Christians Unite in Concern for Family

VALENCIA, Spain, JULY 10, 2006 (Zenit.org).- Christians of different confessions united at the Theological-Pastoral Congress on the Family to express their common concern for the family.

Wednesday's panel entitled "Ecumenism and the Family" was directed by Cardinal Nicolás de Jesús López Rodríguez, archbishop of Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, and included speakers representing both Eastern and Western Churches.

This was the first time this topic was addressed in a family congress.

Archbishop Kyrill of Yaroslav and Rostov, representative of the Moscow Patriarchate, stressed how difficult it is to live in a Christian family today as "no law can oblige the human being to be good and sensible."

The changes in European laws, making room for different ways of understanding the family, imply "a change of the very concept of family and violate the right of traditional families," which leads "to a physical and spiritual decadence of the whole of humanity," he continued.

Marie Panayotopoulos, a member of the European Parliament, Greek Orthodox and mother of nine, stressed the need to help the family survive.

The family must be the "bulwark and light of society," but we are witnessing "a breaking up of the institution of marriage" and "a weakening of family relations," she added.

German Evangelical Thomas Romer, husband and father of five, shared his experiences in the formation of young people for marriage and described the family as the place where one learns to assimilate successes and failures and to ask for forgiveness."

Romanian Orthodox Constantin Preda, Patriarch Teoctist's representative, explained that we live in "the first post-traditional society in which the transmission of the faith has been interrupted. All this is particularly serious for the life of the Church which is nourished on tradition."

"Without Christian families," he concluded, "the Church cannot survive in time."