By Vernon Khelawan

It’s not an oddity by a long shot, but rather of special significance that almost every ministry of our Church impacts forcefully on family life and by extension evangelisation, now so sorely needed in our country.

Take for instance the Mission Statement of the Couples for Christ ministry, which Archbishop Edward Gilbert spoke about when he addressed the recent Caribbean Conference of Couples for Christ at Daaga Hall on the UWI campus in St Augustine.

He identified three issues to which the Statement speaks – Individual Renewal; Family Renewal and Church Renewal. Zeroing in on Family Renewal, His Grace pointed out that the international breakdown of family life was not only a challenge to the Church, but even had serious implications for civil society.

“The holistic content of family life ministry that reflects the Catholic tradition must remain a top priority for your pastoral planning, not just on an informational level, but on an experiential level,” explained the Archbishop.

He went further, when on the issue of Church renewal he said family life was frequently referred to as the domestic Church and added, “When it functions well, it makes significant contribution to every element of Church life – archdiocese, parish, school, catechesis and care of the poor.”

Recognising that the CFC ministry had an important role to play in the New Evangelisation and also in keeping with the theme for the year, Catholic Family; Become What You Are, Archbishop Gilbert encouraged conference participants to be faithful to the Mission Statement and make even greater effort to “bring families back to God.”

The success of the CFC ministry is reflected in the fruits of its mission – the creation of its complementary organisations in Singles for Christ, Youth for Christ, Kids for Christ; Handmaids of the Lord and Servants of the Lord, shows that this ministry transcends all ages, thus providing so many opportunities for evangelisation at every age level.

But this is just a single ministry working assiduously in our Archdiocese to promote the New Evangelisation. Many others do not have Mission Statements, but the evangelisation component is clearly manifested in their work and needs to be vigorously supported by all practising Catholics.