The diocesan Family Committee was launched with a clear aim: married life with the Lord at its center. Its mission, the people it serves and its planned activities are set out here.
1. The aim
To live a married life with the Lord at its center: first building a personal relationship with God, then building a relationship with the other whose center, life and heart is God.
2. The family
• A domestic church
• A school of humanity
• At the heart of the family, the first ecclesial experience of community between persons matures
3. Who makes up the family
• Older people
• Widows and widowers
• The last years of life
• People with special needs
• Single people
• Migrants, refugees and the persecuted
• Particular challenges: mixed marriages, cohabitation…
• People abandoned or wounded by a failed marriage
• Children
• Women
• Men
• Young people
4. Its mission
• Helping couples grow in love
• Accompanying the family: listening, helping, walking alongside, supporting, encouraging
• Discernment
• Creating family groups
5. Activities
• Formation: accompaniment, discernment, listening, the spiritual, human, intellectual and pastoral dimensions – for priests; for couples; for deacons, religious sisters, catechists and all who are active in pastoral work
• Marriage preparation courses
• Seminars and lectures
• Regular gatherings: before marriage, in the first years of marriage, and throughout married life
• Spiritual retreats
• A diocesan day
• A monthly Mass
• Trips and recreational activities
