On the 13th May, the Federation of Catholic Family Associations will host a Webinar entitled ‘The Family: antidote to loneliness, beyond the pandemic’.
Loneliness is a deep disease of our era, as prophetically announced by Pope Francis shortly before the beginning of the crisis, with his intervention at the end of the International Conference organised by the Dicastery for Laity, Family and Life on “The richness of many years of life”. And how could we not recall the words he said before the European Parliament, in Strasbourg, on 25 November 2014? “In my view, one of the most common diseases in Europe today is the loneliness typical of those who have no connection with others”.
As FAFCE President, Vincenzo Bassi, wrote on The Family International Monitor, « We have the opportunity to experience at first hand, thanks to the organisations that belong to our European reality, the disruptive emergence of families’ loneliness; our task, today more than ever, is to denounce the existence of this loneliness in the institutional headquarters of our continent in a concrete way by calling everyone’s attention to reality ».
With this webinar, FAFCE intends to learn from another experience, which may seem geographically and culturally very far from the European one. Nevertheless, it is fundamental, now more than ever, to build new bridges among families, to learn from each other’s experiences, uniting our strengths to fight against loneliness and individualism.
You can register for the event by clicking this link.
Agenda
Opening Address
Mr Vincenzo Bassi, FAFCE President
17.00-17.10 CEST / 18.00-18.10 EEST
Families with Families: solidarity and hope
Mrs Marcela Szymanski, EU Officer, Aid to the Church in Need
17.10-17.20 CEST / 18.10-18.20 EEST
Irish Perspective
Mrs Maria Steen, Representative of Family Solidarity, Ireland
17.20-17.30 CEST / 18.20-18.30 EEST
Jordan Perspective
Deac. Jubran Salameh, Responsible of Equipes Notre Dame, Jordania
17.30-17.40 CEST / 18.30-18.40 EEST
Hungarian Perspective
Mr Kalman Daboczi, President of the 72 Disciples Movement
17.40-17.50 CEST / 18.40-18.50 EEST
Reactions from the audience
17.50-18.00 CEST / 18.50-19.00 EEST
Final Remarks
Mgr William Hanna Shomali, Auxiliary Bishop of the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem, Vicar for Jordan
18.00-18.15 CEST / 19.00-19.15 EEST
Language: English
Moderator: Ms Valeria Guarino, Secretary General, Family International Monitor