The family and the transmission of the faith

The preparations are proceeding for the V World Meeting of Families which is to take place at Valencia from the 1st to the 9th July 2006, with the theme ?The family and the transmission of the faith.? The bishop of Valencia, Bishop Agustín García-Gasco, has affirmed that the preparations ?will help in considering the family positively, its irreplaceable role in society and its evangelical mission?, especially at the moment where there are so many attempts to diminish the dignity of matrimony and the institution of the family. The programme of the Meeting provides for an International Fair dedicated to the promotion of the family throughout the whole world, from the 1st to the 7th July; the International Theological Congress from the 4th to the 7th July; the family Rosary on the night of the 7th July; Eucharistic celebrations in language groups on the 8th July; the testimonies of some families coming from the five continents during the evening of the 8th July; and the concluding Mass celebrated by His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI on Sunday the 9th July.

Cardinal Alfonso López Trujillo, President of the Pontifical Council for the Family, went to Valencia to follow the preparations and met the priests of the diocese of Valencia, to plan the pastoral preparation of the V World Meeting of Families to be developed in the parishes throughout the whole world during this year. This will also be studied in the schools: nearly 1,000 teachers from Valencia have received all the information relative to the meeting and an invitation to communicate this to their students. As well, the Ibero-American Union of the Associations of the Parents of Families, which includes more than 200 million people in twelve countries, has announced that it will convoke the next General Assembly in 2006 at Valencia, to support the celebration of the V World Meeting of Families and it will organise its conference on the family during the International Fair. During the International Theological Conference, a ?Family Ten Commandments? will be developed and published. Also the grandparents have their place in the Meeting: for this the Commission, in collaboration with other Catholic organisations, has organised the First national Symposium, from the 18th to the 20th November, which will have as its theme, ?Grandparents, the family and the transmission of the faith?. The Symposium includes different reports on important themes such as human and Christian development of grandparents in the family, grandparents as witnesses of faith, the charism and duties of grandparents. More information will be given on the participation of the grandparents at the meeting in July.