Catholic Church to strengthen family bonds through national conference: ‘Love is our Mission’
As one way of strengthening family ties, values and morals, the Episcopal Conference of Malawi (ECM) through the National Association of Catholic Family Movements will from August 4 to 6 hold the first ever National Conference of Families.
The conference to be held under the theme ‘Love is our Mission’ will be held at Don Bosco Catholic Parish in the Archdiocese of Lilongwe.
This, according to the organizing team, will be a forum where Archbishops, Bishops and the entire people of God will come together and share Catholic issues pertaining to family life and other different presentations impacting people’s lives.
“As you are aware, the church is composed of so many people who sometimes forget their morals and values.
“Such type of family conferences will help people both Catholic and non Catholic remember the church values in their families and lives,” said Endrina Maxwell, who is part of the organizing committee chairing team.
The team, which also includes Alex Maxwell and Fr. Jos Kuppens, says loss of family values in many cases result into various challenges.
These include divorces, which affect the upbringing of children, domestic violence, cohabitation, abortions, deaths in families due to HIV and Aids, loss of direction amongst the youth and forgetting Catholic Church teachings.
Maxwell said until people realize their morals and values, it is only then that these challenges can be prevented.
“It is then our hope that at the end of the conference, people will be reminded of their morals as Christians and be able to rethink of how their families should be in relation to church values and their own values as Christians,” said Maxwell.
According to the team, similar types of conferences have been conducted in other countries which have helped many Catholic families in their religious life hence the organization of a similar conference in Malawi.
The conference which is expected to start with a mass which will be followed by spiritual and family issue discussions, is also in preparation for the next World Meeting on Families.
“We also learnt from the Holy Father, the leader of the Catholic Church who through Pontifical Council of Family and Life organizes the World Meeting of Families after every three years. We in Malawi would like also to have such a forum locally.
“And this meeting will also be in preparation for the next World Meeting of Families which will be in August, 2018 in Dublin,” she said.
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