Cyberstreet
Contributions of Civil Society Organisations to the Well-Being of Families
International Confederation of Christian Family Movements
Adress:
Headquarters:
CFM Nazareth Home
N. Domingo Street corner Big Horseshoe Drive,
Horseshoe Village,
Quezon City 1112
Philippines
Contact person:
Pip & Wilma Cua (international president)
Ludmila Ludvikova & Jiri Ludvik (UN delegate Viena)
Laura Carrillo Perales (UN delegate New York)
Contact e-mail:
president@iccfm.org
iccfm.famcom@iccfm.org
un-ny@iccfm.org
Telephone:
410-544-6238
Homepage:
www.iccfm.org
Content:
International Confederation of Christian Family Movements is submitting 3 experiences.
1. Grandparenting Program in USA
This project helps grandparents recognize their value as models and mentors to their grandchildren and to teach skills and expertise to better share their faith and values with their grandchildren. In 2009, leaders of the Christian Family Movement in the USA wrote and piloted a study guide for small discussion-action groups, “The Great Adventure.” The authors of The Great Adventure were invited to present their project at the Vatican in 2010.
The focus was on the special gifts of grandparenting and the ways that grandparents can be spiritual guides to their grandchilden. Grandparents met with, shared and affirmed other grandparents.
These programs dealt with the topics of grandparents as nurturers, mentors, carriers of faith and tradition, family historians, long distance grandparenting and other issues. The underlying theme was that grandparents teach faith, virtues and values both in the way that they live and in the stories and experiences that they share with their grandchildren.
The small group program gives people a meeting structure, and discussion material. It could be adapted to a workshop, a one day, or a weekend format. More than 300 people have already participated in these small groups, and more requests are coming. The program materials have been distributed throughout the USA through the National Office of the Christian Family Movement-USA. Members of the ICCFM in the USA who speak Spanish have received the program to translate the book into Spanish for their group members. To help fund the project, a small donation is requested from the participants to benefit the ongoing work of the ICCFM.
Leaders of the Grandparent groups receive mentoring services of the National Board of Directors, volunteer leaders of the Movement who live in many regions of the USA. If it is possible, a national leader couple visits or participates in the Grandparent group functioning in their area.
Evaluation procedures: After the Grandparent group has finished, the leaders are contacted by phone by a CFM Animator, who receives their feedback and suggests next steps for the group to take and additional study materials produced by CFM-USA.
Outcomes for the project included: Through the project, grandparents came to recognize their unique role in the faith lives of their grandchildren. Grandparents learned that they can make a huge impact on their grandchildren\'s lives by modeling and sharing their life experience and wisdom. Grandparents come to realize that they are valuable resources to their grandchildren. Grandparents become comfortable in sharing their wisdom with their grandchildren, and take a greater interest in their grandchildren\'s well-being.
The project was published in the Vatican resources for World Family Day in 2011. Information about the Grandparent Project appeared in the USA newsletter ACT and in the international CFM newsletter, LINK/LAZO. Contact: Christian Family Movement-USA Presidents Mary Kay and Tom Halpin, presidents@cfm.org 800-581-9824 or mail P.O. Box 540550, Omaha, NE 68154.
2. FIRES - Developing small communities of families in Hungary for family support and spiritual growth.
In the past 20 years, the Christian Family Movement in Hungary (in Hungarian: MÉCS) promoted enriching experiences of human development and community building for married couples, young people, engaged couples, families with children, individuals (including the divorced), and clergy and church personnel. CFM/FIRES started from zero 16 years ago. Today there are 90 CFM groups (parish-based groups of 5-8 married couples) throughout the country. The average age of the husbands and wives is between 30 and 40. In one area also a few CFM youth groups have been formed. The Encounters are organized regularly, about 12-15 weekends per year
To do this work, CFM-Hungary used the FIRES program materials written by Fr. Gabriel Calvo, one of the developers of the Christian Family Movements. After the participants experienced the Encounters, they were incorporated into ongoing parish-based family groups of the Christian Family Movement, where they continued to learn how to put their values into practice. They were supported in this project by the Catholic Church and the Bishop of that region.
The Objectives of the project were to strengthening couples and families in love and spiritual maturity. As an outcome of the Encounter experience, participants were motivated to pass on their spiritual experiences to others, i.e. by starting new CFM family groups; by getting actively involved in FIRES Encounter programs: giving testimonies or becoming organizers; or by taking other responsibilities in their respective parishes)
Apart from Hungary, the whole range of the original programs by Calvo are also offered in Slovakia, Japan and the Philippines.
One important outcome of this project was the European Congress of CFM with 550 participants – parents with kids – at Pannonhalma, Hungary, in 2009. A short videoclip of the event can be viewed here:
http://www.mecsnapok.hu/interjuk/eloadasok/Pannonhalma2009/Pannonhalma2009-slideshow-V2.wmv
The number of people attending FIRES Encounters in the past few years is over 3000, with a high proportion of engaged couples. The demand for the FIRES Engaged Encounters is so great it can hardly be satisfied! The fruits of these programs have been: marriages improved or saved, but even more importantly: engaged and married couples turning to God, praying more, praying together, reading the Bible, taking responsibilities in their parishes.
Contact: Balázs and Krisztina Ménesi, 1113 Budapest, Elek u. 14. Hungary, info@fires.hu, or info@cfm.org.hu +36 20 48 00 485.
[The text of the third experience was submitted in Spanish and hence could not be included in the data analysis]