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