Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Bangalore (Agenzia Fides) - Bishop Agnelo Gracias, auxiliary Bishop of Bombay and head of the Indian Bishops’ Commission for the Family is representing the Church in India and Asia at the 5th World Meeting of Families taking place in Valencia, Spain 1-9 July.
Bishop Agnelo will report on the family in the context of Asia said Fr Egidio Fernandes, secretary of the Commission for the Family, adding that also in Asia the family, suffers from attacks by the media and the erosion of traditional values, is gradually losing its role in society. “The meeting comes at the right time when it is necessary to re-propose the Christian family as a Domestic Church”, where the faith is "handed down" as the theme of the Meeting implies “Handing on the Faith in the Family”.
At the Meeting the Bishop will be able to share his experience matured in recent years particularly with the 2004 General Assembly of the Federation of Asian Bishops’ Conferences which reflected on the “Asian Family Towards a Culture of Life”, focussed on the traditions and values of the Asian family, diverse varieties and forms, the poverty suffered by urban and rural families. Special attention was given to the evangelisation of families and spiritual formation of Catholic families.
In August 2004 in the final statement the Bishops did not deny the difficulties facing families in Asia increasingly affected by cultural globalisation, individualism, materialism and secularism and they said "only a culture of life inspired by the values of the Kingdom of God preached by Jesus, can promote the good of families. A culture of life means protection of human life in all its dimensions, from conception to natural death and the primacy of human dignity above efficiency and economy. Asian Christian communities and Asian societies must stand firm presenting the immense value of marriage and the family. A Christian family should be a ‘domestic church’, a place where the rule of life is the truth of the Gospel which the family members bring to the wider community." Families - the FABC assembly concluded - are not simply the object of the Church’s pastoral care; they are also the Church’s most effective agents of evangelisation. (Agenzia Fides 4/7/2006 righe 26 parole 268)
