Geppetto II: an extraordinary experience of ecclesial communion

The second edition of the Training Course for International Family Movements organised by the Pontifical Theological Institute John Paul II for Marriage and Family Sciences, in collaboration with the Dicastery for Laity, Family and Life and the Pontifical Shrine of the Holy House of Loreto, took place in Loreto (Italy) from 6 to 12 July.

32 couples from around the world, regional and local leaders

An intensive week of training to grow in skills, awareness and leadership, attended by 32 couples from five continents (Spain, Italy, France, Belgium, Romania, Hungary, Poland, United States, Mexico, Guatemala, Nicaragua, Colombia, Brazil, Argentina, Trinidad, Mauritius, New Zealand, Australia, Philippines, Vietnam, Dubai, Togo, Gabon, Angola, Rwanda, Egypt, Burkina Faso), already engaged as regional and local leaders.

Training and listening to movements at the service of Family ministry

Launched in 2022, the Geppetto International Training Project was created in response to the strong need for high-level training (theological and pastoral) expressed by some international Family Movements. The Pontifical John Paul II Institute (JP2), in dialogue with Equipes Notre-Dame, Marriage Encounter and Amour et Verité, has accepted this request, in collaboration with the Dicastery, which accompanies international associations of the faithful recognised by the Holy See. The initiative has a twofold objective: to offer families the training of the JP2 Institute and, at the same time, to enable the Institute to open itself to listening and to enrich itself through knowledge of the gifts and spirituality of movements at the service of the Church and family ministry.

Second edition dedicated to the mission of family charisms and collaboration with local Churches and the universal Church

The first edition of the course, which focused on an in-depth study of the Apostolic Exhortation Amoris laetitia, was followed by this year's second edition, dedicated to the mission of family charisms and collaboration with local Churches and the universal Church. In particular, the structure of the days (morning lectures, with dialogue between teachers and couples, and afternoon group work using the synodal method of discernment, in light of the final document of the Synod of Bishops, "For a Synodal Church: Communion, Participation, Mission") allowed for an ecclesiological deepening of some crucial issues for the contemporary Church: the sacrament of marriage, its identity and mission, also in light of the message of Loreto; the richness of the charism of one's own movement in the encounter with leading couples from other movements, in a spirit of profound ecclesial communion; the mission in the Church, through service to local Churches (dioceses and parishes) and dialogue with bishops; the methodology of pastoral planning and collaboration with local Churches, through discernment in communities. Ample space was given to deepening the contribution that movements can make to the development of the pastoral proposal of the Catechumenal Itineraries to Married Life at the level of local Churches, for the proclamation of the vocation to marriage through the remote accompaniment of children and young people.

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The Movements that participated in this second edition were: Marriage Encounter, Equipes Notre-Dame, Amour et Vérité, Hogares Nuevos Obra de Cristo, the Cana Family Movement, linked to the Chemin Neuf Community, Encounters of Married Couples, Famiglie nuove, in addition to representatives of the team responsible for Family ministry in Loreto.

The facilitators who accompanied the couples were: Philippe Bordeyne (President of the JP2 Institute), Gabriella Gambino (Undersecretary of the Dicastery for Laity, Family and Life and professor at GP2), Sr. Alexandra Diriart, Orietta Grazioli, Claudia Leal, Francesco Pesce, Simona Segoloni, Michal Vojtas (Pontifical Salesian University) and Monsignor Bernardino Giordano (Bishop of Grosseto and Pitigliano-Sovana-Orbetello).