As we begin to implement the Building the Domestic Church While Strengthening Our Parish initiative announced at the Midyear Membership Meeting in San Antonio, I want to advise you of two new related activities that will be announced in my February Columbia column.
First, the Supreme Chaplain has composed a Consecration to the Holy Family. A new prayer card featuring this consecration is being developed and samples will be sent to you in the coming weeks.
To help launch this initiative, I would ask that this consecration be included in the Opening Mass of your state convention this year. It would be most appropriate if one of the blessed images of the Holy Family could be carried in procession and placed in the sanctuary for your Opening Mass. At an appropriate time, the celebrant could invite all those present to make the act of consecration together.
After the debut of this consecration at your state convention, councils will be asked to coordinate with their pastor to have the Consecration to the Holy Family occur in their local parish annually on the first Sunday after Christmas, traditionally celebrated as the Feast of the Holy Family.
Second, councils will be asked to host corporate communions on Father’s Day (June 19, 2016) — inviting members and their families to attend Sunday Mass together — and request that the celebrant officiate at a Father’s Day Affirmation of Wedding Vows. Councils may also consider hosting a special reception after Mass to further celebrate the commitment of married couples in their parish. Support materials for the council and celebrant will be developed in the coming months.
It is my hope that these two practical, parish-based activities will become annual events that will serve to strengthen our families and our parishes.
Thank you in advance for your support of these activities in your jurisdiction.
