Catechesis, video and music with Bocelli to prepare the World Meeting of Families

The material presented today in the Vatican, all in digital format. It is made up of catechesis that deal with some decisive junctions of Amoris laetitia, seven music videos, and clips with pieces performed or chosen by Bocelli and a series of seven videos presenting a formation project.

Vatican City (AsiaNews) - The Vatican Dicastery for the Laity, Family and Life has elaborated seven catecheses, downloadable from the web, accompanied by music scores- with Andrea Bocelli - and videos to prepare the IX World Meeting of Families to be held in Dublin from  August 21 to 26 this year.

Cardinal Kevin Farrell, prefect of the Dicastery presented the catechesis today saying they are a response to the affirmation of Pope Francis that the family, based on God's plan "is still good news for today".

"The seven catecheses are built around the Gospel page of the loss of the twelve year-old Jesus and his rediscovery in the Temple (Lk 2: 41-52), showing a connection between the text of Amoris Laetitia and the singular story of the Holy Family of Nazareth, revealing how the announcement of the Gospel of the family is current and prophetic. I will summarize in a few words the themes of the seven catecheses. We start from a concrete overview of the families of today (before), indicating the relevance of the Word of God capable of illuminating daily family life in the home (second) to reach the great dream that God has for each family (third), even where frailties and weaknesses seem to break it (fourth). All this ensures that the family is in the world as the generator of a new culture, that of life (fifth), hope (sixth) and of joy (seventh). Each catechesis opens with a prayer and ends with some possible questions to be shared in the family or in the ecclesial community".

The decision to make all materials available in digital format, said Marco Tibaldi, theological consultant of the project "The Great Mystery" and author of the musical itinerary combined with the catechesis, was taken "to enable their free and widespread dissemination, even to those who perhaps might not have the opportunity to view them in the traditional paper format, but may approach them if they encounter them while browsing the web. In this way it is hoped to favour in particular an approach to the world of youth and the increasingly numerous digital natives ".

"Secondly, it was decided to package a series of multimedia products in order to make training itin Secondly, it was decided to prepare a series of multimedia products to make the formation itineraries more engaging, through the use of music and visual language. For these reasons, three types of texts are linked together organically, The first consists of seven catecheses dealing with some significant junctures of Pope Francis’ post-Synodal Exhortation Amoris Laetitia, structured on the basis of a biblical passage serving as an overall framework (the loss and rediscovery of Jesus in the temple in Luke 41-52). These offer points of departure for biblical and existential reflections, intended to help implement the suggestions of Amoris Laetitia in the life of the couple. Each one ends with some questions to facilitate personal assimilation and the involvement of readers, also in a group dynamic. The second type of texts consists of seven music videos, with related listening guide cards and links to the catechesis, with pieces performed or chosen by Maestro Andrea Bocelli, as part of the project The Great Mystery. The Gospel of the family, school of humanity for our times, which the Dicastery for the Laity, Family and Life, along with the Maestro, began in 2015. These are meetings taking place inside the great European basilicas (so far, the Sagrada Familia in Barcelona, the Shrine to Saint John Paul II in Krakow, and the Basilica of Saint Stephen in Budapest), in which moments of catechesis on the themes of love and the family are alternated with pieces of religious music relating to the proposed themes. Seven of these pieces have been selected and commented on in order to use also the power of music and the interpretation by Maestro Bocelli to present the themes touched upon in the catechesis and in Amoris Laetitia in an engaging way.

“The third type of material is made up of a series of seven videos, the first of which we will see, presenting the formation project as a whole. They are intended to be a multimedia tool to stimulate curiosity, to motivate and to accompany the complete use of the formation itinerary”.

All materials are translated into five languages ​​and can be downloaded from the Dicastery website (www.laityfamilylife.va) from 2 February next.