Year of the Family "Amoris Laetitia":

LAI participated in the Video Conference presentation of the Year of the Family

On March 19, on the fifth anniversary of the publication of the post-synodal apostolic exhortation "Amoris Laetitia», Pope Francis launched the "Year of the Family" which will end in June 2022 in Rome on the tenth anniversary of the World Meeting of Families.

The Dicastery for Laity, Family and Life, which is responsible for coordinating actions for this special year, organized two video conferences in English and Spanish respectively, aimed at raising awareness of the event among the leaders of associations or ecclesial movements. Members of LAI's Executive Committee were invited to participate:it is a recognition of the role that older adults have to play with younger generations and in particular the role that grandparents have to play in the family.

To prepare for these video conferences, the members of the executive committee worked upstream on the basis of the Dicastery's presentation document containing the project, the objectives, the recipients and the 12 points to walk with the families following "Amoris Laetitia".  

Here is the product of the reflection, with initiatives under way or projects to be implemented:

• LAI joins the proposal of the MCR (Christian Movement of Retirees, French branch of LAI) for the Day of Grandparents instituted by Pope Francis on July 25 with the organization of a snack between grandparents and grandchildren (or elderly and young people): this should allow to forge links, to provide an opportunity to talk about texts by evoking Saints Joachim and Anna. The initiative would then be rolled out in the dioceses. The MCR must be closer to Taizé (The Taizé Community is an ecumenical Christian monastic community located in Taizé, France, and welcoming, for a more or less long time of reflection and prayer, many young people from all over the world)

• Create "little philosopher's clubs": bring together some children of the same age; it is a way of transmitting the “art of being of grandparents by evoking with them subjects as different as: obedience, freedom, friendship... “. An initiative that could be proposed as part of a parish or socio-cultural centre

• Similar formulas could be considered to educate to new means of communication, the role of social networks.

• Organizing meetings of grandparents in parishes, "grandparent cafes" (with a theoretical contribution followed by a discussion) to awaken grandchildren to the faith.

• How to sustain and grow the more frequent and closer ties forged during the health crisis between grandparents, children and grandchildren?

• To give the development of the Pastoral of the Elderly a cross-cutting character: to relaunch the steps with the Pastoral of the Family.

• Reflection on the residences for the elderly: develop in parallel with what exists, alternative solutions. Reflection to be carried out at a high level.

Page prepared by Monika Ptak