By Vernon Khelawan

The need to resuscitate family life, and with it, the restoration of a sense of values and respect for one another seems to be resonating louder and louder, not only throughout the Archdiocese, but throughout the nation as well.

Given the theme of the Archdiocese for the year Catholic family; become what you are, this development augurs well for the future well-being of the Church and its mission of New Evangelisation.

The Catholic Charismatic Renewal (CCR) rally at the Queen’s Park Savannah two weekends ago chose as its theme Jesus the Hope and Strength of all Families and in an address to the large gathering, Keith Patrick took it to another dimension when he talked about the many homes with absentee fathers, the lack of quality time being spent with children by parents because of other commitments, the increasing incidence of domestic violence and the easy availability of pornography through the Internet and television.

At the last Synod, it was agreed that the renewal of three institutions was vital to the success of the New Evangelisation in the Archdiocese and they are – the family, the Catholic school and the Catholic parish.

Familiaris Consortio states very clearly that the well-being of society and the Church’s own good are intimately tied to the good of the family. It states, “At a moment of history in which the family is the object of numerous forces that seek to destroy it or in some way to deform it and aware that the well-being of society and her own good are intimately tied to the good of the family, the Church perceives in a more urgent and compelling way her mission of proclaiming to all people the plan of God for marriage and the family, ensuring their full vitality and human and Christian development and thus contributing to the renewal of society and of the people of God.”

One of the chief characteristics of the New Evangelisation is that it begins at home in the family and in the parish and as Monsignor Jason Gordon stated, Catholics in the New Evangelisation “are called to be persons who make a clear option for Christ, have coherence (congruence) between faith and life, live the values of the Kingdom, promote the civilisation of love and are willing to be a sign of contradiction.”