Pope Leo XIV on Monday said Christian families are called to be missionaries of the Gospel to new generations, especially in light of a widespread “privatization” of faith preventing many people from approaching the Church.
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In the Holy Father’s message to participants of a June 2–3 seminar organized by the Vatican’s Dicastery for the Laity, Family, and Life on the theme “Evangelizing with the Families of Today and Tomorrow: Ecclesiological and Pastoral Challenges,” he said the Church needs to be farsighted in discerning the needs of parents and children often caught up in “worldly concerns” or misled by “illusory lifestyles.”
“Sadly, in the face of this need, an increasingly widespread ‘privatization’ of faith often prevents these brothers and sisters from knowing the richness and gifts of the Church, a place of grace, fraternity, and love,” Pope Leo shared in his June 2 message.
“As a result, despite their healthy and holy desires, while they sincerely seek ways to climb the exciting upward paths to life and abundant joy, many end up relying on false footholds that are unable to support the weight of their deepest needs,” he continued.
With a “maternal concern” for all Christian families, the pope said it is the responsibility of the Church — bishops and the laity — to reach out to families who are “spiritually most distant from us” and become “fishers of families.”
“‘Fishers’ of couples, young people, children, women, and men of all ages and circumstances, so that all may encounter the one Savior,” he said. “Through baptism, each one of us has been made a priest, king, and prophet for our brothers and sisters, and a ‘living stone’ (1 Pt 2:4) for the building up of God’s house.”
“I ask you, then, to join in the work of the whole Church in seeking out those families who no longer come to us, in learning how to walk with them and to help them embrace the faith and become in turn ‘fishers’ of other families,” he added.
Addressing his concern that many young people are choosing cohabitation instead of marriage, the Holy Father said couples need guides who can reveal “the beauty and grandeur” of the vocation to love and service through Christian marriage and the gift of family.
“In reality [they] need someone to show them in a concrete and clear way, especially by the example of their lives, what the gift of sacramental grace is and what strength derives from it,” he said.
“Similarly, many parents, in raising their children in the faith, feel the need for communities that can support them in creating the right conditions for their children to encounter Jesus,” he continued.
Despite difficulties and problems families face, Pope Leo said spreading “the gospel of the family” is a mission that can only be sustained by prayer and an encounter with Christ.
“Consequently, if we want to help families experience joyful paths of communion and be seeds of faith for one another, we must first cultivate and renew our own identity as believers,” he said.
“May the Holy Spirit guide you in discerning criteria and methods that support and promote the Church’s efforts to minister to families,” he continued. “Let us help families to listen courageously to Christ’s proposal and the Church’s words of encouragement!”
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This article was originally published by CNA.
