Pastoral of Hope
Pastoral of Hope
The name comes from a speech by Benedict XVI on the theme “Balsam in wounds, a response to the wounds of divorce”.
It is addressed to all the Separated Couples who have started a New relationship, also called SENU (Separated with a new Union). The SENU or DVC (Divorced and married again) are those brothers and sisters who, being married in the Church, separated or divorced, deciding to form a new and definitive family.
The Pastoral of Hope was born in the heart of the Schoenstatt Apostolic Movement in Paraguay. The people responsible of the project started a pastoral experience puting into practise the Catholic doctrine. They urge the separated in a new union to remain in the Church, since it is a participation in their sufferings, inviting them to participate with faith and with active presence.
It has been oriented since the beginning, by what is indicated in Familiaris Consortio. Pope Francis opened new roads that culminated in the Amoris Laetitia of March 19, 2016. With this, the Pastoral of Hope could and can take new steps. This is what Pope Francis proposes to us: that we be courageous and at the same time prudent. Since it is something new, it has demanded a deepening on the theme.
On May 30, 2006, the “Pastoral of Hope” began along with other initiatives of the Schoenstatt Movement’s family work. They want to be a Nation of God and therefore to save families at all costs, as John Paul II urges.
They follow the same pedagogical itinerary of the family branch, adapted to the reality of those who make up the groups. It is a Pastoral, therefore it is not linked to any branch, but they work in coordination with all of them.
Its main pillars are:
- We are all children of GOD by baptism, and we continue to profess the Catholic faith.
- They are not a pastoral for divorce, nor motivate or advise, but on the contrary, from their experience, is just what should not be done.
- They seek the consolidation of the CHRISTIAN FAMILY, by trying to prevent divorce from happening again with their children.
- That the present union be forever.
As for the aims, they can be mentioned:
- To take in the divorced in a new relationship.
- To help strengthen the conjugal bonds, and help them to give a Christian education to their children, by the hand of God; living the commitment of baptized in the faith of Jesus Christ.
- To accompany them to deepen their knowledge of the Word of God and to persevere in prayer, allowing themselves to be transformed by Mary into the new men for a new community.
- To promote the evangelization of their homes as an open and apostolic place.
- To accompany them to seal the Covenant of Love with God, Jesus and the Blessed Mother.
- To encourage the formation of small community groups who together strive to educate themselves.
To the leadership of the Pastoral of hope belong four consolidated groups in the city of Asunción, two in Encarnación and one in Ciudad del Este. The main team has inits leadership a consecrated couple and five SENU couples as members plus a team of lay advisors. Father Antonio Cosp, a member of the Schoenstatt Fathers is the last responsible of the project.
The activities that are currently being carried out are:
- To accompany them to deepen their knowledge of the Word of God and to persevere in prayer, allowing themselves to be transformed by Mary into the new men for a new community.
- To program activities and/or meetings for the year.
- To distribute written materials used by PE.
- To encourage to achieve the established aims.
- To define the apostolic activities and services of the group.
These activities have the purpose of consolidating of the families in a second union, and their children as worthy children of God and of the Blessed Mother.
The projections for the next years are to continue bringing the Pastoral of hope to all the brothers and sisters who need it. There is the wish to form new groups in Asunción as well as in the interior of the country. We want to continue with the open conferences every first Tuesday of every month starting on the first Tuesday of March.
“In the Pastoral of hope we are proud of the past, committed to the present and anxious for the future that challenges us and urges us to give more of ourselves.
To accompany, to discern, to integrate
In order that all the Couples in a new relationship may overcome the fragility of their state of special grace and that they may find the way to be full children of God and sheltered in the Blessed Mother…The love and mercy of God are above every human mistake. Words from the coordinators of the project.
P.E.: Pastoral de la Esperanza
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