Family: Seven Steps in the Mystery

Seven catecheses, one for each month from now until August, combined with as many musical itineraries and videos. This is the Dicastery’s proposal that was presented today in at a press conference in the Press Office of the Holy See, with a view to preparing for the IX World Meeting of Families that will be celebrated in Dublin from 21 to 26 August.

The catecheses, which will be available online on our website in five languages from 2 February on, are built around the Gospel narrative of the loss of the 12-year-old Jesus and his recovery in the Temple (Luke 2:41–52), with threads woven between the text of Amoris Laetitia—which inspires the Dublin Meeting—and the unique story of the Holy Family of Nazareth that reveal how timely and prophetic the proclamation of the Gospel of the family is.

The Prefect Kevin Farrell, speaking at the conference, summarized the themes of these catecheses: “We start from a concrete look at today’s families (first), indicating the relevance of the Word of God which can illuminate the family’s daily life at home (second) to reach the great dream that God has for every family (third), even where fragility and weakness seem to break it (fourth). All this makes the family generate a new culture in the world, that of life (fifth), of hope (sixth), and of joy (seventh). Each catechesis—he added—opens with a prayer and concludes with some questions that may be shared in the family or in the ecclesial community.”

The catecheses are accompanied by a musical itinerary prepared by Marco Tibaldi with pieces performed by Maestro Andrea Bocelli during the Concert at the Basilica of the Sagrada Familia in Barcelona, a stage of the project “The Great Mystery”.

The musical itineraries will also soon be available in five languages on our website, alongside another resource: multimedia art clips that can be used for projections in groups and parishes will be put online monthly. The first one is already available on the Dicastery’s YouTube channel.