Guide on family life prepares for 2015 World Meeting for Families in Philadelphia

September 16, 2014

The Archdiocese of Philadelphia and the Pontifical Council for the Family have published a catechetical guide to family life, as a preparation for next year’s World Meeting for Families.

At a September 16 press conference in Rome, Philadelphia’s Archbishop Charles Chaput presented the text, Love is our Mission: the Family Fully Alive. The title, he said, is drawn from the phrase of St. Irenaeus that “the glory of God is man fully alive.” That same phrase is the theme for the World Meeting of Families, which will take place in Philadelphia from September 22 to 27, 2015.

The text, Archbishop Chaput said, provides a full presentation of Church teaching on family life:

It starts with the purpose of our creation and moves into the nature of our sexuality; the covenant of marriage; the importance of children; the place of priesthood and religious life in the ecology of the Christian community; the Christian home as a refuge for the wounded heart; the role of the Church; and the missionary witness of Christian families to the wider world.

The text, published simultaneously in several languages, is available in an English edition from the Our Sunday Visitor publishing house.

This presentation, the archbishop continued, provides the basis for all of the events that will be organized for the Philadelphia meeting.

Speaking at the same September 16 press conference, Archbishop Vincenzo Paglia, the president of the Pontifical Council for the Family, spoke about a series of events focused on family life that have been organized by his office for the weeks leading up to the October meeting of the Synod of Bishops, which will be dedicated to the family:

• a September 18 conference on family and poverty, cosponsored by Caritas International, bringing 150 experts to Rome;
• a September 28 meeting of grandparents and other elderly people with Pope Francis in St. Peter’s Square;
• a web site presenting daily reflections on the themes of the Synod, presented by the Pontifical Council for the Family and entitled “Jara: The Spectacle of Life.”

 

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Further information:

• Presentation of the World Meeting of Families in Philadelphia, 2015 (VIS)
• Love is Our Mission: The Family Fully Alive (Our Sunday Visitor)
• Jarà - The Spectacle of Life (Pontifical Council for the Family)