SCC’s : Source of
Strength for Families.
Pope
Francis, addressing the participants of the Plenary Assembly of the Pontifical
Council for the Family in October 2013, stated the “family is the engine of the
world and of history.” A few days later, he announced the plan to begin a
discernment process on the pastoral care of families, sending out the Lineamenta for the III Extraordinary
Synod of Bishops on the Family in October 2014, and the XIV Ordinary Synod of
Bishops in October 2015. The welfare of the family is decisive for the future of
the world, and that of the Church (Amoris
Loetitia31). “ Aware that the well-being of society and her own good are
intimately tied to the good of the family, (Gaudium et Spes 47). The Church has
a duty to journey with the family at every stage of its development.
Therefore,
it must be emphasized once more that the pastoral intervention of the Church in
support of the family is a matter of urgency. Every effort should be made to
strengthen and develop pastoral care for the family, which should be treated as
a real matter of priority, in the certainty that future evangelisation depends largely
on the domestic Church. (cf. John Paul II, Address to the Third General
Assembly of the Bishops of Latin America, January 28, 1979)
If we want a
strong parish church, then we need to have vibrant Small Christian Communities
(SCCs) and strong domestic churches. This is possible when we have strong and
healthy families.
Effective Pastoral Care needs a
“Family Perspective”
We need to
keep the family in focus in our pastoral planning in Church set-ups at parish
and at the SCC level. We could define this approach of consciously strengthening
the foundation of the Church and society as the ‘family perspective in pastoral
planning’ Keep your end goal in mind- strengthen the family in every initiative
we take in the parish and SCC.
The Church is aware of the current
reality of the family
The Church
acknowledges the many threats that the family, as an institutions faces in our
times from the: from the materialistic influence of technology and
communication, to poor value education at home, caused by both parents working long hours to keep up
with the rising costs of living. Besides this, we have the family’s income
generation choices of overseas and call centre jobs. There is also growing pressure
on young people, living in multi- religious
countries like India, to choose marriage partners of other faiths, and as a
consequence, they could lose their own faith and the opportunity to share Jesus
with their children. All these threats are closing in around the Christian
family unit, causing it to succumb to the pressures of the world.
The two
recent Synods on the Family highlighted the challenges families face around the
world. The Church knows the travails of the family. Guided by Pope Francis in
his several teachings and now in Amoris Laetitia [AL] – the Apostolic
Exhortation on love in the Family, and St. John Paul II’s vision expressed in Familiaris Consortio [FC] – the foundational
document on Family – must choose to respond in love and action.
Church’s Vision and Mission for the
Family
The Church
is a family of families, constantly enriched by the lives of all these domestic
churches. “ In virtue of the sacrament of Matrimony, every family becomes , in
effect, a good for the Church. From this standpoint, reflecting on the
interplay between the family and the Church will provide a precious gift for
the Church in our time. The Church is good for the family, and the family is
good for the Church. The safeguarding of the Lord’s gift in the sacrament of
Matrimony is a concern not only of individual families, but of the entire
Christian community (cf. AL87).
Every family
is constantly called to participate in the mission of the Church and its
mission and Identity is deeply rooted in the ‘Divine Trinity. The experience of
love in families is a perennial source of strength for the life of the Church. “The
unitive end of marriage is a constant summons to make this love grow and
deepen. Through their union in love, the couple experiences the beauty of
fatherhood and motherhood, and shares plans, trails, expectations and concerns
; they learn care for one another and mutual
forgiveness. In this love, they celebrate their happy moments and
support each other in the difficult passages of their life together… The beauty
of this mutual, gratuitous gift , the joy which comes from a life that is born
and the loving care of all family members – from toddlers to seniors –are just
a few of the fruits which make the response to the fruits which make the
response to the fruits which make the response to the vocation of the family unique and
irreplaceable “ , both the for church and for society as a whole” ( cf.AL
88). St John Paul II in families consortio
(#17) stated the every particular task of the family is an expression of the family’s
mission. He spelt out the four general tasks for family as :
a) The family is to form a community of
persons in mutual self – giving
b) The family is to serve life in its transmission,
both physically in bringing children into the world and spiritually by transmitting
values and traditions throughout its
life cycle.
c) The family is to participate in the
development of society by :
·
Becoming
a school of social life
·
Becoming
community of hospitality
·
Becoming
politically active
d) The family is to share in the life and mission
of the Church by:
·
Becoming
a believing and evangelising community
·
Becoming
a community in dialogue with God
·
Becoming
a community in service to humankind.
Helping families
realise their mission
The Parish Priest, Parish Pastoral Council (PPC), Cells and
Associations firstly need to understand the mission of the basic unit of the
Church, and support the family to translate this mission into reality.
In order to be realistic and effective, there is a need for a
continuous evangelisation of marriage and the family, fostering relevant
initiatives in individual families, in groups of families (Small Christian
Communities- SSCs) and in all parish and diocesan communities. Some of these
initiatives are remote, proximate and immediate preparation for marriage, the
education of education of children with Christian values, the ongoing formation
of married couples, parents, youth,etc.
As families expect to receive from the community, they are
also expected to give back, as its conjugal apostolate to other couples in the
same community. In addition to being fruitful as biological , adoptive or
foster parents, Christian couples are also called to be fruitful in the Church
community, in the context that the whole Church is an evangelised and evangelising
community.
Parish structure at the
service of the family
Every diocese, and in more particular terms, every parish
community, must become more vividly aware of the grace and responsibility that
it receives from the Lord in order that it may promote the pastoral care of the
family. No plan for organised pastoral work, at any level, must ever fail to
take into consideration the pastoral care of the family (cf.FC,70). The parish
church is a community of communities, and small Christian Communities (SCCs)
should be a source of strength for families to live their mission in their own
homes and neighbourhood communities. Therefore, if we went a strong parish
church, then we need to have vibrant SCCs and strong families at the
grassroots. Let us support families in order to build vibrant communities and
strong parishes.
Article Courtesy in “The Examiner” dated :
Fr Cajetan D. Menezes is Managing Trustee of Kripa
Foundation
and former Director of the Family Apostolate (Bombay
Archdiocese)
