The “Familia… é Sagrada!” (Family…is Sacred) Project has as its mission the evangelisation of families, spreading values – in a simple and modern way – that form part of daily family life and are unchangeable and essential for family harmony yesterday, today and always.
To achieve this objective, the Project developed a series of detailed visual presentations based on the book “Fe y Vida Matrimonial” [Faith and Married Life] (Nueva Patris) by Fr. Hernán A. Morandé, a Chilean priest belonging the Secular Institute of the Schoenstatt Fathers.
Fr. Hernán gave many talks and wrote hundreds of articles on the family apostolate. In 1980, he was the theological advisor for the National Commission for the Family Apostolate of the Chilean Bishops’ Conference. He participated actively in the Latin-American Bishops’ Conference (Puebla, Mexico, 1979) as a consultant, conference member and a reflection member. He was one of the editors for the final document of the Conference and the chapter on the family, in particular, is attributed to him.
“Family…is Sacred!” Kit in the parishes
The programme is offered free of charge to parishes as a “Kit” to facilitate its presentation. The “Kit” contains:
A CD with 10 talks to be given to couples monthly, posters advertising the programme and a picture of the MTA, especially sent from the Shrine, so that Mary the Great Missionary can extend her graces of a home, inner transformation and apostolic mission to the couples who participate in the project, so that everyone can experience “NOTHING WITHOUT YOU, NOTHING WITHOUT US” in a practical way.
Each person who is responsible for a “Kit” in a parish is linked to the Project via e-mail.
This collaborator receives a monthly newsletter providing the latest news on how the programme has been applied in various parishes, as a source of motivation and an exchange of experiences among the collaborators.
Beginings and reach
The Project started in 2011 as a pastoral initiative of the Tabor Magnificat Shrine in Curitiba.
In 2012, the 15th course of the Schoenstatt Family Union took up the mission to extend the Project to parishes. Since then, it has been well received where more than 500 parishes across the five regions of Brazil have already requested and received their kits. The Project also has the support of the coordinators of the National Commission for Family Pastoral Work, as well as the Schoenstatt Family Work, the Pilgrim Mother Movement and other family movements, such as Teams of Our Lady and Couples for Christ, among others (testimonies follow below).
Projection for the Future
Other countries have also requested the Project, such as Chile, Spain, Portugal, Germany and Italy. In order to achieve this goal, the project is already being translated into other languages.
We hope that this project can continue to be an effective tool in the hands of our Blessed Mother, Queen and Victress Thrice Admirable of Schoenstatt so that she can collaborate in the salvation of many families and take them to her Son Jesus. With joy we unite with our Father and Founder, Fr. Joseph Kentenich, and we joyfully embrace the mission: “SAVE THE FAMILIES, NO MATTER THE COST!”
Testimonies
In our name and on behalf of the National Commission for Family Pastoral Work, we extend our deepest thanks for the enormity of the work offered which will certainly be requested by all the regional couples who attended and which will later be applied in our work as presented in the proposal…
We do not know if we are asking too much, but if it is possible we would like to receive some more kits so that we can, in our journeys throughout Brazil, distribute them where we believe that this project may be fruitful. We do not need a large number, five will be enough. Is this possible? Warm regards and remain in CHRIST!
Raimundo Veloso Leal (TICO) and VERA Lúcia Morais Leal
National Commission for Family Pastoral Work – CNPF
We thank you for remembering us and if it is possible we would like to share this material with the five sectors in Curitiba and Rio Negro/Mafra and we would be grateful if you could send us 6 kits (1 for the Region and 5 for the sectors). May Our Lady bless you for this wonderful work, and that together, we may help our families to know and love her Son Jesus more deeply.
Dirlene and Henrique
Teams of Our Lady
It is with great joy that we receive the Kit of talks which will help us in our pastoral journey with the couples and the community! We are very glad that we can share in this beautiful project which will certainly build many families!!
Andressa Pauline dos Santos
Guarapuava – Paraná
I am Fr. José Agustin, the assistant of the FAF in Chile and Bolivia. I have been speaking with the Federation (Union) couples in Santiago who are working in the parishes with married couples and they would love to see the material you have worked with and how you contextualized it (what you reworked from Fr. Hernán Alessandri). I would be really grateful if you could send me something over the Internet. Many blessings. Thank you very much.
Fr. José Agustin
Before listening to the talks by the “Family…is Sacred” Project, we thought that talking was the same thing as having a dialogue, but it is very different because dialogue is deeper, these are issues that say something about us, something more intimate, and if there is loyalty in dialogue, joy could be the greater good, but there must be understanding on both sides so that this dialogue can become stronger and produce good fruit in every sense of the word!
Participating in the “Family…is Sacred” Project, we learnt how to engage more deeply in dialogue, which includes asking our children if they knew the difference between dialogue and talking. We realized that they were also uncertain, just as we were before we participated in the Project, and we tried to show them. By talking with them, we realized that dialogue is of utmost importance for family unity!
Fernando and Isabel
Presidente Prudente – SP
Contact Details
Douglas and Vivian Moser
15th Course of the Apostolic Union of Schoenstatt Families in Brazil
Telephone: +55 41 9987-0380
