A sacred place

To bring the meeting of Milan dedicated to "Family, Work and Holidays" to Wales, with a pastoral letter and a project: this is the commitment of the diocese of Wrexham, in North East Wales. Past week-end the bishop, Msgr. Edwin Regan, in a message to his parishes, asked to put the family at the centre of the life of the church. Posters, brochures and letters released in the coming days will provide concrete ideas that will be addressed in the churches next Sunday, May 27, Pentecost, three days prior to the meeting in Milan. Margaret Hinton, diocesan responsible for the family, spoke to Silvia Guazzetti, for SIR Europe, of how her diocese is working to ensure that the churches become a welcoming place for parents and for children.How is your project linked to the world meeting in Milan? "When the Commission for the Family met at the beginning of the year we discussed participation in the meeting in Milan and we decided to launch our project a few days before the convention in Lumbardy. We also organised a competition asking the children of the diocese to draw a logo for the occasion. Amira Mattar, sixteen, from the parish of Our Lady of the Rosary, won with a drawing, that we used for posters and brochures, in which two hands hold a heart that is placed on top of England, stating: ‘our parish, our family, our world, our challenge’".What ideas do you propose for the families?"First of all there are so-called ‘family groups’, a program diffused by father Peter McGrath, a Passionist priest from Australia. 10-15 families – with people of different age groups, from toddlers to grandparents – meet once a month, for a picnic or a barbecue. Sometimes only the parents meet, other times the Eucharist is celebrated. Adults and children learn to know each other and to help each other in their every day life. So those parents that can’t count on the support of an extended family living nearby, can share the favour with another couple of taking care of each other’s children, gaining free time".Other proposals?"One is dedicated to grandparents – the ‘grandparents association’ – which already exists in Ireland, which encourages grandparents to meet in small groups and discuss the joys and difficulties of transmitting faith to the families, also with pilgrimages. We also would like that parishes promoted small groups for parents and children, less than 4, where mothers and fathers can meet and the children can play together".In what way is this project part of ordinary pastoral care? "Since 2006, through a network of volunteers we bring in parishes of the dioceses and to the families the project ‘Celebrating family: blessed, broken, living love’, namely, "to Celebrate the family a blessed love, in crisis and living", with which the bishops seek to transform parishes in a place of reception for all married couples with children. From the survey ‘Listening 2004, my family, my church’ in which were interviewed, in the course of a whole year, across all of England and Wales, 15000 Catholic families, it emerged that the latter seemed to be scarcely aware of the fact that the work they did at home had a deep spiritual meaning and placed it in the very heart of the Church. What we are trying to do is to bring this message to the families. Making them understand that their daily lives are very important to the Church". How do you draw near to the families?"We use the contacts that parishes already have and thanks to pre-existing groups for preparation to Baptism, Communion and Christening. I approach the parents and organize meetings with small presentations. By using the material prepared in the framework of the project ‘Celebrating family: blessed, broken, living love’, we communicate to the families the idea that also the home, like the Church, is a sacred place and that patience, love and kindness that thrive therein are important values. At the end there is a small ceremony of consecration in which the families are encouraged to continue along this path".