Report of the Family Life Co-Ordinators Meeting - February 2002 (Leeds)

Joy Wanless

Representative from Salford Diocese Marriage and Family Life Ministry

Mission statement:

The Marriage and Family Life team believe in the goodness and sacredness of every person. We will work together to care for Marriage and Family Life (MFL) in its widest sense in Parish and wider community. We value all loving relationships as an expression of God's love for creation We will try to promote and care for all throughout every stage of family life. We particularly value like to like ministry Vision Family life ministry is at the service of all families, supporting the growth of loving life enhancing relationships.

Areas covered

• Primary School
• Secondary school
• Marriage Preparation
• Marriage Support
• Parent Support
• Care of Divorced and Separated
• Bereavement Support
• Families under stress
• Training for Family Ministry
• In service training for Clergy
• Family Liturgies and Sacramental Preparation

Current Picture across the Dioceses

There are currently MFL co-ordinators in 17 of the 22 Dioceses. Their contracts range from full time paid with a budget of £38,000 ( Leeds Diocese) to part time not paid

Current involvement of Bishop's Conference of England and Wales

The Bishop's Conference Committee for Christian Responsibility and Citizenship has reallocated its resources making MFL one of its 3 priorities in order to bring objectivity to its work. Ceridwen Roberts has been engaged to undertake a consultancy project for the Department of Christian Citizenship and Responsibility of The Bishop's Conference of England and Wales. Her task is to explore the options and make recommendations to the committee on MFL on the most effective use of the resources available between:

• Giving the Bishops a more effective voice in National Policy affecting marriage and the family
• Supporting the delivery of Marriage Preparation and family support services in the dioceses

A short report will go to the next meeting of MFL committee in March for consideration This will inform their recommendations to the Bishops.

The Diocesan Marriage and Family Life Co-ordinators Network

Currently, the Network meets twice a year to provide ongoing training, support and encouragement to Diocesan Co-ordinators The February 2002 meeting worked with Ceridwen Roberts to inform her work. We undertook a SWOT analysis of current MFL ministry. We made recommendations based on our experiences concerning the proposed role of a National worker.

Proposed role of National worker(s)

• To raise the profile of MFL.
• To collate a repository of good practice
• To provide support to Diocesan Workers
• To give training formation and appraisal
• To seek funding
• To liaise with other agencies
• To propose briefs to Bishops
• To compile a website to co-ordinate and communicate outcomes

Learning from the U. S. A.

The MFL conference was blessed by sharing from Rich McCord, from the Secretariat for Family, Laity, Women and Youth of the National conference of Catholic Bishops of the United States. His brief is to be responsible for the Pastoral Care and Reflection of MFL at all levels of church life. He gave an interesting presentation of the state of MFL in the US. He concluded that the church needs to assess and engage in the current culture. Kevin Flanagan's presentation on work and family life, given to the previous MFL conference, ably described the current culture The Catholic Church has a rich theology of family life and must use this to inform on the meaning of MFL. Rich strongly urged that the church must use its voice today to inform Government policies and to make a positive contribution to the media messages publicised to a secular society.

Conclusion

We have a God given mission to MFL ministry. The current changing face of family life requires us to focus on our values, beliefs and practice of family life and as a living church make our contribution in the current society and in doing so encourage others to live out their ministry, supported, guided and trained to work within the loving arms of Mother Church. In this way we will work to our vision that family life ministry is at the service of all families, supporting the growth of loving life enhancing relationships.