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1. Celebrating Family:
Blessed, Broken, Living Love
February 2006
The Bishops of England and Wales launched a major
grassroots initiative, on 10th January, to support Catholics in their
family life.
Celebrating Family comprises three separate
initiatives over the next three years addressing key areas in which the
Church will offer more support to family life. These local parish-based
initiatives are based on the specific local needs identified by 15,000
families from every diocese in the country who responded to an
invitation from the Bishops, entitled Listening 2004, to
tell them how they could offer more support.
A central aim of the initiative is to include all
ages and resources, available on a dedicated website including
information packs, leaflets, tips and courses, and have been developed
to support families from cradle to grave. Diocesan co-ordinators will be
able to help local parishes in using these resources while also
developing ways of supporting families.
The three year initiative will continue next year and
following an international symposium at St Cuthbert's College, Ushaw in
October, Celebrating Family will focus on marital and family
spirituality in 2007, under the banner `Home is a Holy Place'.
The final part of Celebrating Family in 2008 will focus on helping
parents and grandparents pass on faith in God.
Dioceses were launching the initiative throughout
January. On Sunday, the Archbishop of Birmingham Vincent Nichols, wrote
in a pastoral letter that the Christian family is a true representation
of the Church and the smallest unit building up the great universal
Church, the family of God.
"Being a welcoming, family-friendly parish means more
than ensuring that there is a kindly face to greet people as they arrive
for Sunday Mass, important though that is. It means discovering the
needs of those around us and finding ways that those needs can be met.
It calls everyone to review their deepest attitudes towards other
people, especially those who, in some way, may be different to them,"
said Archbishop Vincent Nichols.
"In this family of God, as lived in each parish,
there are many diverse needs and many different talents. The invitation
of the Lord is to ensure that we use the gifts he has given us as best
as we can, thereby ensuring that the different needs are met. Being a
truly welcoming and family-friendly parish means just that."
Regular E-Bulletins are issued -
see this link
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