An International Theological Pastoral Congress on the Family was held in Rio de Janeiro, from October 1-3, 1997, the days leading up the Second World Meeting of the Holy Father with Families. More than 2,500 participants from every continent and representing 75 countries were brought together by the Pontifical Council for the Family and the Archdiocese of Rio de Janeiro. Listening to world experts and working in small groups, they explored the major aspects of the theme of the World Meeting: The Family, Gift, Commitment, Hope for Humanity . These conclusions are the fruit of the work of the participants of this Congress.

1. The Family in Turbulent Times

1. The family is under attack in many nations. An anti-family ideology is being promoted by organizations and individuals who are often not democratically accountable.
   
   
2. We are witnessing a war waged on the family at international and national levels. In this decade, at United Nations Conferences, we have seen attempts to "deconstruct" the family, so that the very meaning of "marriage," "family," and "motherhood" is now contested. A false opposition has been set up between the rights of families and their individual members. Spurious "sexual rights" and "reproductive rights" are being promoted in the name of freedom. In fact, however, these rights are mainly in the service of population control. They are inspired by discredited scientific theories, an outdated feminism and a misguided environmentalism.
   
   
3. The family feels the effects of a new totalitarian tendency. In societies where consumerism and materialism have replaced human values, the person is reduced to a thing. Thus "liberated" from the bonds of family and society, the lone individual, victim of a new form of alienation, is rendered susceptible to all forms of despotism.
   
   
4. Materialistic social trends, along with egoism and irresponsibility, contribute to the breakdown of families, leaving of multitude of helpless victims. The family is suffering from the devaluation of marriage, through divorce, desertion and cohabitation. A climate of permissiveness fosters sexual exploitation of children, increasing drug addiction and juvenile crime. Abandoned children roam the street while other children are abandoned at home. Violence against women and children is rising and the violence of abortion, infanticide and euthanasia strikes at the very heart of the family. Truly today's families are menaced by an encroaching culture of death.
   
   
5. Family breakdown is a major cause of poverty in many societies. Most of the world's poor are women and children, who are often exploited in their poverty.
   
   
6. Falling birth rates combined with rising numbers of dependent elderly people are producing an economic crisis. As tensions between the generations increase, elders are not always respected; cultural traditions are lost and the social fabric weakened.
   
   
7. However, in the face of all these challenges, we reject the cliche that "the family is in a state of crisis." We confidently proclaim that, in spite of unprecedented pressures, the family is and always will be a gift, a commitment and the hope of humanity!
   

2. The Family as Gift

With gratitude to the Lord, we proclaim the seven gifts of the family.

1. The family is the gift of God the Creator. It is the first, natural, living, cell of society.
   
   
2. The family is nourished by the mutual gift of love between husband and wife in marriage. The human person was created for this self-giving love in God's original project.
   
   
3. The family has received the gift of transmitting human life -- motherhood and fatherhood.
   
   
4. Each child is a gift from God, with innate dignity and rights, from the moment of conception.
   
   
5. Family life is a daily gift -- a gift that requires love, patience and sacrifice. It is a gift that binds the different generations in an endless chain of reciprocity and solidarity.
   
   
6. The family is a beautiful gift to society, to the whole of humanity. In this first school of the virtues, we learn respect for others, mutual aid and self-restraint.
   
   
7. The family itself is a gift to the New Evangelization. Through family prayer and the prophetic witness of fidelity, generosity, and hospitality, Christian families reveal Christ to the world.
   
   

3. The Family as Commitment

God gifts entail responsibilities, we therefore acknowledge the following commitments.

1. The family epitomizes and requires mutual commitment. We call on families to reflect on and renew this commitment to one another, to find time to be together, to pray together, to communicate, to trust.
   
   
2. The first commitment is marriage itself. We call on spouses to rededicate themselves to one another. We welcome movements aimed at promoting marital fidelity and openness to life. We call on governments to legislate in support of binding marriage.
   
   
3. The family is the "sanctuary of life." Its commitment to the protection and nurturing of life from the moment of conception is fulfilled through truly responsible parenthood.
   
   
4. We especially denounce programs of "emergency contraception" being promoted among refugee women. This is in fact the promotion of abortion by a consortium of U.S. agencies and population control groups. This is a great injustice to families who find themselves in tragic circumstances and involves risks for the health of women.
   
   
5. More than ever the family needs to be committed to the unborn. We call for legal and social protection of the personhood of the unborn.
   
   
6. The commitment of youth to the culture of life must become a priority at all levels, beginning with education for life in the home and parish.
   
   
7. We call for solidarity with families whose members are struggling with drug addiction, for new strategies to support them, as well as greater support for movements committed to integrating those who suffer back into the family and society.
   
   
8. The parents' commitment to educate their children, brings with it responsibilities. But parents have the right to choose the kind of education they want for their children. We reject the imposition of ideology on children, through programs, models and methods which rob the parents of their right to be agents of education.
   
   
9. Providing an authentic education in human love and sexuality is the right and duty of parents, to be carried out in the home, supported where necessary by others, but always under parental supervision and control. Parents must organize to resist efforts by the State, the media or population control groups to corrupt their children.
   
   
10. Society must be committed to the family, but this can only be achieved once families themselves become the protagonists of family politics. Political action on behalf of families should be aimed at supporting child-raising families in every area of social life.
    
    
11. Commitment to poor families and abandoned children must be a social and political priority. Family poverty strikes women and children first. We all for justice for all families, but especially for solidarity with poor families.
    
    
12. We call on politicians, legislators, economists, to commit themselves to build an economy for families, where the human person is always at the center. Subsidiary means that the family, not the State, not large organizations, must be given responsibility in managing and developing its own economy.
    
    
13. Commitment of faith in Jesus Christ binds the family together in unity, within the greater family of the Church.We call on the clergy to build up the spiritual family of the Church through parish ministry to families, which includes teaching and preaching on the dignity of human life, marriage, and the family. We recommend systematic preparation of seminarians and ongoing formation of clergy for the priority of family pastoral care in the parish and diocese.
    
    
14. A deeper spirituality of the family is needed to enrich the mutual commitment to Christ of all members of the community of life and love.
    
    

4. The Family as Hope for Humanity

1. In these years leading to the Third Millennium, we echo the words of Pope John Paul II at the First World Meeting in Rome, 1994, "Families, you are gaudium et spes , joy and hope!"
   
   
2. Families offer the best hope for the plight of abandoned children, especially those on the streets of our great cities. We welcome movements that facilitate adoption and develop family models of care for these children.
   
   
3. Hope for poor families can be offered by the education of women, health care for children, but above all by more prosperous families making a "preferential option for the poor and disadvantaged."
   
   
4. We welcome the rapid advances in modern natural methods of regulating fertility, hoping that they can be more widely spread around the world.
   
   
5. The various youth movements for life and the family are a great sign of hope for the world, not as the Church of tomorrow, but as an active force in the Church of today.
   
   
6. In the face of continuing spread of drugs, the family offers hope to prevent addiction, healing those who suffer and reintegrating them into society.
   
   
7. We applaud the efforts of movements and parishes working together in harmony to evangelize families and to form them in their own role of evangelization. Deeper understanding of the sacrament of marriage is enriching the life of faith and sacraments in many families today.
   
   
8. We rejoice in the hope offered to broken families, especially single parents, by an evangelization that welcomes them into the community of the parish and recognizes that all families can evangelize, even in their brokenness.
   
   
9. We hope for more ecumenical cooperation on family and human life issues.
   
   
10. The hope of a new evangelization, by and for families is based on unity of faith and fidelity to the Church. Thus the Gospel of Christ, the good news of the family, will resound to the ends of the earth.
    
    

May the Holy Spirit bring a renewal of our hearts as we prepare for the Third Millennium! Let us joyfully commit ourselves to work for a new era for the families, strengthened by the Lord of Life who is the Lord of the Family.