The CFM is an International family movement recognized by the Catholic Church. It completed fifty years of its presence in India in 2006. The family is a community of related interacting persons of different ages, sex, capacity and temperaments which needs constant attention and adjustment in order to function as a caring and growth promoting community. The CFM urges and assists its members to look after their own family as raising a family is not a side job, but the main task for which we plan our work and career.
The CFM sees the family as the domestic church. Just as the church is a community of believers who inspired by the Holy Spirit, proclaims Christ to the present day world as “the way, the truth and the life”, so the Christian family builds up a little community where faith is passed on and the community spirit is fostered. Christ began his redemptive work in the family and developed it into a community of faith to make all people one – “as I am in the Father and the Father is in me”. The family is the Church in the making; from it the Church derives vitality and continuity.
Mission of CFM:
- To meet the need of the family in the areas of learning, value formation, belonging and relationship building.
- To help each family to discover and articulate its own special mission in life.
- To strengthen Christian values and nurture vibrant families fired with missionary zeal, able to read and respond to the signs of the times.
- To continually renew itself and grow into a national movement whose fruits will be seen at the levels of the family, parish and community at large.
Benefits of CFM:
- CFM strengthens marriages
- CFM deepens faith
- CFM raises social consciousness
- CFM develops strong families
- CFM builds leaders
- CFM helps make lasting friends
Activities:
The family continues to be the primary concern of the CFM. Its main goal is in inculcating true Christian values and promoting better relationships among spouses, parents and children. This is very much evident from the resolutions passed at the IX World assembly and XIII General Assembly of the International Confederation of CFM at California in 2004:
- We resolve to promote the vision, values and virtues of Christian marriage, through prayer; in the family; (e.g. meal prayers, bible study, family rituals etc); in the Church (e.g. at liturgical celebrations, organizational meetings etc); in society (e.g. at civil functions, public gatherings etc)
- We resolve to promote the visions, values and virtues of Christian marriage through action: in the family (e.g. family meals, family meetings, family outreach, family education etc) in the Church (e.g. arranging programs, liturgies, retreats etc;) and in society (e.g. in dialogue with Government representatives on issues such as war and peace, housing, domestic violence and dignity of life etc;)
The Alto-Porvorim group meets on the 2nd Monday of every month at the homes of the members by rotation, with a chaplain in attendance. An inquiry paper is taken for discussion using the methodology of Cardinal Joseph Cardijn, Observe, Judge and Act. In this process members observe the world around them, in the light of Christ’s teachings judge what they see and then act to change things for the better within themselves, their families, their neighborhood and community.
CFM members involve themselves in liturgical and catechetical activities and actively participate in all Parish activities carried out by the Parish priest as well as diocesan levels. CFM Porvorim has organized visits to orphanages, old age homes and prisons. Retreats, recollections and talks pertaining to family issues are arranged.