Movements - Communities

“Share Gifts Received for Families”

The Message of the Secretary, Father Awi Mello, to the Schoenstatt Ibero-American Family Work Congress
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“With Joy, Families reaching out” was the theme of the Schoenstatt Ibero-American Family Work Congress held in Ecuador. Hundreds of married couples from fourteen countries, members of the three communities of the Schönstatt Movement that unite married couples who are involved at three different levels—the League, the Federation, and the Institute—met in Guayaquil, at the Sanctuary of the Movement which is dedicated to the particular mission of being “The Father's Family, A Hearth for the World.”

The Secretary of our Dicastery, Fr. Alexandre Awi Mello, who is also a member of the big Schoenstatt family, sent a message to the participants of the Congress in which he noted with joy “there is great appreciation for what the Schoenstatt Family Work is doing,” and that “the Church is waiting for our contribution, and counts on us.” On the other hand, Fr. Awi Mello continues, “I see that we can learn a lot from the other groups and movements that work with families; we can complement and complete them.”

In consequence, the Dicastery’s Secretary invited the members of the Schoenstatt Family Work: “Keep on joining the dioceses and parishes so that we can share our gifts so that you can enrich yourselves in this challenge of ‘saving families,’ which is the mission of all Christians.”

The theme of the meeting that was held from 7 to 10 September has proved to be particularly “appropriate at this time—said Fr. Awi Mello—when the Church is called to take on the challenges posed by the Holy Father Francis with his pontificate, particularly with the Apostolic Exhortation Amoris Laetitia.”

Conferences, workshops, roundtables, and debates contributed rich content to the Congress, alongside the participants who have taken on the task of helping families to live in love, fulfill their calling and keep moving forward, even if they fall many times along the way (cf. AL 57).

14 September 2017