Necessary text:

One copy of the Familiaris Consortio per couple or per person.
IMPORTANT NOTES: An important use for this study would be with young married couples, since the newly married need enrichment and continuing formation by the third year of marriage.

Single parent families will respond to the questions in terms of "family" rather than "couple"

Although this study is written for couples groups and families, it can be easily adapted to include singles, elders, or others in the parish who do not live with or close to their own families because all people, regardless of their current state or situation in life, come from and have experience of family. They have much to share and much to recewive in the relationships that will be built.

Sesson Guidelines:

Open each session with prayer, perhaps assigning one person, couple or family with the responsibility for preparing the prayer for a given week.

Step #1: Read together the designated sections from the document. Reflect quietly, individually, on the reflection questions, making notes in the space provided.
(10 minutes)

Step #2: If group is a couples or family group, follow reflection time with couple or family discussion time. (10-15 minutes)

Step #3: Large group discussion. Discuss responses, thought, ideas, feelings, experiences that surfaced in reflecton time and in couple/family sharing time.
(30 minutes approximately)

Step #4: Consider further prayer, study, and action for the week or time in between sessions e.g. attending parish reconciliation service, reading sections I or II of Familiaris Consortio, etc. Action might be discerned in response to the question: What can I/we do to make this task more real and visible in my/our life?

If necessary, decide on next meeting time and place.
Close each session with prayer, prepared or spontaneous or a combination of both.

Session One:
Task 1 Forming a Community of Persons FC, Part III, 17-27.

1. What would you define/or what have you defined as strengths  in your relationship as husband and wife? As family?

 

 

 

2. What sacrifices do/did you personally make to preserve and deepen your family togetherness?

 

 

 

3. What do these strengths and sacrifices bring to you as a couple/family?

 

 

 

4. How are the roles of men and women uniquely important in the life of your family? Are there changes you would make?

 

 

 

 

SessionTwo:
Task 2 Serving Life FC, Section III, 28 - 41

1. In what ways does your family express pro-life values?

 

 

2. How do you experience and teach that one's body is good and meant to ba shared fully only in marriage? What do you do to help you live out the church's teaching on the correct use of sexuality according to your state in life, married, single, priest or religious?

 

 

 

3. How is your marriage/family open to the gift of children?

 

 

 

4. Do you believe that you, as parents, are the most basic and important educators of your children? How do you, as family members, teach the children and one another? What are some important values that you share with them?

 

 

 

 

 

Session Three:
Task 3 Participating in the Development of Society FC, Section III, 42 - 48

1.How do you respect the rights of others in your family?

 

 

 

2. How do you, as a family, offer hospitality to others?

 

 

 

3. In what ways do you support life as a political agenda regarding abortion, euthanasia, Capital punishment, war, poverty, unemployment, other needs in your local community?

 

 

 

4. How do you help one another become aware of the needs of people around the world? Does your family make any response to those needs, in prayer or action?

 

 

 

 

Session Four:
Task 4 Sharing in the Life and Mission of the Church FC, Section III, 49 - 64.

 

1. In what ways are the every day happenings of your family life "holy experiences"?

 

2. What symbols in your home recall the very presence of God within the home?

 

3. How do you/can you make prayer an essential part of your couple and family life?

 

4. What are the connections you see between youur sacramental relationship and the Sacrament of the Eucharist?

 

5. How do you strive to find the image of God in others, especially those who are difficult to love or those who are very different from you?