México Awaits You!

World Conference for Families

Logo Logo Logo EMF2009 © 2008
Se invita a las Familias de todo el mundo a formar el “Mosaico de las Familias”. The families of the whole world are invited to form the “Mosaic of families” Die Familien der ganzen Welt sind eingeladen, das “Mosaik der Familien” zu bilden Foto: maeperegrina.com.br © 2008

Encuentro Mundial de las Familias World Meeting of Families Welttreffen der Familien

MEXICO, José A. Katimi. The VI World Conference for Families will take place in México City on January 13-18, 2009. At the National Meeting for Leaders which took place in Querétaro, José A. and Ivonne Katimi were named coordinators for the international pilgrims from the Schoenstatt Family attending this conference.

They are the leaders of the Schoenstatt Families Branch in Monterrey, and in addition, José Katimi administered the launching of www.schoenstatt-mty.org and the magazine Alianza (Covenant) in Monterrey.

What is the World Conference for Families?

Every three years, the Holy Father gathers Catholic families from throughout the world for a unity conference in which thousands of families from the five continents come together to share…..to dialog…..to pray and to deepen important aspects on the role of Christian families as domestic Church and as a unity basis for evangelization and society.

Each World Conference for Families is organized by the Pontifical Council for the Family with the collaboration of the diocese elected as See. The Servant of God, John Paul II, instituted these World Conferences for Families and they began in honor of the International Year of the Family in 1994. Each World Conference for Families is celebrated with a central theme which inspires all of the organized activities:

Rome, 1994
"The family, heart of the Church and heart of humanity."

Río de Janeiro, 1997
"The family, gift and commitment, hope for humanity."

Rome, 2000 (Jubilee of Families)
"Children, Springtime for the family and society."

Manila, 2003
"The Christian family, good news for the third millennium."

Valencia, 2006
"The transmission of faith in the family."

México, 2009
"The family, molder of human and Christian values

The Conference will consist of three main events:

• Theological Congress – pastoral
• Festive and testimonial Conference
• Solemn closing Eucharistic celebration

The Central Coordinating Commission is working with great enthusiasm to prepare this VI World Conference for Families and for receiving pilgrims who will come from all continents and thus continue with the mission of motivating family values throughout the world.

• For the international Schoenstatt pilgrims, we are offering the website emfmex@schoenstatt-mty.org so they can communicate the number of persons who will attend and in order to provide them information on this conference.
• Visit the site www.emf2009.com

México awaits you!

"The Pope wants to meet his family"

The organizers of the VI World Conference for Families which will take place from the 13^th to the 18^th of January in 2009 in México City, invite everyone to send digital photos which can be published in the great "Mosaic of Families."

The initiative which has the theme "The Pope wants to meet his family," hopes to gather more than seven thousand digital photos in order to form the image of the Holy Father, Benedict XVI, under the title.

"All of the photos received will be used to form a great image of His Holiness Benedict XVI. The "Mosaic of Families" will be revealed within the VI World Conference for Families and it will be given to the Holy Father as a demonstration that he is present in all of the families and that all of the families are represented in him," explains the organizing committee in a formal statement.

In order to be part of this monumental mosaic of the families in the world, it is necessary for each family to send one photo in JPG or GIF format to this address: fotoemf2009@gmail.com or photowmf2009@gmail.com.

The photo should not be larger than 4 MB in size. Those with low resolution like the ones on cellular phones will not be accepted. Photos may be submitted from September 15, 2008 to December 12, 2008.

According to the conference regulations, upon sending in the photo, it is understood that the family relinquishes all rights in the use of the image to the Central Coordinating Commission of the VI World Conference for Families, México 2009.

Only one photo will be accepted by email and the message must contain the following information:

1. Family member responsible (or who sends the photo)
2. Names of the family members
3. Country of origin
4. City

• Contact for families from the Schoenstatt Movement who want to participate in the World Conference for Families: emfmex@schoenstatt-mty.org

Translation: Carlos Cantú Family Federation La Feria, Texas USA 100208