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Tell a friend about this26/02/2008
Press release
MFL E-Bulletin February 2008
Marriage & Family Life E-BulletinNo 25 February 2008Marriage & Family Life Project Office, Department of Christian Responsibility & Citizenship, Catholic Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales | |
ContentsGuide to the Annulment Process To ensure that you receive this free e-newsletter or to remove yourself from the mailing list please email elizabeth.davies@cbcew.org.uk ____________________ Project websiteswww.celebratingfamily.org.uk www.everybodyswelcome.org.uk Diocesan datesMaking Everybody Welcome: Families, Mental Health and Pastoral Care in the Catholic Community. A Diocese of Hallam event. April 12th 2008. St Wilfrid's Centre, Sheffield. Download booking forms International dates INTAMS Colloquium: What Future For Marriage in Postmodern Times. Leuven. 7-8 March 2008 Project Resources available:Home is a Holy Place: Resource Pack. Coming soon. Further details 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 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 Annabelle Williams, MFL Project Office Administrator Tel: 020 7901 4823 Email: Annabelle.Williams@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. | Home is a Holy Place: Resource PackDiocesan Coordinators of Marriage and Family Life Ministry viewed the new Home is a Holy Place DVD resource during their Spring meeting at Hinsley Hall in Leeds this month. Feedback indicated that the resource is very down to earth, relatable and reflective of the diversity of family life that was heard during Listening 2004. “Very helpful in making the point about holiness in the home. Will make a good starting point for people wanting to identify and work at their family spirituality. Good to see the ethnic mix and variety of experiences – likely to ‘connect’ with most viewers.” However, the material will be challenging on a variety of counts, not least because of its richness and newness. The pack will contain advice on how best to use the DVD with groups. Free downloads and further information will be posted on the Home is a Holy place website as it becomes available. Everybody’s Welcome RoadshowThree workshop formats designed to enable dioceses to introduce parishes, clusters, deaneries and pastoral areas to the first phase of Celebrating Family: Blessed, Broken, Living Love are being piloted by Veronica Murphy during the next few weeks. The workshops are designed to enable participants to appreciate the process that has led to the Celebrating Family Project; share stories of welcome; develop their own understanding of ‘Welcome’ and its importance for Christian community; become familiar with the resources available to support the development of family friendly, welcoming parishes; be inspired to further promote the development of this work within their own communities. The Project Office are extremely grateful to the parishes of Our Lady of Lourdes & St Peter Chanel in Hull, St. Bede in Widnes, Holy Trinity & St. George in Kendal, Sacred Heart in Northallerton and to Croydon Deanery and to Middlesbrough Diocese for hosting these pilots. Family Groups Update Family Groups is a resource for developing friendlier parishes and is currently being trialled in three parishes in England and Wales. When we reviewed the progress of Everybody's Welcome early in 2007 we discovered that a great deal of work had been accomplished in the area of welcome but not so much in the areas of developing friendlier and family-sensitive parishes. From all that we heard about Family Groups, we believe that it could be an extremely effective tool in developing those relationships from which a natural family-to-family sharing of gifts and experience can take place (cf Familiaris Consortio 69).The progress of the initial pilot is extremely encouraging. You can read more about Family Groups in St Bernadette's parish, Whitefield, Manchester here. Two further pilots were launched in January and February 2008 at Holy Trinity and St George's parish in Kendal and Our Lady of Victories parish in Kensington. We hope to have more news of these pilots in due course. Play: A Need of Families in Our Time? The Flame network within the Church of England works for the enhancement of family life, marriage and human relationships. Flame is holding a 24-hour residential Conference to explore the importance of play for all ages and the Church’s response to this need. Topics covered include Godly Play, play in prisons and mother and toddler groups. The conference takes place at Harborne Hall, Old Church Road, Harborne, Birmingham from Friday 20th - Saturday 21st June 2008. Cost £125 per person. Contact Elizabeth for an electronic copy of the booking form or visit the Flame website for more information. Sixth World Meeting of FamiliesPreparations are under way in Mexico for the 6th World Meeting of Families; organizers are still hopeful that Pope Benedict XVI will participate. The World Meeting will take place from January 13-18, 2009, in Mexico City on the theme “The family as educator in human and Christian values”. The motto points to the Church's desire for families to reflect on themselves and the situations in which they live and consider a Christian re-evaluation of marriage. The World Meeting will include three main events: a theological-pastoral congress, a festival of testimonies and a mega Mass in celebration of the family's role in society. The logo for the Sixth World Meeting can be viewed now on the 6WMF website. Read more WMF news at Zenit.org. Guide to the Annulment ProcessThe National Board of Catholic Women is due to release the 3rd revised edition of its invaluable Guide to the Annulment Process very shortly. This is an excellent brief guide to the processes, terminology and contact details of diocesan marriage tribunals. An order form is downloadable from a dedicated website www.catholicannulment.info where an electronic copy of the document will also be posted in due course. New Temporary AdministratorAnnabelle Williams has taken over from Frances Soiza as temporary administrator in the Marriage and Family Life Project Office. Annabelle is pictured at her desk where she will be working Monday-Wednesday each week over the next three months. Annabelle’s contact details on included in this newsletter. |
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