Families must be protagonists of evangelization, says Vatican official

Vatican City, Sep 21, 2009 / 22:19 pm

The president of the Pontifical Council for the Family, Cardinal Ennio Antonelli, has encouraged an ever more “intimate union between movements and parish communities” so that Christian families can go from being “objects” to being “protagonists of evangelization.”
 
At the conclusion of an international seminar held recently in Rome, the cardinal explained that “the first step is in the experience of the personal encounter with Christ.  We are called to embrace in faith the love of God in Christ and to live it in our relationships that we have and in the things that we do.”
 
Thus it is necessary, he continued, “to be bearers of His love to others,” which occurs when we “live the Word, the sacraments and prayer.”  If the family lives in communion with the One and Triune God, then it has a special energy, joy, hope and love, Cardinal Antonelli explained.
 
“We need to bring the love of God and of Christ to all the dimensions of life.  Like Jesus, who by revealing the love of the Father has revealed man to himself, the Christian family also, in revealing the love of God, becomes self-revealing,” the cardinal said.
 
“All Christian families are called to evangelize” through the activities of the Church and the local parish,” he underscored.