Guayaquil, Ecuador, Sep 9, 2009 / 12:38 pm
As part of the Week of the Family being celebrated in the Archdiocese of Guayaquil in Ecuador, 3,000 young people made a promise of chastity at the local cathedral during a Mass with Auxiliary Bishop Anibal Nieto on Tuesday evening.
The teens and young adults will make the promise before the Creed and will receive a medal of the Virgin Mary and a holy card with a prayer for purity.
The Week of the Family is intended to strengthen and defend the family and is being promoted by all 280 parish pastors in Guayaquil.
Father Alfonso Aviles, the archdiocesan Vicar for the Family, invited all the faithful to participate in the event. “We are living in a time in which we must strengthen the family as an institution willed and governed by God. The Church always has her arms opened to helping families,” he said.
Father Aviles said some 20,000 are expected to participate in the different activities held during the week.