SIMBAHAYAN: "DOMESTIC CHURCH" in Directory on Ecumenism

SIMBAHAYAN DOCTRINAL COMPILATION
"DOMESTIC CHURCH"
in the Directory of Principles & Norms of Ecumenism

Catholic teaching accepts the natural truth that the family is the basic human society. On top of its natural dignity, the family has been raised by Jesus Christ -- by virtue of the Sacrament of Matrimony -- to the nature of a "Domestic Church".
The wider community of believers more commonly known as "the Church" is best understood in turn to be the "Family of God", a communion of persons with God as Father, we as children (through, with and in Jesus Christ His Son), and with a divinely appointed mother, Mary the mother of Jesus.
The following points are excerpted from the Vatican document Directory for the Application of Principles and Norms of Ecumenism -- guidelines issued 25 March 1993 by the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity. These excerpts discuss the suitable settings for Christian education, demonstrating the interrelationship between the family, the parish, the school, and other environments of learning. We have used the official translation; emphases, subtitling, and hyperlinks have been added, however, to facilitate your personal study and reflection.

SUITABLE SETTINGS FOR FORMATION
The settings for Christian formation and maturity +
65. These are the places where human and Christian maturity, the sense of companionship and communion, grow step by step. Of particular importance in this connection are family, parish, school, different groups, associations and ecclesial movements.

THE FAMILY +
66. The family, called the "domestic church" by the Second Vatican Council (LG, 11), is the primary place in which unity will be fashioned or weakened each day through the encounter of persons, who, though different in many ways, accept each other in a communion of love. It is also there that care must be taken not to entertain prejudices, but on the contrary to search for the truth in all things.

a) Awareness of its Christian identity and mission makes the family ready to be a community for others, a community not only open to the Church but also to human society, ready for dialogue and social involvement. Like the Church, it should be a setting in which the Gospel is transmitted and which radiates the Gospel; indeed Lumen Gentium states that in the domestic church "parents should by their words and example be the first preachers of the faith to their children" (n. 11).

b) Mixed marriage families have the duty to proclaim Christ with the fullness implied in a common Baptism, they have too the delicate task of making themselves builders of unity (EN, 71). "Their common Baptism and the dynamism of grace provide the spouses in these marriages with the basis and motivation for expressing their unity in the sphere of moral and spiritual values" (FC, 78).

THE PARISH +
67. The parish, as an ecclesial unity gathered around the Eucharist, should be, and proclaim itself lo be the place of authentic ecumenical witness. Thus a great task for the parish is to educate its members in the ecumenical spirit. This calls for care with the content and form of preaching, especially of the homily, and with catechesis. It calls too for a pastoral program which involves someone charged with promoting and planning ecumenical activity, working in close harmony with the parish priest; this will help in the various forms of collaboration with the corresponding parishes of other Christians. Finally it demands that the parish be not torn apart by internal polemics, ideological polarization or mutual recrimination between Christians, but that everyone, according to his or her own spirit and calling, serve the truth in love" (Cf. CIC, can. 529, 2).

THE SCHOOL +
68. The school, of every kind and grade, should give an ecumenical dimension to its religious teaching, and should aim in its own way to train hearts and minds in human and religious values, educating for dialogue, for peace and for personal relationships (Gravissimum Educationis, 6-9).

a) The spirit of charity, of respect, and of dialogue demands the elimination of language and prejudices which distort the image of other Christians. This holds especially for Catholic schools where the young must grow in faith, in prayer, in resolve to put into practice the Christian Gospel of unity. They should be taught genuine ecumenism, according to the doctrine of the Catholic Church.

b) Where possible, in collaboration with other teachers, different subjects, e.g. history and art, should be treated in a way that underlines the ecumenical problems in a spirit of dialogue and unity. To this end it is also desirable that teachers be correctly and adequately informed about the origins, history and doctrines of other Churches and ecclesial Communities, especially those that exist in their region.

GROUPS, ASSOCIATIONS, ECCLESIAL MOVEMENTS +
69. Groups, associations, ecclesial movements. Christian life, notably the life of particular Churches has been enriched throughout history by a variety of expressions, enterprises and spiritualities, according to the charisms given by the Spirit for the building up of the Church, revealing a clear distinction of tasks in the service of the community.
Those involved in such groups, movements and associations should be imbued with a solid ecumenical spirit, in living out their Baptismal commitment in the world (LG, 31), whether by seeking Catholic unity through dialogue and communion with similar movements and associations -- or the wider communion with other Churches and ecclesial Communities and with the movements and groups inspired by them. These efforts should be carried out on the basis of a sound formation and in the light of Christian wisdom and prudence.

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