Voice of the Family: New and important Initiative.

Friday, September 26, 2014

Voice of the Family: New and important Initiative.

Voice of the Family is an initiative of Catholic laity from major pro-life/pro-family organisations. It has been formed to offer expertise and resources before, during and after the Synod. The group is offering assistance to Synod Fathers, such as research, expert briefings, speech-drafting, and professional support and contacts.

Voice of the Family argues that the following themes must be central to the Synod’s conclusions:

• Sacramental marriage, binding parents together in an indissoluble union, is the greatest protector of children both born and unborn.
• the inseparability of the unitive and procreative dimensions of the sexual act is an essential defence against the culture of death.
• parents are the primary educators of their children.

By making a particular stand in defence of parents as primary educators, the Synod Fathers would be embracing marriage, the sanctity of human life, and the truth about human sexuality. The potency of this issue at grassroots level cannot be overestimated

The initiative is supported by:
Campaign Life Catholics
Campaign Life Coalition Canada
Catholic Voice
Culture of Life Africa
European Life Network
Human Life International (HLI)
LifeSiteNews.com
National Association of Catholic Families (NACF)
Society for the Protection of Unborn Children (SPUC)

The Voice of the Family website has already posted a number of important articles and will be updated regularly throughout the synod.

Links to the following articles

Foreword by Cardinal Pell to new book on the family

Annulment reform: the problems, Dr Joseph Shaw

Monsignor Ignacio Barreiro on the Synod’s working documents

Dominican paper opposing Kasper proposals

The Synod must be a source of clarity not confusion

Full text of Bishop Philip Egan’s address to the SPUCconference

Pat Buckley

I was born in Galway, Ireland where I attended first Scoil Fhursa and then St Ignatius (Jesuit) College. My family moved to Cork in 1960 and I spent my last year at the Christian Brothers College in Mc Curtain street Cork (CBC).

I came to Dublin in 1963 where I met and married my wife Philomena. We have lived in Dublin since then and have been blessed with seven children and 17 grandchildren (so far). When I finished school I studied architecture through the professional institutions and I am a retired Member of the Royal Institute of Architects of Ireland (MRIAI). I also hold a BSc. in psychology and political philosophy.

I currently lobby pro-life and pro-family issues at the United Nations in New York and Geneva and occasionally at the European Parliament and Council of Europe. I am a member of the pro-life, pro-family coalition operating within the international institutions and I am a consultant to the Society for the Protection of Unborn Children SPUC on UN and related matters.

Between 1978-85, as a married couple Philomena and I were involved in the presentation of Marriage Encounter Weekends and pre-marriage courses. We also represented Worldwide Marriage Encounter on a committee for the family in the Dublin Archdiocese. Between 1985-1988. I was appointed National Secretary and then President of the Catholic Secondary Schools Parents Association (CSPA). I have been lobbying pro-life issue at the UN for upwards of 12 years.

I am a past President of the National Association of Catholic Families (NACF)

Publications:

1997: Anthology of pro-life verse

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Pat Buckley - European Life Network

Friday, September 26, 2014

Voice of the Family: New and important Initiative.

Pat Buckley

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