(Part 2)
Especially focused on the poorest of the poor, Defending Family Values Foundation, Inc. is an initiative of the Madrigal family.
The Foundation fosters the strengthening of family values by involving the various sectors of a depressed community in Quezon City — Payatas. It sponsors, among the key members of this human settlement area, varied activities in favor of strong family ties. It supports college scholars who are provided with a sound background on the catechesis of the sanctity of the family, including the principles of good parenting. It organizes development seminars and workshop forums on issues related to family life among the households in the community.
These activities are held within the Consuelo “Chito” Madrigal Foundation, Inc., a hub that provides a wide variety of educational services for educators, civic leaders, college students, and surrounding poor communities. The contents of these educational services include foundational notions of husband-wife relations; family finances; parent-child and sibling relationships; and principles and practices of the upbringing of children in a wholesome family environment.
COUPLES FOR CHRISTThe most organized lay movement to protect the inviolability of marriage and the sanctity of family life is Couples for Christ (CFC), which is already global in its reach. In fact, its leaders have already announced that they will lead a People Initiative that, under the provisions of the Philippine Constitution of 1987, can repeal the Divorce Law if and when it is passed by the Senate and certified by the President.
This is not an empty threat. The CFC has tremendous political clout.
Today, it is an international Catholic lay ecclesiastical movement whose goal is to renew and strengthen Christian values especially as regards the institution of marriage and the Christian family. It was established in 1981 by the charismatic community Ang Ligaya ng Panginoon as its outreach program to evangelize married couples at all the social levels of Philippine society as well as the world.
Its varied activities in the Philippines and all over the world are motivated by its mission which is “to live in God’s righteousness and holiness,” evangelizing people through a life of love and service. Its members work for the renewal of families that will serve God and build generations of Christian leaders. The organization intends to strategically locate in the world to evangelize peoples and inculcate a way of life based on Gospel values. It is strongly committed to family renewal, strengthening and defending the family as a basic unit of society and of the Church in accordance with the plan of God.
Members of Couples for Christ live and spread the Catholic doctrine about marriage and the family: that God designed marriage so that man and woman could come together and be saved from their sins. When husband and wife come together in holy matrimony, they commit to God’s plan for their lives. This plan includes raising children in a God-fearing home and helping each other stay on the path of salvation.
Those Catholics who support the Absolute Divorce law on the ground that the Catholic Church is not doing enough to help the faithful who are married, especially among the lower-income households, are either completely ignorant of or are blind to the very active role of the Couples for Christ in the evangelization of Christian couples. All over the Philippines and in many parts of the world, especially where there are Overseas Filipinos Workers (OFWs) like in the Middle East, the Couples for Christ is actively teaching in words and in deeds that God designed marriage for three primary purposes: companionship, procreation, and redemption. They are proclaiming to the four winds that these purposes, despite all the scientific and technological advances associated with the so-called Industrial Revolution 4.0 (Artificial Intelligence, Internet of Things, Robotization and Data Analytics) are as relevant today as they have ever been and are essential for a healthy society.
Through myriad classes, workshops, sessions, and other means of communication in today’s social media, the CFC evangelists are spreading the truth that the purposes of marriage are still relevant today.
Companionship is important because it provides a close relationship between husband and wife. They are enabled to share their lives and experiences. Procreation is important because God designed marriage so that couples have children. Children are a blessing from God, and it is important that they be raised in a God-fearing home. Redemption is important because when husband and wife come together in holy matrimony, they commit to God’s plan for their lives. It is part of God’s plan that their union in a valid marriage be indissoluble.
MOTHER OF LIFE CATECHETICAL CENTERAnother institution of the Catholic Church that is very active in helping to spread among the Catholic faithful, especially those in the lower-income households, is the Mother of Life Catechetical Center (MOL), an undertaking of Notre Dame de Vie, a secular institute of the Church.
It’s main activity is the training of catechists nationwide who are recommended by the bishops of various dioceses by providing a master’s program in Religious Education, which includes a one-year residence in MOL facilities in Novaliches, Quezon City for academic classes; followed by one year of pastoral work in diocesan communities or schools; and, finally, a one summer wrap-up program that includes a comprehensive examination on seven aspects of religious education and a thesis defense.
A good number of the courses taken by the students involve the catechesis on family and the psychology of men and women influencing marital situations that can prepare them to be effective marriage counsellors. With timely and expert counselling, most marital conflicts can be resolved without having to end in the dissolution of the marriage. Now on its 56th year, MOL has graduated hundreds of professionally trained catechists, all at the level of college graduates, who can provide sound doctrinal and church cultural education nationwide, taught with the appropriate pedagogy and andragogy.
CHRISTIAN FAMILY MOVEMENTAnother very active apostolic movement fostering the inviolability of marriage and the sanctity of family life is the Christian Family Movement (CFM) that had its origins in the early 1940s in South Bend, Indiana and Chicago, Illinois. The Mission Statement of CFM, taken directly from its website, was adopted by its board of directors on March 10, 2002: “The mission of the Christian Family Movement is to promote Christ-centered marriage and family life; to help individuals and their families to live the Christian faith in everyday life and to improve society through actions of love, service, education and example.”
CFM Philippines was established in 1976. Its local website describes it as “an international movement of families called to witness to Christ, to be evangelized and to evangelize families and communities through its family and life programs.” In practical terms, evangelization in the context of the CFM program transforms the Filipino from being just “religious” to being “catechized,” that is, aware of and striving to live by the teachings of Christ concerning creed, sacraments, morals, and family via study groups, regular meetings, counselling, and other means of reaching out to families.
(To be continued.)
Bernardo M. Villegas has a Ph.D. in Economics from Harvard, is professor emeritus at the University of Asia and the Pacific, and a visiting professor at the IESE Business School in Barcelona, Spain. He was a member of the 1986 Constitutional Commission.
