VIDEO CONFERENCE Tuesday 28 March 2006

“The Priest and the Pastoral care of the Family”

4. The Role of the parish for the family

Fr. Rodney Moss

Part 1

In order to discern the role of the parish for the Christian family it is necessary to establish a clear link between the great family of the Church and the human family. Pope John Paul II in his apostolic exhortation Familiaris Consortio makes the following links:

• All human beings have love as their fundamental vocation which in Christian revelation is realised either in marriage or in virginity or celibacy ( para. 11 ).

Love is total self-giving and conjugal love realises this oblative dimension in

marriage. John Paul 11 expresses these sentiments in the following words:

“The only ‘place’ in which this self-giving in its truth is made possible is marriage, the covenant of conjugal love freely and consciously chosen, whereby men and women accept the intimate community of life and love willed by God Himself which only in this light manifests its true meaning”(ibid).

• The bond of love that is marriage reflects the covenant between God and His people ( para. 12 ). Indeed, the marriage of baptised persons becomes a real symbol of the new covenant ratified in the Blood of Christ. Again, in the words of Pope John Paul, we read: “Indeed, by means of baptism, men and women are definitely placed within the new and eternal covenant, in the spousal covenant of Christ and the Church” ( para. 13 ).
• The conjugal communion that is marriage reflects in its unity and indissolubility that which binds Christ to the Church, His bride. Marriage is given then a strong christological and ecclesiological identity. In the words of John Paul, “Families… will manifest to all people the Saviour’s living presence in the world, and the genuine nature of the Church” (para. 50). Marriage, then, is to be seen within the fundamental call of the Gospel: conversion to Christ. So,”…the family has the mission to guard, reveal and communicate love, and this is a living reflection and a real sharing in God’s love for humanity and the love of Christ the Lord for the Church, His bride”(para.17). In addition,the Christian family constitutes a specific revelation and realisation of ecclesial communion, and for this reason it should be called “the domestic Church” ( para. 21 ). This is a term used in Lumen Gentium 11 but finds root in patristic sources. St Augustine of Hippo and St. John Chrysostom both develop the idea of domestic Church either explicitly or implicitly [1] Now we move to the crux of the relationship: the family is a “small Church” which means that within it is the very mystery of the union that exists between Christ and the Church. The family, then, is the smallest cell of the Church with a fundamental ecclesial nature sharing in the very mission of Christ. One could say, then, that parents are consecrated for their roles and in the familial context live out their priesthood. In this realisation of the domestic church we are led to a deeper realisation of God’s plan in history and, moreover, to a deeper appreciation of the very mystery of the Church.
• It is the reality of baptism that unlocks the deeper mystery of the domestic church. In the words of John Paul II marriage “makes specific the sanctifying grace of baptism” ( para. 56 ). Baptism effects not only transformation but the ontological indwelling of Christ with particular reference to Jesus Christ as prophet, priest and king. First, in its prophetic role the Christian family announces the Word of God and thus becomes an ever more effective believing and evangelising community. As John Paul II notes: “To the extent to which the Christian family accepts the Gospel and matures in faith, it becomes an evangelising community”( para. 52 ). Secondly, in its priestly role “in dialogue with God through the sacraments, through the offering of one’s life, and through prayer “( para. 55 ) the Christian family is both sanctified and sanctifies the ecclesial community and the world. This sanctifying role which is rooted in baptism has its fullest expression in the Eucharist to which Christian marriage is intimately connected.
• As the family becomes a real community of life and love seeds are sown which together with everything created and redeemed will find fulfilment in the kingdom of God ( para. 17 ). The baptised family is called to be a real organic part of the body of Christ, to participate in his nature, in his salvific mission to the world in its final destiny in Christ’s consummated kingdom. It is here one finds the true identity and purpose of the family and the domestic Church.

In summary then I would suggest that in the theological growth of the concept of the domestic Church we have an example of a true and genuine development of doctrine. In the New Testament the family is indeed understood as the ecclesial unit ( the domestic Church ) in terms of the NT understanding of baptism. Household baptism is illustrative of this understanding ( Acts 11:13 ff; 16:15; 16: 33; I Cor.1:16 ). Apart from the patristic references mentioned earlier, the concept of the domestic Church remained dormant until the Second Vatican Council. Further, theological development followed especially in Familiaris Consortio. Finally, in the Catechism of the Catholic Church, the ontological status of the domestic church is firmly established: “The Christian family constitutes a specific revelation and realisation of ecclesial communion, and for this reason it can and should be called a domestic church( No. 2204 ).

VIDEO CONFERENCE Tuesday 28 March 2006.

“The Priest and the Pastoral care of the Family”

4. The role of the parish for the family

Fr. Rodney Moss

Part 2

In the first part of this paper I attempted to establish in the concept of the domestic Church a basis for reflection on the role of the parish for the family. If the symbol of the domestic Church can give us a deeper appreciation of the mystery of the Church and of the part that can play in realising its ends then the stage is set for a more fruitful interaction between the aims of both the parish and the family. Indeed, the present Holy Father notes that “… the edification of each individual Christian family fits into the context of the larger family of the Church, which supports it and carries it with her and guarantees that it has, and will also have in the future, the meaningful ‘yes’ of the Creator. And the Church is reciprocally built up by the family, a ‘small domestic church’, as the Second Vatican council calls it ( Lumen Gentium, n.11; Apostolicam Actuositatem, n.11 )[2].

In the first part of this paper I attempted to establish in the concept of the domestic Church a basis for reflection on the role of the parish for the family. If the symbol of the domestic Church can give us a deeper appreciation of the mystery of the Church and of the part it can play in realising its ends then the stage is set for a more fruitful interaction between the aims of the parish and of the family. Indeed, the present Holy Father notes that “ … the edification of each individual Christian family fits into the larger family of the Church, which supports it and carries it with her and guarantees that it has, and will also have in the future, the meaningful “yes” of the creator. And the Church is reciprocally build up by the family, a “ domestic church”, as the Second Vatican Council called it ( Lumen Gentium, n.11; Apostolicam Actuositatem, n.11 ).

I turn attention now to the pastoral care of the family by the parish which is the normative ecclesial experience of most Catholics. Familiaris Consortio states that this basic pastoral action is progressive in nature and related to the different stages of formation and development( para. 65 ). Consequently, this pastoral care begins with the preparation for marriage which is a “graded and continuous process” ( para.66) and includes three main stages: remote ( basic family training ), proximate (catechetical ) and immediate ( preceding the wedding ). The celebration of marriage itself is related to its ecclesial purposes: a proclamation of the Word of God, profession of faith and involvement of the Christian community ( para.67 ). The pastoral care after marriage, likewise, involves the commitment of the members of the local ecclesial community ( the parish ) in the young couple’s discovery of their marital vocation and mission. Familiaris Consortio states: “Thus within the ecclesial community- the great family made up of Christian families- there will take place a mutual exchange of presence and help among all the families, each one putting at the service of others its own experience of life, as well as gifts of faith and grace” (para. 69 ). The document further puts heavy stress on the mission of Christian families in “… building up the Church, [ and ] establishing the kingdom of God in history” ( para. 71 ).

In addition the parish community must:

• Be aware of its especial responsibility for promoting the pastoral care of the family.
• The parish pastoral plan must involve the pastoral care of the family.
• Provide proper pastoral preparation for all those involved in the family apostolate including priests and men and women religious.
• Use professional skills ( medical, legal, psychological, social and educational ) available in the parish to help families.
• Promote associations of spirituality, formation and the apostolate to help and assist families in the parish.
• Assist families faced by difficult circumstances: families of migrant workers, armed forces, itinerant people, families of those in prison, of refugees and exiles, single parent families, families with children that are handicapped or addicted to drugs, families ideologically divided etc.
• Pastoral action is also required in what are regarded as irregular situations: trial marriages, de facto free unions, Catholics in civil marriages, separated or divorced persons who have not remarried, divorced persons who have remarried and lastly, but most importantly those without a family. John Paul II regards these as “… particularly close to the Heart of Jesus and deserving of the affection and active solicitude of the Church and of pastors.

In conclusion, we turn to Pope Benedict. He notes that in the task of formation more is required than correct theory or doctrine. He says, “

Something far greater and more human is needed: the daily experienced

closeness that is proper to love, whose most propitious place is above all

family community, but also in a parish, movement or ecclesial association,

in which there are people who care for their brothers and sisters because

they love them in Christ, particularly children and young people, but also

adults, the elderly, the sick and families themselves. The great Patron of

educators, St. John Bosco, reminded his spiritual sons that “education” is

something of the heart and that God alone is its master” ( Epistolario, 4,

209). [3]

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[1] “cum tola domestica vestra ecclesia” ( Augustine, de bono viduitatis [PL 40.450]; “Donum…vestram non parvam Christi ecclesiam deputamus” ( Augustine Ep. 188,3[PL 33.849]);” Donum tuam ecclesiam fac” (Chrysostom, In Gen 6,2 [PG 54,607]).

[2] Address of His Holiness Benedict XV1 to the participants in the Ecclesial Diocesan Convention of Rome.

[3] Ibid.