Week of Families

WMOF is the acronym for World Meeting of Families, created by Pope John Paul II in 1994. In fact, that year was declared “International Year of the Family” by the United Nations. Pope Wojtyla also wanted a Year of the Family to be celebrated in the Church at the same time; so the 1st World Meeting of Families was created, which was held in Rome on 8 and 9 October 1994. It was promoted, just like subsequent editions, by the Pontifical Council for the Family; in 2016, this Vatican body was disbanded and merged with the Dicastery for the Laity, Family and Life.

A World Meeting of Families has therefore been held since 1994 every three years and in different places around the world. The pattern followed has always been fairly similar, with an international Theological-Pastoral Congress at the start and ending, in the presence of the Pope, with a vigil and Festival of Families along with a great final Eucharistic celebration.

While we are not all able to attend the world meeting of families we are able to celebrate family life and the role of parents as first educators in faith. The diocese has prepared a number of resources to supplement those provided by the Vatican.

The logo designed for the 10th World Meeting of Families evokes the oval shape of Bernini’s colonnade in St Peter’s Square, the quintessential iconic place of the Catholic Church. It refers back to its original meaning, which is the welcoming and inclusive embrace of the Mother Church of Rome and of her Bishop, extending it to every man and woman throughout time. The barely visible human figures under the dome with the cross hanging above them represent husband, wife, children, grandparents and grandchildren. They aim to bring to mind the image of the Church as a “family of families” suggested by Amoris Laetitia (AL 87) in which “The experience of love in families is a permanent strength for the life of the Church” (AL 88).

The cross of Christ that looms up towards the sky and the protective walls seem almost upheld by the families, who are real living stones of the ecclesial construction. On the left, along the thin line of the colonnade, we notice the presence of a family that is in the same position as the statues of the saints on the columns in the square. They remind us that the call to holiness can be achieved by everyone. They are meant to emphasise how it is possible to be holy in the essential living of ordinary life.

The family on the left, which appears behind the line of the colonnade, also indicates all non-Catholic families, far away from the faith and outside the Church, who are watching the ecclesial event taking place from the outside. The ecclesial community has always looked at them with attention. We can also notice how dynamic the figures are that are moving to the right. They are moving outwards.

They are outgoing families, examples of a non-self-referential Church. They are going in search of other families in an attempt to bring them closer and share the experience of God’s mercy with them. The predominant yellow and red are a clear reference to Rome’s coat of arms, a graphic design intended to express a deep bond with the community.

Heavenly Father,
We come before You to praise You
and to thank You for the great gift of the family.
We pray to You for all families
consecrated by the Sacrament of Matrimony.
May they rediscover each day the grace they have received,
and as small domestic Churches,
may they know how to witness to your Presence
and to the love with which Christ loves the Church.
We pray to You for all families faced with difficulty and suffering
caused by illness or circumstances of which only You know.
Sustain them and make them aware
of the path to holiness upon which You call them,
so that they might experience your infinite Mercy
and find new ways to grow in love.
We pray to You for children and young people:
may they encounter You and respond joyfully
to the vocation You have in mind for them;
We pray for parents and grandparents: may they be aware
that they are signs of the fatherhood and motherhood of God
in caring for the children who, in body and spirit, You entrust to them;
for the experience of fraternity that the family can give to the world.
Lord, grant that each family
might live their specific vocation to holiness in the Church
as a call to become missionary disciples, in the service of life and peace,
in communion with our priests,
religious, and all vocations in the Church.
Bless the World Meeting of Families.
Amen.

Official prayer for the X World Meeting of Families
22-26 June 2022