By Leon Bent –
On 27th December 2020, the Feast of the Holy Family, Pope Francis announced the “Amoris Laetitia Family Year (ALFY), to be celebrated in the Universal Church. The Holy Father hopes that the ALFY will be an opportunity for the Church, families and the family apostolate, to focus more closely on the contents of Amoris Laetitia, and implement them more fruitfully in the life of families and the Church.
Pope Francis’s groundbreaking new document “Amoris Laetitia”(“The Joy of Love”) asks the church to meet people where they are, to consider the complexities of people’s lives and to respect people’s consciences when it comes to moral decisions. The apostolic exhortation is mainly a document that reflects on family life and encourages families. But it is also the pope’s reminder that the church should avoid simply judging people and imposing rules on them without considering their struggles.
ALFY “aims to reach every family around the world through several spiritual, pastoral and cultural proposals that, can be implemented within parishes, dioceses, universities, ecclesial movements and family associations.” A Brochure from Dicastery has set five goals for ALFY:
1.Share the content of the Apostolic Exhortation “Amoris Laetitia” more widely. To let “people experience the Gospel of the Family as a joy that fills hearts and lives” (AL 200). A family that discovers and experiences both, the joy of having a gift, and of being a gift for the Church and society, “can be light in the darkness of the world” (AL 66). The world, today, certainly needs this light!
2.Proclaim that the Sacrament of Marriage is a Gift and contains, in itself, a transforming power of human love. For this purpose, pastors and families must journey together with a sense of co-responsibility, and pastoral inter-relatedness between the different vocations in the Church (cf.AL 203).
3.To enable families to become active agents of the family apostolate. To this end, “an effort at evangelization and catechesis inside the family” (AL 200) is required, since a family of disciples turns into a missionary family.
- Male young people aware of the importance of formation in the truth of love and the gift of self, with initiatives dedicate to them.
- Broaden the vision and scope of the family apostolate to embrace a cross-cutting approach, including married couples, children, young people, the elderly and helping family members cope with routine or unmanageable problems.
Marriage and Family are among the top priorities of the Pope who has consistently projected the beauty, and joy of love in marriage and family – Pope Francis has always sought to protect them from all cultural, ideological and technological problems they face. He warned: “There’s an ongoing world war that batters marriage. In the contemporary scenario, there is an ideological colonization that destroys, not with weapons, but with ideas and temptations. We must defend ourselves against this ideological colonization.”
It is significant that the ALFY will be inaugurated on the feast of St. Joseph, who laboured tirelessly and took care of his family with dedication, tenderness and love. Another important moment during the ALFY is the celebration of the World Day of Grandparents and the Elderly (WDGE). This is a new decision of the Pope, which manifests the appreciation and motherly concern of the Church, for the fragile members of our families and societies. Cardinal Farrell, Prefect of the Council for the Laity, Family and Life, points out that “this is the first-fruits of the Amoris Laetitia Family Year, a gift to the whole Church that is destined to continue in the future.” The WDGE will be a clear sign that the Church is “committed to making every effort to dismantle the throwaway culture, and to enhance the charisms of grandparents and the elderly.”
The Pope has decided that the WDGE will be celebrated in the Church, every year, on the 4th Sunday of July, which is close to July 26, the feasts of Sts. Anne and Joachim, the grandparents of Jesus.
Families, family associations, parishes and dioceses need to evolve their own ways of celebrating the ALFY. They may be helped by the “12 ways to walk with families following Amoris Laetitia,” offered by the Vatican Discastery.
The church must help families of every sort, and people in every state of life, know that, even in their imperfections, they are loved by God and can help others experience that love. Likewise, pastors must work to make people feel welcome in the church. “Amoris Laetitia” offers the vision of a pastoral and merciful church that encourages people to experience the “joy of love.” The family is an absolutely essential part of the church, because after all, the church is a “family of families” (80).
But the thrust must be on forming enduring attitudes, life-promoting spirituality and more permanent processes and initiatives that will ensure that the gains of the ALFY will be carried forward in the decades to come. It is hoped that the entire Church and all relevant entities in the Church will enthusiastically welcome and gainfully celebrate the ALFY. It will heal wounded families and further strength intergenerational bonding. Marriage and family, the bulwark of the Church and human society, deserve it.