Called to the Joy of Love:
Implications for Marriage & Family Life Ministry
Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone, Chairman
Committee on Laity, Marriage, Family Life and Youth
Original Source: CPML Framework from the USCCB
An Opportunity to Strengthen Marriage Preparation
- Called to the Joy of Love encouraged our Church and faithful in the U.S. to proclaim the joyful Gospel of the family with creativity and courage.
- Catechumenal Pathways for Married Life published by the Dicastery for Laity, Family and Life calls for a new catechumenate for marriage preparation already desired by Pope John Paul II in Familiaris Consortio.
Catechumenal Pathways proposes a new pastoral model
- Includes general principles and a comprehensive pastoral proposal.
- Adaptable to the reality of each local Church.
- Not another program, but a new pastoral approach.
- Complements and reinforces Called to the Joy of Love
MARRIAGE CATECHUMENATE PATHWAYS
Implications of marriage preparation based on the Catechumenate model
- Kerygma: personal encounter with Jesus Christ (evangelizing opportunity)
- Calm: sufficient time for couples to reflect and mature (stages of preparation marked by rites of passage (rituals) within specific timeframes)
- Co-responsibility: on behalf of the entire parish to support the engaged couple (a marriage building parish)
Each diocese/eparchy is asked to pilot a marriage catechumenate pathways/program
The Future of the Family is the Future of the Church
- Millennials from married homes are 78% more likely to attend church than peers from unmarried homes.
- A study of former Catholics found that 74% left the faith between the ages of 10 and 20, with age 13 being the median age when kids ‘check out’ of the faith.
- 82% of Catholic parishes spend $0 on marriage and relationship ministry.
- Increasing disaffiliation among engaged couples and married couples of all ages
- Family Life is the most underserved ministry in the Church today
- Strongmarriages = strongfamilies
- Decline in the family results in a decline in the Faith