June 24. World Meeting of Families.  Conference 3.  Theme: Being a Christian family in the digital age.

The confirmation catechist had organized a joint session with parents and youth with the intention of facilitating their listening to one another in response to the question.  “Is the digital world a good thing or harmful for you personally?”  Mixed responses came from both the older and younger participants, listing the benefits of access to information, opportunities to interact with others, keep in touch for safety’s sake, but also the concerns over exploitation, addiction, pornography, and especially cyberbullying for the youth.  Jacques asked, “What role does it play in your spiritual life?” Surprisingly both generations agreed there was some potential, but hardly any of them had found it helpful for them as a family to pray or share a faith message. “Something more should be done there, don’t you agree?” Jacques concluded.   

Reflect, share and act.  Scripture. When Jesus came down from the mountain great crowds followed him and a leper came to him and asked, “Lord if you will, you can make me clean.” And Jesus stretched out his hand and touched him, saying, “I will, be clean.” Matt 8:1-4. Pope Francis:  Raising children calls for an orderly process of handing on the faith. This is made difficult by current lifestyles, work schedules and the complexity of today’s world, where many people keep up a frenetic pace just to survive. Even so, the home must continue to be the place where we learn to appreciate the meaning and beauty of the faith”. AL 287  “In the family we can also learn to be critical about certain messages sent by the various media”. AL  274.   From Conference 3.