Pope Francis believes that in a world where humanity is often wounded, mistreated, and dominated by a lack of love, the family is the “yes” of God as Love. In spite of all the pressures and difficulties it faces, Pope Francis believes that the family is still good news for today’s world.
In 2016, he wrote Amoris Laetitia (The Joy of Love), a document about love, marriage and family life, and now he has given Ireland a special responsibility. He has asked Ireland to host the World Meeting of Families in 2018 and to prepare for that event by offering families, parishes and groups a way of thinking about and sharing his message in The Joy of Love: that the Gospel of the Family continues to be Joy for the World.
The Amoris: Let’s Talk Family! Let’s Be Family! Programme is a response to Pope Francis’ request. The programme aims to support families and parishes as we set out on the journey of preparation to the World Meeting of Families, taking place in Dublin from 21st to 26th August 2018, and to continue that journey in the years ahead.
Everyone is welcome to follow the programme online or at their parish and other public events.
WHAT RESOURCES WILL BE INCLUDED IN THE AMORIS PROGRAMME?
The Amoris: Let’s Talk Family! Let’s be Family! Programme will offer a range of resources. Here is an outline of some of them:
PARISH CONVERSATIONS
The Joy of Love is a six-part programme that will be offered to parishes from Autumn 2017, based on Pope Francis’ “The Joy of Love”. Using engaging short videos, animations and activities to encourage discussion, it will offer families, parishes and wider society an opportunity to think about our vision and hopes for family and marriage, and a chance to rediscover the gift that family is to the world.
The programme will also challenge us to reflect on how we can provide greater support for marriage and family in our local communities. In particular, Pope Francis has asked us to think about support for newly married couples and outreach to families in need.
PRACTICAL ACTIVITIES FOR POPULAR MOMENTS
This is a set of practical engaging activities which draw from and build on the parish-based programme and aim to celebrate and support marriage and family life. Some of these activities are for families to carry out in their own homes, and others can be run by parish communities or groups of parishes, from a simple prayer before meals, to a family picnic for all the parish. For each activity, there will be a short guide, explaining the idea and offering instructions on how it might be carried out. A parish or family can pick as many or as few as they like, depending on their own circumstances.
CHILDREN AND YOUTH:
Resources will also be available for primary and secondary school children at specific moments throughout out the year, including Catholic Schools Week.
STUDIO PROGRAMMES:
A series of half-hour television programmes will be produced and made available online to national and international audiences. Short video inserts will be followed by panel discussions with experts from Ireland and around the world, as well as in-studio audience participation, offering an opportunity for people to engage online with the message and challenge of The Joy of Love. Programmes will also be produced by and for young people.
DIGITAL ANIMATIONS:
A set of short digital animations based on key Amoris themes aimed at a general audience and children and available in different languages.
LIVE EVENTS:
A series of live events hosted around Ireland and live streamed online in the lead up to World Meeting of Families 2018. These will feature national and international speakers from the Catholic world and from civil society and focus on key issues relating to marriage and family life. The events will also be recorded and will be available to online audiences around the world.
AMORIS ONLINE
The entire Amoris: Let’s Talk Family! Let’s be Family! programme will be supported by a dynamic website, video, social media and online presence to encourage interaction with national and international audiences. You can access the website on www.amoris.ie.