Two days from now, or on January 22, 2003 an event of great importance will be unfolding right here in our country, more specifically at the Philippine International Convention Center(PICC). This is the Fourth World Meeting of Families where around six thousand delegates from eighty countries and five continents are expected to participate. This gathering of families from different parts of the world was first conceived by Pope John Paul II himself in 1985. At that time, our Holy Father already envisioned the Christian families all over the world as the "new evangelizers to transform society for the better". Thus he called an assembly of these families for a more organized and better informed way of carrying out their new role as witnesses and bearers of the "good news" and teachings of Christ not only in words but in deeds.
The first world meeting of families was called by Pope John Paul II in 1994. It was held in Rome. Since then, families all over the world gathered every three years upon the invitation of the Holy Father "to celebrate this God-given gift that is the family,...and to pray, dialogue, learn, share, and deepen their understanding and appreciation of how the Christian family fulfill its role as a domestic church, the basic unit for evangelization."
Manila was chosen as the venue of this fourth international congregation of Christian families by the Pope himself, a clear sign of his high regard and closeness to the Filipino people particularly Filipino families. And also of our faithfulness to him as the Vicar of Christ which was graphically demonstrated when millions of Filipinos turned out to express that extraordinary intimate relationship with shouts of "John Paul II, we love you" in the 1995 World Youth Day also held in Manila. The choice of Manila is but proper because the Philippines is the only Christian country in this region, and the Philippine Church is the "beacon light of the Catholic faith in this continent of diverse races and faiths". So it should lead and clear the way towards that "great harvest of faith in this vast and vital continent"in the threshold of the Third Christian Millennium "just as in the first millennium the Cross was planted on the soil of Europe, and in the second on that of the Americas and Africa ( Ecclesia in Asia,1999).
The first three days of the meeting are devoted to the theological and pastoral study and reflection on the role of Christian families in the third millennium.This meeting will provide the the theological framework and pastoral strategy for enabling Christian families to better understand and appreciate the Church teachings on issues that affect the Christian family in today’s world so as to increase their awareness and understanding of how to carry out their mission of evangelization. Hence the theme of day one is:"the Christian Family Today: Evangelization in a Multi-Cultural and Multi-Religious World of the Third Millennium. Day two will discuss the Pastoral Care of the Family and Ecclesial Renewal which concerns the inward evangelization of families, while the third day will be devoted to a deliberation of the outward direction of the evangelization under the theme of "The Church, the Ecumenical Movement and the Inter Religious Encounter. Very interesting, informative, helpful and relevant topics indeed.
Aside from President GMA who will give the welcome address, there are four Filipino speakers: Chief Justice Hilario G. Davide, Jr. who will talk on The Family and the Struggle for Justice; former DSWD undersecretary Rosa Linda G. Valenzona – Towards a Culture of Life: Demography of Asia in Relation to Demography of the World; newly-installed Bishop of the Diocese of Novaliches Teodoro Bacani on Renewal Movements and the Evangelization of Families; and Bishop Luis Antonio Tagle of Imus on The Christian Family & the Paschal Mystery: Dialogue and the Spirituality of the Cross.