Archdiocese Of Philadelphia - Love is Our Mission: The Family Fully Alive A Preparatory Catechesis for the World Meeting of Families

Love Is Our Mission

The family fully alive

Scripture texts from the New American Bible, revised edition 2010, 1991, 1986, 1970 Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, Washington, D.C., are used by permission of the copyright owner. All rights reserved. No part of the New American Bible may be reproduced in any form without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

Scripture quotations from New Revised Standard Version Bible: Catholic Edition, copyright 1989, 1993 National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America, used by permission. All rights reserved.

English translation of the Catechism of the Catholic Church for use in the United States of America copyright 1994, United States Catholic Conference, Inc. Libreria Editrice Vaticana. English translation of the Catechism of the Catholic Church: Modifications from the Editio Typica copyright 1997, United States Catholic Conference, Inc. Libreria Editrice Vaticana.

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Copyright 2014 by World Meeting of Families Philadelphia. Published 2014

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ISBN: 978-1-61278-855-5 (Inventory No. T1651)
eISBN: 978-1-61278-866-1
LCCN: 2014945658

Cover design: Tyler Ottinger
Cover art: Circle of Love / 2014 Michael Escoffery / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York. Photo: Michael Escoffery / Art Resource, NY; Joachim and Anna, mosaic by Father Marko Rupnik, 2008 / Chapel of the Holy Spirit at Sacred Heart University, Fairfield, Conn.; Christ in the House of His Parents, John Everett Millais, 1863 / Private Collection / Bridgeman Images; The Holy Family, Giorgione, c. 1500 / National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
Interior design: Sherri L. Hoffman

P RINTED IN THE U NITED S TATES OF A MERICA

A preparatory catechesis for the World Meeting of Families

Philadelphia, 2015

Love Is Our Mission

The family fully alive

We are delighted to present this catechesis on family life, as prepared by the Archdiocese of Philadelphia and the Pontifical Council for the Family, in anticipation of the Eighth World Meeting of Families, which will take place in Philadelphia September 22-27, 2015.

This catechesis explains how all of Catholic teaching about sex, marriage, and the family flows from our basic beliefs about Jesus. This catechesis offers a narrative beginning with our creation, soberly noting our fall and the challenges we face, but emphasizing Gods plan for our salvation. Love is our mission, and it is by loving God and one another that we will be fully alive.

The Second Vatican Council said that each family is a domestic church, a small cell of the larger universal Church. This catechesis explores what that means. We encourage everyone to study this catechesis, to discuss it with others, particularly in parishes, and to pray about how the Church can serve families, and how families can serve the Church. The family and the Church are mutually dependent on one another.

In this catechesis, we have tried to present Catholic teaching in a way that is fresh, insightful, and accessible to contemporary Catholics and all people of good will. To paraphrase Saint Augustine, writing in his Confessions, God is ever ancient, ever new. We hope that this new catechesis confirms for you the beauty and coherence of Catholic teaching, which is sublime and venerable wisdom, and the true source for renewal in every age, including our own.

We look forward to gathering with people from around the world in Philadelphia. As we prepare for this event, we particularly ask the intercessory prayers of Mary and Joseph, parents of the Holy Family and patrons of all families.

Most Reverend Charles J. Chaput, O.F.M. Cap.
Archbishop of Philadelphia

Most Reverend Vincenzo Paglia
President of the Pontifical Council for the Family

The family fully alive

Summary statement

The Church believes that God exists and that he loves us. We make this claim because we have encountered and trust Jesus Christ. This trust enables a relationship in which Gods plan for all creation is revealed and disclosed. Confident in this plan, we are able to proclaim that each and every human being is created in the image of God. We believe that God creates us with a purpose and for a mission.

We believe that in Jesus, God became man. We believe that in Jesus, God invites and summons the whole world to know him and live as his covenant people in the Church. We believe that Gods love is visible and manifest in this covenant, which reveals that God is faithful even unto death, despite our infidelity and sinfulness. We believe that Jesus suffered, died, and rose from the dead, confirming the power and fidelity of God, giving us confidence that his way is true. We trust that as his covenant people, Jesus is now present with us sacramentally, and that ultimately we will share his victory and heavenly communion.

Sustained by the Holy Spirit and the sacraments of the Church, we seek this communion, which Jesus has promised is our destiny. We believe that all aspects of our lives including our sexuality, fertility, and family life are part of this mission to live and love as Jesus taught.

We believe that in the Sacrament of Marriage, God has given us the gift of experiencing his covenant. In the marriage covenant, husband and wife live together in light of the covenant already established by God and Israel, Christ and the Church. We believe that marriage is the seedbed of a family, the nucleus of the domestic church, which is itself an essential member of the wider universal Church.

We acknowledge that we are fallen, and that all manner of suffering, temptations, and sins can burden us and prevent us from becoming who we were created to be. But we trust that no matter what trials we face or wounds we inflict upon ourselves and others, God is faithful. His passion, crucifixion, and resurrection are the decisive evidence that he will not depart from his covenant. The Lord has shown that he is stronger than all our sins and that he conquers sin. In our life together, through the presence of Jesus and the Holy Spirit in our midst, we believe that God will bring to fruition the work which he has begun in us. Anticipating that day when Jesus comes again and fully establishes his Kingdom on earth, we believe it is our mission to testify to what God has done and is doing. We believe it is our mission to love God and neighbor as he has taught us.

We believe that love is our mission, and that this mission is the only way we can be fully alive and be who we were created to be. We believe that this love should be taught, shared, and communicated in and through the family, the domestic church. We believe that the family shares in the mission of the whole Church, and we devote this catechesis to explaining this vision of love in more detail.