Stalwart of the Filipino family

Never before has the foundation of the Filipino family been shaken than during these times because of the recent enactment by Congress of the controversial and divisive RH law sponsored by International groups and foreign governments particularly the U.S., which are advocating population control and abortion under the guise of promoting women’s reproductive health through contraception.  This law apparently undermines rather than recognizes the sanctity of family life since its government sponsored contraceptive program practically allows the government to enter the marital bedroom and interfere in purely internal family matters and thus appears to be contrary to Article II Section 12 of the Constitution. But it was nevertheless passed by Congress this time because of the incumbent President’s aggressive intervention in purely legislative function of enacting laws through the use of the pork barrel. So it is a good thing that its constitutionality is now being questioned in the Supreme Court

But the more fortunate thing here is that there is also an organization in our country established way back in 1956 purposely aimed at strengthening the Filipino families and protecting them from such undue interference by the government. This is the Christian Family Movement (CFM) composed of married couples and their children conceived for the purpose of meeting the challenges and coping with the “major changes occurring in our lifestyles, values, environment, in government and even in the Church itself”.

Indeed the CFM can be said to be several steps ahead and well prepared against the actions and measures adopted by our government undermining the Filipino family and life like the enactment of the RH law. It does not just simply react to the adverse moves against the family because it also “makes changes and becomes an agent of change without abandoning its core values”. Thus most families are able to preserve the sanctity of family life and protect and strengthen the family as a basic autonomous social institution despite the State’s actions to the contrary and despite the society’s deteriorating moral values.

Under the leadership of its incumbent President couple, Mar and Inday Nery, the CFM has been promoting, and continues to promote and undertake for many years now, the following flagship projects:

1. Spirituality of Stewardship (SoS) — depicting in their own lives, the way of life similar to those of the early disciples full of trust and gratitude to God, and accepting responsibility to nurture God’s gifts and to share the fruits with all, not just a few.

2. CFM Youth Development (CYD) — by formally incorporating into the CFM the youth of the land with their own identity and training them to be leaders of the CFM and of the community where they belong.

3. Families of Overseas Filipinos (FOF) — a long term project together with the CBCP to address in calibrated steps, the psycho-social and other problems of millions of families with single parents due to overseas employment of their spouses who significantly continue to keep our economy afloat.

4. Solo Parents Development (SPD) where tens of thousands of widowed CFM parents, by their past training, experience and continuing desire to help the organization, have been formally integrated into the CFM to promote its programs and assume several other responsibilities.

5. Advocacy program (Adv), an enhanced and organized effort to get CFM involved in major issues particularly those threatening the integrity of families and eroding their core values. These include addressing the problems of the victims of domestic violence and active involvement in the Solidarity Movement of the Philippines (SMP), a lay initiative promoting grassroots good governance as an effective way of electing officials with good moral values, and doing away with Pork Barrel, Political Dynasties and other evils in our political system today.

On October 25-27 2013, the CFM will hold its 32^nd Biennial Convention at Baguio Country Club, Baguio City. The convention will focus on the significance of the New Evangelization, a new way of spreading the Gospel message by directly going down to the grassroots and basic ecclesial communities and witnessing to Christ instead of just relying too much on the rules or performing rituals and giving long-winded homilies from the pulpit. His Eminence, Cardinal Chito Tagle will speak on “The Family in the New Evangelization”, while CBC President Archbishop Jose Palma, on “Youth in the New Evangelization” and Bishop Roderick Pabillo on “Stewardship in the New Evangelization”

During the convention, the new officers of the CFM led by incoming President Pip and Wilma Cua will also be inducted. The CFMERs will also take up and discuss, aside from its main Family and Life Apostolate that equip all members with CFM’s core values, other major programs within its competency that have animated the members even more to be able to serve better the needs of all families. Among these strategic programs are:

1. Membership Development that entails recruitment, education and retention to ensure regular and significant growth in membership every year particularly new and younger members with fresh and innovative ideas.

2. Gabay (Lay Chaplain) Development so as not to limit the movement’s capacity for growth and to address the reality of declining vocations.

3. Formation or development of a Guidebook that responds to the changing times, and a management training program for future CFM leaders.

4. Program Review/ Special Projects that involve a continuing review of the relevance of the training modules;  a feasibility study of the proposed changes to be adopted for the improvement of the programs; and preparing the organization for major changes such as the New Evangelization.

5. Organizational changes that entails reorganization of the movement’s structure to make it more responsive to the requirements of the organization’s strategic programs and improve its public image that will make members proud of CFM.

The convention indeed looks to be fruitful in ensuring a better, bigger and bolder CFM so that it will become a stronger stalwart of the Filipino Family.

*   *   *

Our email address: [email protected]