Value of Families in Amoris Laetitia

Catechetical Plan: Understanding Amoris Laetitia

1. Topic 9-session program for adults (Summary of Chapter Five of Amoris Laetitia)

2. Intended Adult Audience

At Sacred Heart parish, we developed a program to help couples get more involved in the church. The program was based on the Liturgy on Sunday’s Eucharist and teachings from the Church about families.

3. Overall Plan

a. General goal for the program: The goal of the program is to explore Pope Francis’s teaching on fruitful love via Chapter Five of Amoris Laetitia, and in so doing to help couples learn more about the Faith and how it affects their lives. The program involves meeting with a mentor couple who will take you to church on Sundays and discuss what was talked about during the service. It is hoped that this will help couples to figure out how to solve the difficulties and challenges of their family life, and live in harmony, with the help of what the Church teaches about being part of a family.

b. Number, time, and length of sessions: Adults and couples will attend this program of five meetings, which will last for two hours every Wednesday evening for one month. Each hour will be devoted to one session.

c. Location: Sacred Heart parish hall.

d. Collaborations: Two volunteers will be helping me prepare for the meeting. They will set up the tables with water, coffee, and snacks. During group sharing or discussion, they will help participants with materials and activities. At the end of the meeting, they will also help me clear away the tables and put up the chairs. They will also be part of the feedback process, as we discuss participants and speakers.

e. Adult learning principles to incorporate: The couples should attend every meeting and listen to what is being said. They should also share their thoughts and ask questions. If the couples are parents, they will be encouraged to bring their children as well. I will present a Power Point presentation of Chapter 5 of Amoris Laetitia along with handouts and a video clip so as to help the adults. Adults tend to be self-starting, self-sufficient learners in general and typically like to be given material that they can review on their own.[footnoteRef:2] Thus, material will be available for them to review on their own—including the printed out copy of Chapter 5 of Amoris Laetitia and a printed out copy of my Power Point presentation. [2: Forrest III, Stephen Paul, and Tim O. Peterson. "It's called andragogy." Academy of management learning & education 5, no. 1 (2006): 113-122; Hase, Stewart, and Chris Kenyon. "From andragogy to heutagogy." UltiBASE In-Site (2000)]

4. Program Outline:

Session 1: chapter one: In the Light of the Word—goal is to see the Word in the teachings of the Church and Amoris Laetitia.

Session 2: chapter two: The experiences and challenges of family—goal is to recognize that family life is difficult but rewarding.

Session 3: chapter three: Looking to Jesus: The vocation of the family—goals is to understand why God gives us families.

Session 4: chapter four: Love In Marriage—goal is to see what is meant by fruitful and responsible love in marriage between spouses.

Session 5: chapter five: Love made fruitful—goal is to see what is meant by fruitful love in children.

Session 6: chapter six: Some pastoral perspectives—goal is to see what the Church gives in the way of guidance on family life.

Session 7: chapter seven: Towards a better education of children—goal is to see what is meant by education of children in the Faith.

Session 8: chapter eight: Accompanying discerning and interesting weakness—goal is to see where we can strengthen our bonds.

Session 9: chapter nine: The Spirituality of Marriage and the family—goal is to review and understand the spiritual teachings on marriage and the family.

Outcomes: to identify, validate, and accept the challenge of being part of a family, to use the teachings of the Church and Pope Francis in particular to engage with that challenge in a positive and meaningful way, and to help families participate in the Word of God at their own homes.

5. Session Plan: Session 5—chapter 5: Love Made Fruitful

a. Goal: to help couples learn more about the Faith and how it affects their lives, and in particular what is meant by fruitful love, i.e., how love begets children.

b. Outcome: to identify, validate, and accept the challenge of being part of a family, to use the teachings of the Church and Pope Francis in particular to engage with that challenge in a positive and meaningful way, and to help families participate in the Word of God at their own homes.

c. Theology: To use the teaching of Pope Francis in Amoris Laetitia

Scripture: “Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked, Nor stand in the way of sinners, nor sit in company with scoffers.Rather, the law of the LORD* is his joy; and on his law he meditates day and night. He is like a tree planted near streams of water, that yields its fruit in season; Its leaves never wither; whatever he does prospers. .” (Psalm 1:1-3).[footnoteRef:3] [3: United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, https://bible.usccb.org/bible/psalms/1]

i. Lord, may our delight be in YOU, may we meditate on Your law day and night. When we do so, our marriage and our family will be like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields FRUIT in its season and whose leaf does not wither.

ii. God tells us that when we draw near to Him or include Him in our lives, we will have good fruit; and this is especially true in marriage, for where God is families are sure to grow.[footnoteRef:4] [4: United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, https://bible.usccb.org/bible/psalms/1]

d. Learning environment: parish hall

e. Prayers environment: Welcoming and focused; begins with a prayer to the Eternal Father, to the Mother of God and to the Holy Spirit for illumination.

6. Detailed Session outline

a. Gathering, welcome

a. As couples arrive, I will invite them to be seated and when the time begins, we will make the sign of the cross, say the Our Father, Hail Mary, and Come Holy Spirit prayers. For those who don’t know them there will be holy cards available for reading them. Following this, I will give a handout outline of what we will cover in the session.

b. Opening prayer

a. Our Father

b. Hail Mary

c. Come Holy Spirit

c. Life to Faith to Life Process

i. Do you have any memories that you cherish from your marriage?

ii. Think about in your own childhood, what traditions you carried on into your family today.

iii. Catechize — what points will be treated and how

Love and Pregnancy, and Mother and Father

· Family begins when new life is brought into the world through the union of husband and wife. This new life is a child and now two are three, and the child is God’s gift to the husband and wife for their love. “Here we see a reflection of the primacy of the love of God, who always takes the initiative, for children “are loved before having done anything to deserve it” (AL 166).

· New life should be welcomed because “Large families are a joy for the Church. They are an expression of the fruitfulness of love” (AL 167).

· The mother plays a particularly important role: she is the creative guardian or protector of that new life: “A mother joins with God to bring forth the miracle of a new life. Motherhood is the fruit of a ‘particular creative potential of the female body, directed to the conception and birth of a new human being.’ Each woman shares in ‘the mystery of creation, which is renewed with each birth’” (AL 168)

· But both mother and father are vital. “Both cooperate with the love of God the Creator, and are, in a certain sense, his interpreters. They show their children the maternal and paternal face of the Lord. Together they teach the value of reciprocity, of respect for differences and of being able to give and take” (AL 172).

· The father is important because he gives the example of hard work and discipline to the child: “A father, for his part, helps the child to perceive the limits of life, to be open to the challenges of the wider world, and to see the need for hard work and strenuous effort”(AL 175).

· The mother is important because she gives the example of nurturing love and faith: “Mothers often communicate the deepest meaning of religious practice in the first prayers and acts of devotion that their children learn” (AL 174).

Challenges and Difficulties That Families Face

· Sometimes it is easy to forget the great reality that is new life in the womb. But, “Let us pause to think of the great value of that embryo from the moment of conception. We need to see it with the eyes of God, who always looks beyond mere appearances” (AL 168).

· Some families do not have both parents or the mother is absent for whatever reason. This can be a great difficulty because “without mothers, not only would there be no new faithful, but the faith itself would lose a good part of its simple and profound warmth" (AL 168). We need a mother’s love to warm the heart, just as we need a father’s masculinity to make it clear what it means to respect and care for life: “A father possessed of a clear and serene masculine identity who demonstrates affection and concern for his wife is just as necessary as a caring mother” (AL 175).

· Children should not feel ignored by parents: they need the attention and good example of their parents and they should be loved because they are God’s gift: “Every child has a right to receive love from a mother and a father; both are necessary for a child’s integral and harmonious development” (AL 172).

· But what about couples who cannot conceive? For whatever reason, God has withheld his gift of natural childbirth from them. Yet Pope Francis teaches that these couples may, can, and should adopt: “The choice of adoption and foster care expresses a particular kind of fruitfulness in the marriage experience, and not only in cases of in-fertility… They make people aware that children, whether natural, adoptive or taken in foster care, are persons in their own right who need to be accepted, loved and cared for, and not just brought into this world” (AL 180).

· How to bring fruitfulness to the world? Do not isolate yourselves, but go forth: “Families should not see themselves as a refuge from society, but instead go forth from their homes in a spirit of solidarity with others. In this way, they become a hub for integrating persons into society and a point of contact between the public and private spheres” (Al 181).

· Through families, God means to bring the Word to the world: “God has given the family the job of ‘domesticating’ the world and helping each person to see fellow human beings as brothers and sisters” (AL 183).

· The Eucharist itself is the Body of Christ, which all families are part of: and so the family should participate in the Eucharist because it is the source of life and grace: “The celebration of the Eucharist thus becomes a constant summons for everyone ‘to examine himself or herself,’ to open the doors of the family to greater fellowship with the underprivileged, and in this way to receive the sacrament of that Eucharistic love which makes us one body” (AL 186).

· Married couples and families can be like Christ to those in the world: “A married couple who experience the power of love know that this love is called to bind the wounds of the outcast, to foster a culture of encounter and to fight for justice… For their part, open and caring families find a place for the poor and build friendships with those less fortunate than themselves. In their efforts to live according to the Gospel, they are mindful of Jesus’ words: ‘As you did it to one of the least of these my brethren, you did it to me (Mt 25:40)’” (AL 183).

· We are all sons and daughters of someone, and even if we do not know our parents, we have Our Mother in Heaven and Our Eternal Father, too: we have a family that is in Paradise, where we belong with them: “Even if one becomes an adult or an elderly person, even if one becomes a parent, if one occupies a position of responsibility, underneath all of this is still the identity of a child. We are all sons and daughters. And this always brings us back to the fact that we did not give ourselves life but that we received it” (AL 188).

· To Paradise we are called to return. But to get there we must honor our parents as we honor Our Father in Heaven: “Hence, ‘the fourth commandment asks children… to honor their father and mother’… because ‘A society with children who do not honor parents is a society without honor… It is a society destined to be filled with surly and greedy young people" (AL 189).

· But one must not forget the elderly. They too have a place in all families. “The elderly help us to appreciate ‘the continuity of the generations, by their 'charism of bridging the gap’… Their words, their affection or simply their presence help children to realize that history did not begin with them, that they are now part of an age-old pilgrimage and that they need to respect all that came before them” (AL 192).

· Family life is thus the sign of faith, love, and fraternity: “Growing up with brothers and sisters makes for a beautiful experience of caring for and helping one another. For ‘fraternity in families is especially radiant when we see the care, the patience, the affection that surround the little brother or sister who is frail, sick or disabled" (AL 195).

· Conflicts can arise, especially when it is the time for children to care for elderly parents, or for formerly single people to come together as one, as man and wife: “Parents must not be abandoned or ignored… This situation cannot go on for long, and even if it takes time, both spouses need to make an effort to grow in trust and communication. Marriage challenges husbands and wives to find new ways of being sons and daughters” (AL 190). The elderly have a right to be loved just as children have a right to be loved: “‘Do not cast me off in the time of old age; forsake me not when my strength is spent’ (Ps 71:9). This is the plea of the elderly, who fear being forgotten and rejected. Just as God asks us to be his means of hearing the cry of the poor, so too he wants us to hear the cry of the elderly” (AL 191).

· Individualism is not a sign of family but rather of family breakdowns: “The individualism so prevalent today can lead to creating small nests of security, where others are perceived as bothersome or a threat. Such isolation, however, cannot offer greater peace or happiness; rather, it straitens the heart of a family and makes its life all the more narrow” (AL 187).