Vatican plans parish support for families

(April 08, 2011) Committees are needed to promote and defend families at the level of dioceses and parishes, according to representatives of the Vatican and Latin American bishops. The proposal came in the final statement of a meeting on the pastoral care of families held in Bogota, Colombia, March 29-31. The president and secretary of the Vatican’s Pontifical Council for the Family, Cardinal Ennio Antonelli and Bishop Jean Laffitte, participated. Participants recognized the "real emergency" facing families due to "forces that distort and remove them from God's original plan." "Although in many countries there is legislation to support life, the number of abortions at the global level continues to be very high," they noted. The Church leaders recommended committees to work at diocesan and parish levels for the humanization of society through the promotion and defence of the institution of the family and the gift of life. Concretely, they called for better marriage preparation, recommended ongoing formation of spouses after marriage, and encouraged active family associations in society. To families separated and wounded by life, to those who suffer the trial of division, of despair or divorce, the Church leaders expressed their profound closeness and showed their conviction that the Lord is particularly close to them with his love and mercy.