by Leela Ramdeen, Chair, CCSJ and Director, CREDI
“Faith grows when it is lived and shaped by love. That is why our families, our homes, are true domestic churches. They are the right place for faith to become life, and life to grow in faith…I leave you with this question, for each one of you to respond to. In my home, do we yell, or do we speak with love and tenderness? This is a good way to recognise our love…Love is seen and felt in everyday gestures” (Pope Francis).
These profound words uttered by Pope Francis in his homily at the Mass for the conclusion of the recently held 8th World Meeting of Families (WMOF) encapsulate the heart of his message to us and to the world. The night before the Mass, in the midst of the amazing Festival of Families, he reminded us that: “Love is something we learn; love is something we live; love grows as it is ‘forged’ by the concrete situations which each particular family experiences. Love is born and constantly develops amid lights and shadows.”
I feel truly blessed to have been part of the Archdiocesan team, led by Bishop Robert Llanos and also including Tricia Syms of the Family Life Commission, which attended the WMOF held September 22–25 in Philadelphia – the city of brotherly love and sisterly affection – and to witness the Holy Father’s visit to that city from September 26–27 as he ended his six-day visit to the United States.
The theme of the WMOF was Love is our Mission: The Family Fully Alive and Archbishop Charles Chaput, Archbishop of Philadelphia, informed us that this 8th WMOF was the largest ever, with representatives from more than 100 countries.
There were about 130 speakers for keynote and breakout sessions, including from different faith communities. Each day, as I watched the procession of cardinals, archbishops, bishops, priests and deacons to the altar for Mass, and felt the warmth of the thousands of religious, lay men and women, and persons of different faiths in the hall, I was filled with hope knowing that there are people of goodwill who will forever strive to build up the family – the sanctuary of life and love.
CCSJ Chair Leela Ramdeen and Archbishop Charles Chaput of Philadelphia at the 8th WMOF.
Archbishop Vincenzo Paglia, President of the Pontifical Council for the Family, reminded us that “God created the world for the family of humanity. No family can live for itself alone. Every family must dream of a better world, particularly for the most vulnerable among us. The family is our most important resource. If the family is fully alive, society is fully alive.”
Space does not permit me to share the many nuggets of wisdom from the various speakers or from Pope Francis’ catechesis during his time in the US.
During the final Mass, it was announced that the next WMOF would take place in Dublin, Ireland in 2018. It will be the ninth time it has been celebrated since 1994, when St Pope John Paul II launched the event in Rome.
From left, Tricia Syms, Dinna Bainey, Bishop Robert Llanos and Leela Ramdeen at WMOF
I cannot help but compare the catechesis of our Holy Father to the unfortunate, unjust suggestions by some individuals about the way in which we should deal with some of the challenges we face. While Pope Francis was urging us to open our hearts to embrace virtues such as love, compassion, solidarity, and care for the sexually abused, immigrants, the unborn, the elderly, the incarcerated and so on, here in T&T an unsuccessful candidate in our recent general elections has suggested that the way to reduce crime is to arm the nation – to allow each person to be able to access guns so that, together, we will be able to defend ourselves against those who will do us harm. Violence begets violence!
On September 27, the day on which Pope Francis closed the WMOF, I read in the Newsday a suggestion by a letter writer that “the only way to solve the crime problem is to adopt a long-term view, so I think the family planning organisations should start giving out condoms on every street corner (by one, get three free) and abortions should be made readily available”.
And in Mexico, a Councillor suggested that it would be kinder to give the homeless lethal injections “to solve the problem of beggars”.
Now is the time for us to be prophetic witnesses in fidelity to Christ. Bishop Robert Barron said at the WMOF: “There are objective moral values. We need to keep saying this to the world which has grown deaf to it…Moral demand – all the way! Mercy –all the way! That is the prophetic speech of the Church.”
