|
MARFAM'S
ONLINE NEWSLETTER - MARCH 2004 |
Marriage and Family Life Renewal Ministry - Johannesburg , South Africa.Also see our website http://homefun.www.icon.co.za updated
regularly for more detailed information about MARFAM's ministry
and available resources in the local Church. Contact us at
our new email address marfam@icon.co.za |
What are you doing to
strengthen family life during this INTERNATIONAL
YEAR OF THE FAMILY? |
|
“Whoever receives one such child in my name receives me.” Matt 18:5 John Paul II Lenten message 2004. “ …… Dear brothers and sisters, let us set out with trust
on our Lenten journey, sustained by fervent prayer, penance
and concern for those in need. In particular, may this Lent
be a time of ever greater concern for the needs of children,
in our own families and in society as a whole; for they are
the future of humanity. |
MUCH BETTER One South African TV station keeps pounding our ears with its slogan. “Much better!” it tells us. Does that mean better news, better sport, better educational stuff? Is it also better advertising, (more true or better quality?) better soapies (more over the top or morally improved), just more movies or better quality movies? Griping about TV is a universal pastime, often justified, but that doesn't stop us or our young people from spending endless, sometimes mindless hours watching. It's the mindlessness that bothers parents and educators because TV and all forms of media have many valuable lessons to teach and our responsibility is to try to do much better at teaching discrimination between right and wrong, good and bad. (see notes below on Mel Gibson's Passion) With elections looming we're going to be bombarded with party propaganda, which could hardly get worse as a form of edutainment. Who rules the country and whether they can do that much better is a serious question for discernment. A pastoral letter from one of the bishops reminds us that we have to examine the morality in the policies of our favoured parties and make informed decisions about our vote. The phrase, said with the correct intonation of course, “muuuuch better” might be trite but is also quite catchy. So in spite of feeling mildly irritated it made me pause and think, what could I do “much better” this Lent. All of us, parents and children might be planning whether to give up chocolate cold-drinks, smoking or alcohol. Or alternatively take up going to weekday Mass or saying extra prayers. Some of us may be looking for other creative ideas to make a genuine sacrifice. The SA Bishops' Lenten Appeal has produced a useful calendar full of suggestions and welcomes any form of financial sacrifices which help those of us in ministry to do our work much better. But sticking with that “much better” idea and our International Year of the Family focus on Parenting, the theme for March, linking to SA Human Rights Day on 21 st March is “respecting rights, teaching responsibility,” something we can surely all do much better. Every family member has rights and the obligation too to be responsible and teach responsibility. Imagine the impact on our society if men, women and children, mothers, fathers, sons and daughters and the older generation too tried to do much better at respecting one another's rights and dignity, the right to life, to privacy, to freedom from abuse and violence. That includes too doing much better at balancing encouraging with criticizing and constant nagging to do much better. Many parents and children feel anxious, judging they are fully extended doing the best they can, but even for them examining attitudes and behaviours might make them feel much better. Imagine if everyone acted with responsibility and did much better at respect for others in things like dress, and adopting the ACTS (Association of Catholic Tertiary Students) ABCD way of life in combating HIV/AIDS. Abstinence, Be faithful, Chastity and awareness of the Danger of irresponsible sexual behaviour. Imagine if everyone took personal responsibility for Moral Regeneration and did much better at the big and little things, not committing fraud, stealing, lying or breaking traffic laws. Finally congratulations to the police and prosecutor team who did it so much better and painstakingly over more than a year tracked down 43 out of around 100 child rape victims of a Johannesburg serial rapist who was found guilty on 23 counts. I like the idea of making this Lent a much better one, don't you? Toni Rowland |
MARFAM NEWS. Contact us for details of events. 29 th February Day of Reflection for Widowed People to be held on the Gauteng East Rand. 28 th March – Family Day and STATIONS OF THE CROSS for Families at Bosco. Various booklets for use during Lent including Stations of the Cross in English, Zulu and Sesotho available. See the website at http://homefun.www.icon.co.za for Family Lenten calendar and other articles. No 1 issue of MARRIAGE AND FAMILY LIVING magazine is still available. It also contains a Family Lenten calendar and weekly reflections on Parenting
|
INTERNATIONAL YEAR OF THE FAMILY 2004. Why is there so little focus on this in church and society? After launching it in December 2003 UN has down-played it, although the UN website refers to the need to evaluate progress in the last 10 years. SACBC Family Life Desk focuses on Parenting through promoting awareness and reflection by means of the 2004 Family Calendar. See http://homefun.www.icon.co.za for the theme for the month and English reflections. Contact us for translations into Zulu, Sotho, Tswana and Afrikaans. SA Government Social Development Department has a small committee working on it and will use this year to launch its Family Policy too.
|
SACBC FAMILY LIFE DESK NEWS What is happening in family ministry in Southern Africa ? A Meeting of Family Life movements was held on 17 th February to network and share and discuss collaboration. Family Life Movements known to us who are active
in the local church are: Catholic Engaged Encounter, Couples
for Christ, Equipes de Nossa Senhora (Teams of Our Lady) Focolare – New
Families Movement, Marriage Encounter, Mina Nawe – Together
Forever, Retrouvaille, Schoenstatt.Family Movement. Most of
these are internationally recognized too. As coordinator of the Family Life Desk my primary task is to raise awareness of a FAMILY FOCUS – “looking through the world and the church through family eyes.” I am available to give talks, offer workshops or retreats on aspects of family life but the primary focus for 2004 will be Parenting and the needs surrounding this. Travelling around I have been asked what resources are available e.g. for single parents. In addition to local welfare agencies there are often social workers in parishes who could be invited to form support groups. That is becoming family-focused and empowered within our own communities. Meeting with various bishops at the recent Plenary Session of the SA Catholic Bishops Conference was encouraging. Different bishops have taken the International Year of the Family focus on board in different ways. A Family Prayer to for the whole community was prepared by the, small in numbers but very large in area, diocese of Oudtshoorn. They also plan to have a big diocesan family rally. Some dioceses are providing formation in a family focus for their pastoral councils, some are addressing specific needs. The late Archbishop Hurley was almost a fixture in the church in South Africa . He is best remembered for his contributions in Justice and Peace but was also a friend of the various Family Ministry initiatives. May he rest in peace and enjoy his eternal reward.
|
SNIPPETS Media, media literacy and education. Since the very evangelization of modern culture
depends to a large extent on the influence of the media, it
is not enough simply to spread the Christian message and the
Church's authentic teaching. It is necessary to integrate that
message into the “new culture” created by modern communications.
In a message for World Communications Day the pope warned parents, communicators and public authorities of an environment hostile to family values. Efforts should be made to improve Catholic media and put pressure on media in general to uphold family values that are in any case not exclusive to Catholics. He called for practical measure to offset the negative image of the family so often portrayed in the media. Media literacy education is defined as the development of skills to empower persons to be both critical thinkers and creative producers of an increasingly wide range of messages using image, language and sound. It is the skillful application of literacy skills to media and technology messages (AMLA, 2001). Film Reviews. www.CatholicMovieReviews.org provides dozens of film reviews. www.daughtersofstpaul.com offers resources on media literacy and media studies and film essays and reviews for use also by educators. Mel Gibson's much written about film on THE PASSION of Jesus will shortly be seen in South Africa too. By all accounts it is a most powerful, even harrowing film. A suggested Lenten experience where appropriate could be viewing this film as a family in order to be able to share the experiences and one's impressions with one another. Some critics claim it is anti-Semitic, some say the violence, especially the scourging of Jesus is overdone and too long. Zenit.org which has carried a number of commentaries. One excerpt notes, “ Any Catholic who has sat through years of annual memorials of the Stations of the Cross and three-hour-long Good Friday services with readings from the passion, will surely never have meditated on the suffering of Jesus in quite this way. “ And surely that is what it is all about, increasing out love and appreciation of Jesus, our saviour. SEXUALITY EDUCATION An article SEX EDUCATION OR SEXUAL PERVERSION by Fr Finbar Flanagan OFM of Dundee SA has been widely circulated in the Catholic educational network. As reported by us too from time to time Love Life and the Planned Parenthood Association of SA are heavily involved in Sexuality Education. Is it primarily a fight against AIDS and teenage pregnancy as they claim or is there primary objective promoting a liberal, promiscuous, pro-abortion and pro-abortion lifestyle? These are questions parents must discern about and the article asks parents to demand to be informed what is being taught and where they are not in agreement to object to the sexuality education material that has been prepared for use in SA Schools. Another question that needs to be asked is, “what alternatives does the Catholic educational network offer?” Education for Life and Love Matters are chastity promotion programmes aimed at youth. FERMASA (Fertility Mastery Association) in combination with its Conference in late April is offering training for educators in the Teenstar programme The Catholic Institute of Education offers workshops and the subject matter is also dealt with at different levels in the Lifebound Life Orientation programme. CORD deals with the subject at High School level. Lumko has a progrramme Fully Human, Fully Alive and there is content material in other catechetical programmes. Regionally different groups offer programmes too. MARFAM has produced lessons mainly for Senior Primary level Grades 4-7 and every issue of the MARRIAGE AND FAMILY LIVING magazine contains an article in the series Sexually Speaking that can be used in families, in classrooms and with adults as a discussion starter. Local Catholic Resources in the area of Sexuality Education are available. Are parents and educators ready and willing to use them? RELIGIOUS EDUCATORS WEBSITE The US website Catholic Educators Resource Centre (CERC) www.catholiceducation.org provides very helpful insights into these and many other topics of interest to Catholic students and educators. FERMASA CONFERENCE 24 – 25 April 2004 The Fertility Mastery Association of South Africa (FERMASA) AND THE Africa Family Life Federation 9AFLF) BRING YOU AN Inter-Africa Conference. The purpose of the Natural Family Planning conference is to raise awareness of the various methods, inform and inspire those interested in NFP. Invited are delegates from various other African countries who are active in the areas of NFP, HIV/AIDS, YOUTH and FAMILY WELBEING. Other activities planned TeenSTAR Teachers – youth training workshop 19-23 April AFLF 5 day workshop. Topics: NFP, A-BC sexual behaviour, the family and HIV/AIDS 26 – 30 April Contact details fermasa@telkomsa.net tel 012 335 5691.
|
TAILPIECE, so-called kid sayings: Jesus gave us the Golden rule which says, “ do one to others before they do one to you.” “a man does not live by sweat
alone.” |