September 25, 2009
CFM: Family should be evangelized, and in turn, evangelize society
By PAUL R. LEINGANG (Message editor)
Representatives of the Christian Family Movement told participants at an international seminar in Rome that Christian families are called to participate in the evangelization of society.
John and Lauri Przybysz of Severna Park, Md., along with Father Donald Conroy, a priest of the Diocese of Greensburg in Pennsylvania, were invited to make a presentation to the Pontifical Council for the Family under the leadership of Cardinal Ennio Antonelli.
John and Lauri Przybysz served as presidents of CFMUSA from 2005 to 2009. John does research in nanotechnology and quantum information for the electronics industry. Lauri is coordinator of marriage and family enrichment for the Archdiocese of Baltimore. The couple has six children and 13 grandchildren. Father Conroy, currently the North American Chaplain of the International Confederation of Christian Family Movements, was chaplain of CFMUSA from 2001 to 2009. He is also director of the National Institute for the Family, Washington, D.C.
The three CFM representatives were among some 35 participants invited to discuss “The family, subject of evangelization within its own society and the parish,” which was held in Rome, Sept. 10 and 11.
“We agree with Cardinal Antonelli that the family can be more than an object of evangelization,” said the CFM representative in a message to CFM families following the seminar. “The family can be an active agent of evangelization.”
The couple pointed out that “The church is looking for programs that work,” and, “Our experience shows that the Observe, Judge, Act method used by CFM effectively forms parents in their Christian vocation as leaders of the Domestic Church and builds strong and radiant families of faith.”
Included in the presentation at the seminar was a statement of the mission of CFM: “to promote Christcentered marriage and family life; to help individuals and their families to live the Christian faith in everyday life; and to improve society through actions of love, service, education and example.”
The Christian Family Movement is one of several movements that have drawn their vision from Cardinal Joseph Cardijn in the decades up to and through the Second Vatican Council, to the present day. The CFM seminar presentation included a quotation from Cardinal Cardijn, that lay people are not formed by “purely theoretical teaching or spoken lectures however magnificent,” but they are formed, “first of all by the discovery of facts, followed by a Christian judgment, resulting in the actions they plan, the plans they carry into effect, the responsibilities they shoulder.” From this understanding CFMUSA has taken as its motto: “Be doers of the word, and not hearers only.” (James 1:22)
The CFM seminar presentation pointed out the response of CFM to the vocation of the family, as described in the Vatican II document, Familiaris Consortio: “As a sharer in the life and mission of the Church, which listens to the word of God with reverence and proclaims it confidently, the Christian family fulfills its prophetic role by welcoming and announcing the word of God: it becomes more and more each day a believing and evangelizing community.” (#51)
CFM families strive to put into action the authentic mission of the Church to receive the Gospel and to transmit it to others. “This takes place through the CFM process in prayerful observation, in discerning judgment, and in evangelizing action. This is an evangelical process that happens in the heart of the Domestic Church so that the Gospel is truly proclaimed within the home itself, in the parish community and in the society.”
Others who were invited with CFM to the seminar were representatives of Worldwide Marriage Encounter, Focolare, Renewal in the Holy Spirit and Catholic Action, as well as pastors and theologians.