MFL E-Bulletin January 2008

Contents

A Stable Base

The Shining Light

Building Up The Other

See Like Jesus

The Richest Soil

National Marriage Week

Praying Through Marriage

Contact Us

To ensure that you receive this free e-newsletter or to remove yourself from the mailing list please email elizabeth.davies@cbcew.org.uk

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Project websites

www.celebratingfamily.org.uk www.everybodyswelcome.org.uk

www.homeisaholyplace.org.uk

www.passingonthefaith.org.uk

Project dates

February 8-10 2008 Diocesan Coordinators weekend: Hinsley Hall, Leeds. Further information: Elizabeth.davies@cbcew.org.uk

Diocesan dates

February 9th Celebration of Marriage. Shrewsbury

February 13th. Celebration of Marriage. St Barnabas Cathedral, Nottingham

February 24th. Day of Reflection on Mental Health. Llantarnam Abbey. Contact: Anne Ballard.

INTAMS Colloquium: What Future For Marriage in Postmodern Times. Leuven. 7-8 March 2008

Project Resources available:

Family – An Adventure in Love An A4 four page glossy leaflet for help communities of faith celebrate their households of faith. Details and order form.

What is Life Like? A set of 7 leaflets to support welcoming families in challenging circumstances. £2 each from the project office or free online.

CD’s or cassettes of symposium presentations. £5 each from Agape Ministries

www.agapeministries.co.uk

Contacts:

Elizabeth Davies, MFL Project Officer. Tel: 01902 621594 Email: Elizabeth.Davies@cbcew.org.uk

Veronica Murphy, MFL Training & Development Officer. Tel: 0771 4261883 Email: Veronica.Murphy@cbcew.org.uk

Roberta Canning, Volunteer Development Worker (Mental Health Project). Email: Roberta.Canning@cbcew.org.uk

Marriage & Family Life Project Office, 39 Eccleston Square, London SW1V 1BX

Please feel free to reproduce anything in this bulletin and to forward it to anyone you think would be interested.

A number of our Bishops wrote pastoral letters for the Feast of the Holy Family last month and so we are delighted to include in this month’s e-bulletin a few extracts – follow the links to read more.

A Stable Base

“If we feel that the family is under threat, we need to be clear enough in our own minds about just why that is a bad thing. It can’t be simply because the family has been around a long time, and it would be a pity to lose it now. It must be more to do with more profoundly important things: they are the raising of children, and the role that the family has in determining the shape of our society. And if it true that there is something of a crisis facing our society today, it is inextricably linked with what is happening to the family.” Bishop Kieran Conry in Arundel & Brighton. Read more…

The Shining Light of Two Lives

We all know how fragile and easily broken a marriage relationship can be. We know how, at times, that relationship can be the shining light of two lives, and how, at other times, it can seem to be lost in a fog of indifference. Sometimes that relationship becomes the rock which threatens everything. Sometimes, tragically, a marriage lies in ruins. But in all of this, God is still present. In some lives God’s presence is entirely out of sight, because it was never understood or invoked. Indeed, the understanding that God is involved in a marriage, giving it a different kind of permanence, a different kind of depth, is so foreign to modern culture that we people of faith might be in danger of forgetting it, too. Yet marriage without God is no more than a matter of personal choice and personal satisfaction. In those circumstances, there is far less reason to work hard at a marriage when that initial satisfaction has gone and the personal choice seems to have been a mistake. Only the presence of God makes clear the true nature of marriage. Only God’s grace can complete and renew such a relationship. Only then does a relationship become a sacrament. Archbishop Vincent Nichols in Birmingham. Read more…

Values that Build Up The Other

There are certainly attitudes and approaches in our society which undermine Catholic values regarding the sanctity and nature of marital relationships. Let us be encouraged, however, by recalling Pope John Paul's affirmation of the visible strength that couples and families themselves witness to by their faithful love of God and their mutual love for each other. Love, he said, is the rock that stands firm in the face of every storm and temptation, because it is not built on self interest but on values that respect and build up the other……. While it is vitally important for us to treasure our families and do whatever we can to support them, at the same time we must not remain silent in speaking out to protect their rights. Bishop Arthur Roche in Leeds. Read more…

See, Listen, Watch Like Jesus

Be attentive; be observant; see; listen; watch. I know there is much more to following Jesus than that. But it is a good place to start. Jesus observed, noticed, watched, listened. Recall stories: tiny seeds; foxes; watching leaven as his Mother baked bread; or the master structural engineer and carpenter, called Joseph, preparing sound foundations or delicately carving a yoke to fit a particular ox. Widows; wedding feasts, children’s songs and games; wheat; weeds; red sunsets, red sunrises; clouds in the West; table-manners; lilies; sparrows; serpents; doves. The list could go on for quite some time. To watch, to see, to observe, to listen, is to begin to be like Jesus. Archbishop Patrick Kelly in Liverpool. Read more…

The Richest Soil is in the Home

I want today to commend parents for all that you do in bringing up your children in the love of God. The richest soil in any parish has to be in the home. This is because the home, more than any other place, is where a child grows. If space is made for God in the home; if parents pray with their children from an early age; if parents treat each other well; if the relationships within the home are basically sound; if Mass as Christ’s Memorial is seen to matter to the older people, then there is a fair chance that in the hearts and minds of the children the seed will take root and grow. Our children are the messages we send to tomorrow. We can forget easily what is said in church, or even in school, but we don’t forget what happens in the home. There are troubles and tensions; there are the ordinary things: the daily effort, the daily drudgery. All these things remind us of God’s faithfulness. Somehow if we take God’s Word into our daily life and try to live it, then we are scattering the seed ourselves for the younger generation and generations to come. Cardinal Murphy-O’Connor. Read more…

National Marriage Week 7-14 February 2008

The annual weeklong celebration of marriage kicks off again very soon. If you’ve not come across it before you can find out more at the website; you can also download some ideas for parish / community activities at the Home is a Holy Place website. Over the years NMW has become a way of raising awareness of the crucial and fundamental importance of marriage. So why not think about using the week not only as a time for celebration but also as an opportunity to speak up for marriage, as our bishops suggest?

Couples Praying at Home

The Marriage and Family Life Project Office has been working with the Liturgy Office to develop materials for celebrating marriage and family life in church and at home. We’re currently looking for prayers that couples might use at home at times of joy and thanksgiving, at times of sorrow, times of change and times of crisis. Do you have some favourite prayers that have been especially helpful over the course of a married life? Please let us have copies of any that are especially precious to you. Send them to Elizabeth.Davies@cbcew.org.uk