The Conroy Couple, “Resisting the temptation to retreat into our homes, bearing Christian witness outside”

“In the current climate, where being people of faith is tolerated only if it remains a small private matter, kept behind the closed doors of our houses and churches, the temptation to withdraw from society is enormous. We are called to resist this temptation.” This was said by Breda and Brendan Conroy, an Irish couple, who gave their testimony this morning at the panel on Strengthening Marriage and the Family today, in the context of the World Meeting of Families being held in Dublin. The Irish couple recalled that one of the main commitments of Christian couples is to “start building a culture to bring others with us to the celebrations, especially those who have recently abandoned the practice.” This is, according to the Irish couple, a commitment to be cultivated outside their homes in the light of Pope Francis’ teaching. “Jesus has asked us to go and teach all nations and, as the Pope often says, we must take the Good News outside our homes and our Churches. We are a people of the Resurrection, and the time of retreating into hidden rooms or meeting secretly at night is over.” A basic condition for doing this is, in their opinion, that “our homes become small schools of the Gospel: open schools of the Gospel. Where the first and most important lesson we teach our children and of which we must constantly remind one another other, is that attention to God is our primary task on earth.”