the Lord, if we place
ourselves in his hands, will work miracles for us – but they are miracles of
every day life! – when the Lord is
there, present in the family. Naturally, the Christian community
must also do its part. For example, overcoming attitudes that give too much
advice or are too managerial, in order to foster interpersonal dialogue and
awareness and mutual esteem. May families
take initiative and feel the responsibility for bringing their precious
gifts to the community. We must all be aware that the Christian faith is played
on an open field of life shared with
all. The family and the parish must work the miracle of a more communal life
for the whole of society. At Cana, there was the Mother of
Jesus, the “mother of good counsel”. Let us listen to her words: “Do whatever
he tells you” (cf. Jn 2:5). Dear families, dear parish communities, let us
allow ourselves to be inspired by this
Mother, let us do whatever Jesus tells us and we will find the source of all
miracles, of every day miracles! Thank you!…
Select Catholic institutions in Kenya are preparing to host an international conference on Consecrated Life, which will be graced by the Vatican-based Prefect of the Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life, João Cardinal Bráz de Aviz.
The planning of the five-day event, set to run from 22 September 26 September 2015, is being spearheaded by the Commission for the Clergy and Religious of the Kenya Conference of Catholic Bishops (KCCB), Tangaza University College, the Association of Sisterhoods of Kenya (AOSK), and the Religious Superiors’ Conference of Kenya (RSCK).
On 22 September Cardinal Bráz de Aviz will preside over the Holy Eucharist and interact with the cloistered nuns of Kenya at the Subiaco Center for Spirituality in Karen, before meeting the Bishops and Major Superiors in Kenya later in the day at Dimesse Spirituality Centre in Karen, Nairobi.
The following three days (23 – 25 September) will have facilitated inputs from selected speakers and discussions around the theme “Consecrated Life in Africa Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow,” to be hosted at the Catholic University of Eastern Africa (CUEA).
The sessions about consecrated life in Africa will begin with a convocation address by Cardinal Bráz de Aviz, who will be introduced to the participants by the Apostolic Nuncio in Kenya, Archbishop Charles Daniel Balvo.
Among the topics lined up for presentation, to be followed by forums for discussion, include Living the Evangelical Counsels in East Africa; Charismatic Maturity: A Persistent Challenge for Consecrated Life in Africa; Juridical Considerations in the Dismissal of Religious in the African Context; Doing Formation in East Africa: Contexts, Struggles, Possibilities; Mutuae Relationes: On the Relationship between Bishops and Religious; Religious Life in the Vernacular: Challenge, Revelation; and The Prophetic Character of the Consecrated Life.
A couple of expositions are being organized around the following themes: The State of Consecrated Life in Africa: Survey Analysis and Report on the State of the Protection of Children and Vulnerable Adults in Kenya.
The last day of the conference will take place at Tangaza University College Grounds, beginning with a prayer service in commemorations of persons considered “saints” and “martyrs” among the consecrated in the Church of Kenya, followed by the concluding Eucharistic celebration, to be presided over by Cardinal Bráz de Aviz.
(By Fr. Don Bosco Onyalla, CANAA, Nairobi)
(from Vatican Radio)…
(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis on Wednesday continued his catechesis on the family, focusing his attention on the relation between the family and the Christian community.
Below, please find the English language summary of the Pope’s remarks at Wednesday’s General Audience:
Dear Brothers and Sisters: In our continuing catechesis on the family, we reflect today on the connection between the family and the Christian community. The Church is the home of those who believe in Jesus Christ as the source of the unity of the entire human family. Christ chose to enter our history, to become part of a human family, and to form a community which welcomes all who wish to hear his good news of the Father’s love. There is a close bond, then, between the family and the Church. Families and parishes are the two places where we encounter, in every age, that communion of love which has its ultimate source in God. Just as our families are domestic churches, our parishes are called to be welcoming families. This “covenant” has to be renewed, with the courage and vision born of faith, so that these centres of love, evangelization, and solidarity can, with the help of God’s grace and despite all our limitations, work true miracles for the shaping of a more fraternal and humane world.
(from Vatican Radio)…