The generosity characteristic of the Mexican people became evident in the unity engendered for welcoming the speakers and families from all over the world: lay family movements and civil society organizations joined forces in working together to realize the Meeting and welcome the national and foreign pilgrims.
The 6th World Meeting of Families was divided into three parts: the International Theologico-Pastoral Congress, from Wednesday to Friday, in the Expo Bancomer; the Festive Meeting, on Saturday, in the Basilica of Guadalupe; and lastly, the Solemn Mass, on Sunday, also in the Basilica of Guadalupe, where the video message of His Holiness, Pope Benedict XVI, was beamed.
Among the bishops we see Msgr Carlos Briseño, Augustinian Recollect auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese of Mexico, very attentive to the conferences. (Photo: Jorge Mena) Augustinian Recollect Bishop
In the Theologico-Pastoral Congress, attended by more than 30 cardinals and 200 bishops, lay people and clerics, with pen and paper, recorders, video and photo cameras, took notes and pictures to record, celebrate and live out the innumerable concepts and declarations that, like a downpour of fresh water, at times soft and other times hard, came falling into the soul ready to receive, in order to take home and share with his people the treasure of knowledge that dispels dark clouds of ignorance and error, and allow love to grow. Among the bishops we see Msgr Carlos Briseño, Augustinian Recollect auxiliary bishop of the Archidiocese of Mexico, very attentive to the conferences.
In the area set aside for 132 stands, religious associations and lay movements, publishing houses and civic organizations offered tools to strengthen the family: books, videos, teaching materials, table games, and even clothes with inscriptions pro life, marriage and family.
Theological Congress
While ten thousand people joined the Theologico-Pastoral Congress, those who stayed in the show room could listen for three days to a series of talks on topics related to the family: violence and insecurity, the family as cradle of life and love, the family and the Virgin of Guadalupe, courtship and how far is a little?, moderation and excess in alcohol consumption, among others. Children, meanwhile, could enjoy the games set up for them in the playground besides the giant conference igloo in the expo site itself.
In the song and musical programs, Mexican international artists, like Emmanuel and Pedro Fernández played a part, together with student bands, mariachis and choral groups.
Soap opera actor
Particularly surprising to the youth was the testimony of Eduardo Verastegui, a Mexican actor who confessed on the spot having spent a very loose life without regard for women and the family, until finally, thanks to God, he had an experience that put order into his values. He openly declared that God is first in his life, that he observes abstinence for seven years now and that he will not engage in any sexual relation until he marries. Before the amazement of boys and girls who were cheering him at the top of their voice, Verastegui assured them that for being chaste nobody dies, and shared that today he makes only films that favor the defense of life, respect for women and family unity. “I don’t want any more to do anything that may offend God and the family.” The producer and actor of the film Bella said that soon he will do another film where he will be the apostle Peter. In the closing session, a forceful reminder was heard: “The family contributes more than the sum of individuals”, said Tarcisio Bertone, Vatican Secretary of State. He came in the name of the Holy Father to confirm the natural anthropology and, likewise, revelation of God to man regarding family and marriage according to the primordial creative project of God.
With deep emotion the message of Pope Benedict XVI was received. (Photo: Jorge Mena) Benedict XVI
With deep emotion the message of Pope Benedict XVI was received: “The family, founded on the indissoluble marriage of a man and a woman expresses this relational, filial and communitarian dimension, and it is the ambit where a human being can be born with dignity, grow and develop in an integral way.
The Pope expressed his nearness and assured his prayer for families who give witness to fidelity in especially arduous circumstances. “I am thinking of families who suffer poverty, sickness, marginalization or migration. And especially of Christian families who are persecuted for their faith. The Pope is very near you and accompanies you in your everyday struggles.”
During the concluding Eucharist, dozens of couples renewed their marriage vows. This moment was very touching, too, because the whole ceremony, presided over by Tarcisio Bertone, was, besides, made in Spanish, English, Italian, Arabic, Portuguese, German and French, among other languages.
Conclusions
– That family is the most important
– That love between man and woman, if real, is always fruitful.
– That children become persons when they grow in a family because there they feel welcome and learn values for healthy human living-together.
– That the world is short of, not money, but creativity that comes from love in the family.
– That poverty of nations worsens in the same measure as the break-up of their families.
– That divorce can be silent even if not realized and that disaffection also harms.
– That children need to grow together with their mothers to become peaceful persons.
– That public and private institutions should review activities and laws to see whether these strengthen or weaken the family.
– That children and the youth fail in academics and work when they have not grown up in a family where father and mother remain united in love.
– That the family is not only a religious good, but also a social good which creates healthy and happy human capital for the development of all peoples.
– That the family is the fruit of love between man and woman and that homosexual relations are another form of living-together not equivalent to family.
– That diversity of families come from bonds acquired from the birth of human beings, fruit yet again, of a relation between man and woman.
– That there are families where grandparents live with their grandchildren, or mothers with their children, or children with their father, or uncles and nephews/nieces, and that this variety manifests parts of what would be the extended family and forms of kinship that give identity to the human person.
– That parents have the right to watch over the education of their children, choose the system of instruction and even participate in the its design.
– That public policies should favour equity between time for work and time for the family, so that fathers and mothers can attend to their children in times of sickness and accompany them in school affairs.
– That parents and grandparents are the ones who transmit values in a natural way to the new generations and that, in this task, no other institution can replace them.
– That no amount of many good wills can fill the vacuum left, not only in the children but also in human society, by the neglect of the father, mother or both.
– That the parish should be a meeting place for strengthening the family.
– That scale of values will determine the thoughts and behaviour of human beings and that without adequate structure existential emptiness come about in consequence.
These and many more were the declarations, reminders and propositions expressed in the 6th World Meeting of Families held in Mexico. The next, which is the seventh, will be held in Milan, Italy, in 2012 with the theme “The family, work and feast”.