 Offices :: Family Ministries
Mission
With the guidance of Cardinal George, the Family Ministries Office coordinates and implements the Church’s mission for families in the Archdiocese of Chicago. This Office assists families, with all their diversity, to develop the values of family life. This is done indirectly by assisting parish staffs to develop a family perspective in their outreach to families. The Office coordinates the activity of various programs and serves as a resource for parish staffs and ministers to enhance and enrich ministry for marriage and family life. In addition, as an agency in the Department of Evangelization, Catechesis, and Worship, this Office is a resource to the other 17 Office Directors for efforts which enhance marriage and family life.
In World Day of Peace Message, I spoke of the essential contribution that healthy family life makes to peace within and between nations. In the family home we experience “some of the fundamental elements of peace: justice and love between brothers and sisters, the role of authority expressed by parents, loving concern for the members who are weaker because of youth, sickness or old age, mutual help in the necessities of life, readiness to accept others and, if necessary, to forgive them” (no. 3). The family is also the primary place for evangelization, for passing on the faith, for helping young people to appreciate the importance of religious practice and Sunday observance.
Benedict XVI: Address to the Bishops of the United States, 16 April 2008
|