FROM THE SERVANT GENERAL
A TIME OF TRANSITION
(Part 8)
SECTIONS OF MFC
December 30, 2019
The community of MFC is divided into Sections, which correspond to the different support environments for each and every member of the family. Thus we have Kids, Youth, Singles, Couples, Handmaids and Servants. All Sections are important, and make up the womb-to-tomb family renewal work of MFC.
When we were CFC from 1981, we started just with couples. Then at the re-founding of CFC in 1993, we instituted the Family Ministries. There was now a support environment for each member of the family. But the focus remained mainly with couples, with the Family Ministries as more of an adjunct.
With MFC, we want to give equal emphasis to each of the Sections. Indeed, every Section is crucial to our life and work.
The work with kids is not just to help parents raise their young children in the Lord. It is to actually recognize that kids are today very much under threat from the liberal and immoral culture of the day. In fact, modernist forces are targeting kids at younger and younger ages. And of course kids today have become Internet-savvy and even, regrettably, addicted to social media. We thus look to providing kids with solid formation and pastoral cover, not just as support to their parents, but to look to starting their generation in already knowing and living Christ. This is the work of MFC Kids.
The work with youth is of course very critical. This is the time of rapid cognitive, physical and emotional growth. This is a very challenging stage especially to the youth of today, who are bombarded by the culture with immorality and the deadly isms of the day, including Satanism. This is a time of discovery, finding out who they are. And here there are many evils being foisted on the youth, including LBGT and gender dysphoria. The youth, who are idealistic at heart, need to know Christ and be provided a strong support environment by which they can live Christ. This is the work of MFC Youth.
The work with singles is essential not just to help them transition into the world much more on their own, but especially to prepare them for their vocation in life. This is not just what career they would choose, but about their state of life. They need to grow in maturity both emotionally and spiritually, so they can discern where God wants them to be. They may be called to single blessedness, as an ordained or consecrated person. Or, for most, they will be called to marriage and family life. In community they will find the formation, training and pastoral support they will need, as well as hopefully their actual partner. This is the work of MFC Singles.
The work with couples is of utmost importance, especially with the incessant assaults on faith, family and life. More and more the dominant culture in the world is the culture of death. Marriages and families are being torn apart. But the family remains as the basic unit of society and of the Church. But there is even growing apostasy in the Church. And many Catholics who are still in the Church have become nominal. Couples need to grow in personal holiness, in marital fidelity, in family renewal, and in being used to proclaim Christ to other families. This is the work of MFC Couples.
The work with women who are not any of the above is needed. These women are those who are widows, separated, married but whose husbands are not involved, single mothers and older singles. Their lives are often very challenged. There is much that they can contribute to the work of the Church and in society but need emotional and pastoral support. A number of them also raise families on their own. They oftentimes make up a majority of active Church attendees and workers. They have traditionally been a strong component of our Christian community. We serve them as they serve God. This is the work of MFC Handmaids.
Finally, there is the male counterpart of the handmaids. These are those men who are widowers, separated, married but whose wives are not involved, and older singles. They too have an important contribution to make for society and the Church. As mature men, they can help other men recover their calling as strong men of God, as against the feminized and sissified men in society today. They can be the holy warriors that are at the forefront of the spiritual war raging all around. They have gifts and resources that can be placed at the service of God and community. This is the work of MFC Servants.
All together, the Sections comprise the one community of Missionary Families of Christ. Together MFC goes forth as families on mission, fully founded on the Rock that is Christ.
The MFC Section logos
While we have the one MFC logo, we also make use of individual Section logos.
The Section logos manifest that MFC at its core is inspired with zeal for Christ and his work. We want to proclaim Christ and make him Lord of all. We want to give value to families the way God as Creator intended, and Christ as Son exalted by coming into the world by way of a family. And we want to do the mission Jesus has sent us to do, to continue with his work of salvation, according to the eternal plan of God.
We are prodded by Jesus’ own proclamation: “I have come to set the earth on fire, and how I wish it were already blazing!” (Lk 12:49). Jesus baptizes us “with the holy Sprit and fire.” (Lk 3:16c). We are sent off as holy warriors. As such, the Section logos reflect the three-fold confluence of Christ, the Spirit and fire.
MFC is not just composed of family sections. Rather, these are family sections of one family that seeks to be an evangelistic and missionary community committed to become families empowered by the Holy Spirit to renew the face of the earth.
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