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Italian version
 It’s
less than two months to the seventh World Meeting of Families planned in
Milan from 30 May to 3 June. Four intense days that will concluded with
Mass celebrated by Pope Benedict XVI at Parco Nord Sunday, June 3. One
million visitors are waited for the event this time focused on family,
work, free time: three words that will be disentangled through various
conferences, meetings, and nine catechesis. To this World Meeting,
among others, Father José Granados will take part with a report on
"Celebrating the holiday in family: rituals and gestures in familiar
experience." Father Granados is a religious of the Disciples of the
Hearts of Jesus and Mary. He is Professor of Theology of Marriage and
the Family and Vice Dean at the Pontifical Institute John Paul II, the
middle section. He received his doctorate in theology in the Pontifical
Gregorian University, Rome (Premio Bellarmino). From 2004 to 2009 he
taught at the U.S. branch of the Pontifical John Paul II Institute at
Catholic University of America in Washington, DC. He is also a gratuate
in Industrial Engineering at the Pontifical Universidad of Comillas
(ICAI), Madrid.
Among his publications,
Signos en la carne: El matrimonio y los otros sacramentos,
Monte Carmelo, Burgos 2011; La carne si fa amore. Il corpo, cardine
della storia della salvezza, Cantagalli, Siena 2010; Teología de
los misterios de la vida de Jesús: ensayo de una cristología
soteriológica, Sígueme, Salamanca 2009; Called to Love.
Approaching John Paul II’s Theology of the Body,
DoubleDay, New York 2009 (with Carl A. Anderson); Betania: una casa
para el amigo.
Pilares de espiritualidad familiar,
Monte Carmelo, Burgos 2010 (con José Noriega);
Los misterios de la vida de Cristo en Justino Mártir,
Analecta Gregoriana 2005.
We have asked to him some questions about the appointment of Milan and
the familiar establishment, between crisis and opportunity.
Thirty years after the promulgation of Familiaris Consortio, the
Apostolic Exhortation of John Paul II is still relevant , by the light
of the European scene?
"I think that that the apostolic exhortation is still very relevant,
starting a deep reflection on anthropology, this very of the pontificate
of John Paul II, about the familiar man that enables us to
understand man in his familiar size and in relationship with God in
terms of marriage and familiar relationships. In this sense, this
reflection has triggered a careful analysis, both philosophical and
theological. Secondly, the papal document has provided to a vision of
family not more privatized as if it was just a matter between
private parties, giving to the family a sentimental value, as a sort of
refuge for the affections of the individual that has nothing to do with
public, social and ecclesial life. Consequently, the F.C. insists on
social and ecclesial relief of the familiar institution, a current
transformation now more than ever, in times of challenges to which the
family is called to respond."
Do you think that the term "domestic church", applied to the Christian
family, is valuable today?
"I think it's mainly the need to relate the Church with the family. The
family, in fact, is important to understand the Church, as the Church is
important to understand the family. His value lies in this relationship,
in this ecclesiology, in this view of the Church and family. The family
is a little domestic Church, the Church is a great family. We need to
understand familiar structures and understand the vision of the family
as the subject of evangelization, and what the Church implements on the
family. It is not only care and promotion of the family, but also as a
resource. It makes family an active subject of society, so that the
family herself may be evangelizer and trainer within the society."
Can religious men and women help to support families? How?
"We must adhere to the teachings of John Paul II about this theme. The
religious life is not different from the dynamics of familiar life. The
religious life is understood in terms of familiar life. The religious
persons are sons and daughter, they are married within the Church bride,
they have a spiritual fatherhood and motherhood, being so intimately
related to the familiar categories they can help family with good
reason. Firstly, I would say that living in the household, religious
persons can offer a concrete witness to society and families, helping to
see the finish line of the Kingdom of Heaven, that is the ultimate
meaning of their familiar vocation. Therefore, loyalty is a testimony to
the religious life and a sign of being a family that is loving. In this
sense, the way to go is the same. This World Meeting of Families is also
a meeting of religious life, in a way. The religious persons are able to
offer a special support to families in difficulty or suffering from the
lack of children because the religious life is projected into eternity
and live a spiritual fruitfulness. The religious can support families
who are struggling in a thousand of every kind difficulties because they
can help families to live their Christian specificity.
The mission of religion is, first, an education to love but I know the
commitment of religious men and women in counseling centers and support
of life. But the theme of education is central helping the family to
learn to love."
What are you expecting for the VII World Meeting of Families planning in
Milan from next May 30 to June 3?
"The value of these meetings is in their Christian witness. They help to
see the beauty of life in communion, the joy of sharing…Witnessing
before the world the positive role of the family and make it clearing
that the crisis or difficulty doesn’t look to the family as a struggle,
but instead as a source of hope of life. This meeting that represents a
Christian proposal is a celebration of joy and life. The Gospel of the
family is passed family after family testifying a great life. This
allows you to watch with interest the various ecclesial initiatives
because putting in the communion, you will leave enriched. The family
come together to witness each other and it makes great experience. There
are of course other objectives such as to emphasize the social value of
family valuing work and celebration’s time. It is the Church's proposal
on the family as a social resource that requires some changes in
economic and political matter. We must change our vision to make it
easier to relational and familiar measure above all. The family theme
concerns the community, the common good and not just the special
interest of the individual and their private happiness.
Some time ago, our Institute has sponsored a conference, in view of the
meeting of Milan, on the theme 'work and family "which was attended by
economists and business leaders. The discussion centered around this:
the problem is not so much reconciling work time with the family, but
how to harmonize these for mutual enrichment. So, even the corporate
world can be enriched with the contribution of the individual, not as
isolated individuals. He also faced the other side of the coin: even the
family is basically a job, going for the value and role of women in the
works."
What are the implications of this type of World Meetings?
"I think that raises awareness of the role played by the family in
society and the Church. In this time of unbridled individualism and
negative economic situation, the proposal of the Church appears as a
positive one that should affect the family’s pastoral, as her key
action. The appearance of renewal and strengthening of family’s pastoral
goes hand in hand with the commitment in the social institution of the
family. These are the two spheres of influence of World Meetings, in my
opinion. The Church sees the family as a resource and not as a problem
to solve. Often you attend to family issues, as in the parish or in the
diocese. But this way is not to be faced."
How should we promote familiar associations of civil commitment?
"These associations are very important such as the Forum of Familiar
Associations for their own contribution. The family, alone, is not able
to withstand the impact of current issues. It must always enter into a
relationship with the society that must support and not replace it. "
Can you define the current situation of the family in Italy and Europe?
"I know in particular the Spanish situation that is more critical than
Italian for laws passed not for/ pro-family, compounded by economic
difficulties. What seems clear is the crisis of the current economic
model. I think that ultimately there is an underlying cultural problem
that is based on the individualistic view of the person, in isolation
and not in relation to familiar dynamics. In this sense, Europe is
experiencing a crisis due to its inability to look at the person in the
family key. It should be noted also that the population decline is an
aggravating factor in this situation ".
What initiatives does Institute John Paul II for the family promote for
the World Meeting in Milan?
"We will have a stand of our own that will allow us to introduce also
our publishing initiatives and our courses. We will also disseminate
proposals, launched at the World Youth Day on the theme of education for
love. We built on this subject, some videos with focus on the theology
of the body of John Paul II in connection with the theology of beauty in
art. We will make known, through some relationships, our contribution to
the truth of God's love and about family, about what is really the
family. Why the crisis of the family is not linked so much to the
morality of people, but rather a cultural crisis. There is a lack in the
individualistic culture that is a debate long been initiated by our
Institute."
What challenges, on the front of the family, consult the Church by the
light of the recent judgment of the Supreme Court on same-sex couples?
"One of the biggest challenges is related to the family not as a private
matter. You can not take account only of his own emotions, we must think
in key collective and common good. If you do not fully understand this
principle, one can not think of a society’s future. You think of
marriage as an emotional choice, without regard to the common good, to
the wealth of the family able to give birth to children and to educate
them and as such an asset /wealth to society. You can not judge only in
affective sense: this is the main difficulty of the current situation.
Children need a father and a mother. Hence the family founded on
marriage as a union stable, capable of social wealth.
Outside this, everything takes a look weak."
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