Europe-Africa, confronting realities

“As Shepherds, we pledge to be more present to all families in whatever situation they are. We present to them Christ the Emmanuel (God with us), who never ceases to mercifully and graciously look at every person as a child of God in whatever situation”. This is one of the key-passages contained in the Final Message of the Ccee-Secam seminar held in Mumemo, Mozambique, May 29-31. The European and African bishops released a document summarising the themes broached in this fourth meeting, focused on the theme “The joy of the family”, promoted also ahead of the next ordinary Synod. In fact, the document states: “we pray for the Holy Spirit to guide the thoughts and deliberations of the Fathers of the coming Synod. May the image of the family irradiate like the sun that although many times obscured by clouds still warms the hearts and lives of all human beings! May the ideal family never be totally eclipsed by our human weakness and sin!”. Ahead of the Synodal Assembly. The message released by Mozambique traces an analysis of the difficulties encountered by the family in various continental realities of Africa and Europe. At the same time, it recalls countless occasions of hope stemming from family life, between love, education, sense of solidarity, social role. The bishops delegates of the Council of Bishops’ Conferences of Europe and of the Symposium of the Bishops’ Conferences of Africa and Madagascar, have shared analysis and prospects on the family-realm along with a couple of spouses, some religious, and some lay men and women. “We spent time listening to the joys and challenges of families, testimonies from delegates and other participants; we have been reflecting, praying and trying to discern what the Holy Spirit is saying today to us as Shepherds of the Church in Africa and Europe as we prepare for the 14th Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops on The Vocation and Mission of the Family in the Church and Contemporary World”. Near those who suffer. “Today, we also see around us many happy families”, the message underlines. “Places where spouses love one another with a love that grows with the number of years of marriage; we see homes in which children feel loved; where faith in God and family values are lived and passed on; where there is unconditional acceptance and mutual cooperation, room for mistakes, fraternal correction and place for forgiveness and reconciliation; where every child is welcome, with whatever traits and disabilities”. At the same time, as Pastors, “we are close to those, who though married, are living in some marital crisis. We suffer a lot with broken families; with poor families that hardly make it through the day. We are touched by people afflicted with illness and who cannot be taken care of for lack of financial means, or lack of professional healthcare. We are touched by people afflicted with illness and who cannot be taken care of for lack of financial means, or lack of professional healthcare. We know also many people who are caught up in substance abuse, a source of great suffering for their family; people working abroad, far away from their families in near-slavery conditions; many families torn apart by hatred and even war, by migration and human trafficking”. “Our hearts are broken, when we notice young children, orphaned, abused, without education, many of whom live alone on the streets, and teenagers lured into violence, crime, prostitution, etc. We hear of so many mothers, who desperately see no future for their unborn child, and so resort to abortion”. The value of education. Thus, lights and shadows around the family. “Education in human values and virtuous behavior is also indispensable, a grave responsibility of parents for their children”, states the CCEE-SECAM document. “Open communication between parents and their children, in order to face the challenges of our culture, and in their formation is now more necessary than ever”. “We therefore seize the occasion – point out the bishops – to call on political leaders and civil authorities to ensure that families are enabled and provided with the wherewithal to fulfill their parental responsibilities towards their children for the greater good of the society”. Finally: “Thus can the Christian family also take up its own missionary vocation to be a place of welcome for those that are desolate and destitute, a safe place of dialogue, where cultures meet and are purified by the Gospel; the place where children are born and nurtured who will become our future politicians, artists, scientists, engineers, doctors… our future fathers and mothers, priests and religious, all being warmly encouraged and accompanied in their search and pursuit of their God-given vocation in life”.