Five challenges” “

Over two hundred motor coaches with thousands of participants from all over Spain will arrive in Madrid on 18 June to protest against current bills that do not support the family. With the slogan “The family is important. In support of the right to a mother and a father. In support of freedom”, the demonstration will press for “the withdrawal of the law on marriage between persons of the same sex” and recall “the right of children to have a father an a mother”. The Spanish Forum of the Family (www.forofamilia.org) is an umbrella organization that brings together Catholic and lay associations to defend the right of families and children. More recently it has also established as association for the victims of terrorism. SIR put some questions to BENIGNO BLANCO , vice-president of the Spanish Forum for the Family, which is one of the organizers of the demonstration in Madrid.  Will the protest of 18 June succeed in creating a climate of dialogue with the government?  “The existence of a dialogue depends on good will on both sides. The FEF (Spanish Forum for the Family) has always wanted to dialogue with the government, but so far it has not been possible. We trust that the Government does not persist in its anti-democratic attitude when it sees that a very important part of Spanish society does not admit revolutions on fundamental issues such as the family or the rights of children. If the government continues to turn a deaf ear, we will promote new events until the clamour of protest reaches even the deafest”. The family is important, declares the slogan of the event. In your view, is the family of no interest to the present Spanish government?  “Unfortunately, and confining ourselves to fact, it seems that this government really is not interested at all in the family. So far it has devoted attention to the family only to destroy it: unilateral divorce without cause, gay unions, limitation of the freedom of parents in the formation and education of their children, new restrictions on the right to life of human embryos. The government has occupied itself with the family only by omission: it has not fulfilled any of its electoral pledges in terms of protection of the family, as is demonstrated by the review of developments in this field recently presented by the Institute of Family Policy”.     The Forum brings together various Catholic and non-Catholic groups: is there a good understanding between both sides on issues of the defence of the family? “Yes, the FEF is a living example of the fact that the family is the patrimony of humanity as a whole and can be understood and defended by everyone. But that does alter the fact that the teaching of the Church on the family, and especially that of John Paul II, is the most powerful, coherent and systematic light on the subject”.   What family policies are needed for Spain, according to the Forum? “Spain is very backward in terms of family policies. Even though progress has been made in recent years, in terms of social protection of the family and of maternity, we have also had great institutional setbacks such as divorce, abortion, etc. We now face five main challenges: restoring to matrimony its institutional and legal force; recovering marriage as an unique environment for the acceptance of life; restoring to parents the freedom and ultimate responsibility for the religious, moral and civic formation of their children; increasing the percentage of GDP allocated to family policies to bring them in line with the EU average; and restoring to the family its right of citizenship”.