Vatican City, Nov 17, 2004 / 22:00 pm
At the opening of the 16th Plenary Assembly of the Pontifical Council for the Family, which began this morning in the Vatican, Cardinal Alfonso Lopez Trujillo, council president, addressed the assembly on its them, "The Mission of Mature, Experienced Couples with Engaged and Young Married Couples," in which he highlight the richness that young couples can draw out of the wisdom of older parents and grandparents.
The theme, according to a statement, was chosen "in order to promote a deeper study of the current situation of families, with special reference to the contribution that so many domestic hearths, who fully live the reality of marriage according to the Word of God and the teachings of the Church, can offer engaged and young married couples, to accompany them on the path of preparation for marriage and then in the first years of married and family life.”
Family pastoral workers and married family members who "have at heart a successful marriage," can offer “discreet, wise and valid help not only to their married children but also to their grandchildren,” says the statement.
“Grandparents,” it continues, “with their wisdom and affection, can be resources in the inevitable difficulties in the lives of young families. These mature couples, who are rich in human and Christian experience, are precious because they can witness with their own lives and apostolate to the beauty and happiness of family life, when lived according to God's plan."
Among the topics to be discussed are Tenderness in Marriage (young couples); The Couple's Stability, Problems Due to Lack of Understanding; Family and Procreation; Sex Education and Challenges for Young Families, Presentation of the Fifth World Meeting of Families, in Valencia, Spain 2006; Juridical Problems Regarding Life and the Family, and Panorama of Problems Regarding the Family and Life in the U.N. and International Policies.
Pope John Paul II is scheduled to receive participants in the assembly on Saturday, November 20.