The Convention for life and the family of the region of Minho was the first public initiative of the new association “In the Family”, founded following the campaign conducted by the “Minho com Vida” movement during the recent referendum against the de-penalization of abortion in Portugal. The association’s President, Fernando Almeida, underlined the profound significance of the name chosen for the new institution: “The family as the essential nucleus for the existence of nations, as the indispensable foundation for the functioning of society, as the primary school of the virtues”. “The family – he said – is the motor that generates our actions in defence of life and in favour of social responsibility”. The projects for the current year include the creation of a website (www.infamilia.org) and a periodic newsletter: “We wish to open branches in all the towns of the region of Minho, to promote, already from September, the organization of weekend courses of family guidance and a cycle of four meetings on Saturdays, one each month, which will be called “Afternoons in the Family”. “We will try – the President continued – to establish relations with as many educational and parents’ organizations as possible, convinced as we are that we can make a viable contribution to the education of children and adolescents”. “We also intend to lay the foundations for the medical, legal, psychological and social support of pregnant women, though without setting up a “Centre of Support for Life” which already exists in the archdiocese of Braga. Lastly we will try to involve and encourage the local mass media to provide better and wider information on issues concerning life, the family and social responsibility”.
