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World Family Day
By Fr. Frank Pavone
HERALD Columnist
Preparations for what has become one of the most significant regular ecclesial events, World Youth Day, are taking place in a set of offices near the tiny Piazza San Calisto in the Trastevere section of Rome. The Pontifical Council for the Laity, under the direction of His Eminence Cardinal Francis Stafford, is entrusted with this event. Throngs of exuberant youth are already set to come to Rome in the summer of the year 2000 for this extraordinary event.
But in the offices right above the Council for the Laity, preparations are being made for another world gathering to take place in October 2000, also in Rome.
The Pontifical Council for the Family is preparing
for the third World Meeting of the Holy Father with Families. With a structure
similar to that of World Youth Day, namely, an extended vigil in
the presence of the Holy Father, marked with
prayer, song, Scripture and testimony, and a magnificent Sunday liturgy
the next day, the World Meeting with Families is a moment when the
Church touches the root of the very hope of
the world’s future.
"The future of humanity passes through the
family," the Holy Father has often declared. The family, indeed, is the
fundamental cell of human society. Strong families constitute the basis
for a
strong society. Weak families mean a society
in collapse.
Pope John Paul II established the Pontifical Council for the Family, entrusting it with a twofold mission: family and life.
Regarding the family, the Council "... promotes
pastoral attention to families and favors their rights and dignity in the
Church and in civil society so that they can better fulfill their own functions"
("Pastor Bonus,"Art. 139).
Regarding the gift of life, the Council "... supports and coordinates initiatives for the defense of human life from conception and in favor of responsible procreation" (Art. 141, Sec. 3). The pro-life activities of the Church, in other words, fall under the responsibility of the Pontifical Council for the Family.
That makes the Meeting of the Holy Father with Families in October 2000 one of the most significant worldwide pro-life events of the Church’s celebration of the new millennium.
Given the leadership, for better or for worse,
which the United Sates plays in the world scene in matters of the defense
of life, would it not be a fitting sign to have families from every diocese
present at this marvelous event?
The first World Meeting with Families occurred
in Rome during the International Year of the Family, 1994. The second was
last year in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Now the third, being in the Jubilee
year, will again occur in Rome. Official announcements in regard to the
theme and official details with be forthcoming. In the meantime, why not
consider making the pilgrimage to Rome, with families from across the globe?
Let us pray that this event will be a strong call to the world to make
the new millennium one in which life and the family flourish.
Father Pavone is the International Director of Priests for Life
and an official at the Vatican’s Council for the Family.
Contact Priests for Life at P.O. Box 141172, Staten Island, N.Y. 10314, Tel. 888 1PFL-3448, fax 718-980-6515, email pfl@priestsforlife.org, web site http://www.priestsforlife.org/.
Copyright ©1998 Arlington Catholic Herald, Inc. All rights reserved.
This article was published in the Arlington
Catholic Herald,
200 N. Glebe Rd., Suite 607, Arlington, VA 22203; Vol 23, No 46,
dated November 19, 1998, on page 5.
.
E-mail:
letters@catholicherald.com
Fax: 703/524-2782;
Editorial: 703/841-2590;
Advertising: 703/841-2594;
Circulation: 703/841-2565
A note from the Web Master:
It is noteworthy and honorable that some folks are willing to stand up for a ban on Partial-Birth Abortion. Let us not forget that Abortion is also murder. We must understand that murder is still murder no matter the method. Because one method of abortion seems to be horrifying does not justify the other less repugnant methods. We should be sickened by any Abortion regardless of the method. The Fifth Commandment spells it out clearly: "Thou shalt not kill." A fetus is a person, a human being with a God given soul. Imagine the pain the Lord must feel when any Abortion occurs. Please, please, please contact your Senators and Congressman, via letter or phone, to let him/her know how upset you are that Abortions are legal and to pass and support legislation to stop Partial-Birth Abortions and all other Abortions as soon as possible.
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