Family Associations

The CFM is a lay movement which promotes Christian attitudes, values and actions in individuals as they interact within their families and neighbours. This movement has come to meet the needs of couples who required support from their peers. Couples subscribing to its ideals have met in their homes by rotation to reflect on different situations they encountered, at home and in the society at large.

The CFM was able to associate itself withthe Global March Against Child Labour which visited Goa on 27/28 March 1998 and offered assistance to the Goa State Organising committee. Besides this,the Movement was also able to associate with various initiatives against Alcohol Abuse in the state.

The CFM has worked to promote the Family Service Centre concerns on the social issues at national level and has got the Centre linked to the Directory of voluntary work organizations prepared by the Foundation for Humanization Mumbai.

The vision of Marriage Encounter is to reach out to every married couple in the world. Marriage Encounter is a movement dedicated to help married couples improve communication between each other with the goal of total unity which is God’s plan for marriage. The first Marriage Encounter Weekend was conducted in Bangalore by an American couple, Pat & Dick Alessandro and an Indian Redemptorist priest, Fr. Peter de Souza.

Marriage Encounter begins with a 44 hour crash course in loving communication for a husband and wife who have a good marriage but would like to make it an even better one. On a marriage Encounter Weekend, spouses are motivated to express their feelings to each other in a very honest, loving, non-threating way, the purpose being to reveal who we are, the object of which is not to change one’s spouse but to understand each other. There is no room for counseling and problem-solving at a Marriage Encounter Weekend. Marriage Encounter does not mandate a commitment to itself like other organizations or associations.

Couples who experience a Marriage Encounter Weekend are motivated to commit themselves to each other on a daily basis. With relationship as a solid foundation, couples are encouraged to share their love by being active members of any catholic movement or association (as a couple, of course). However, for the benefit of those who have experienced a Marriage Encounter Weekend, we make available follow-up communities like the Rookie groups. Renewal groups and Love circles at which couples are encouraged to share their struggle and practice the techniques of communication experienced on the weekend. Thus the natural fallout of the renewal of the sacrament of matrimony at a Marriage Encounter Weekend is the renewal of the families, the church and society.

Missionary Families of Christ (MFC India) was formerly known as Couples for Christ India is a Catholic covenanted community of lay faithful and comes under the Family Commission in the respective Dioceses. Its primary work is evangelization, founded on family renewal. In this, it focuses on defending Faith, Family and Life.

Section Ministries:

The community has established different ministries for kids (MFC-Kids), youths (MFC-Youths), singles (MFC-Singles), couples (MFC-Couples), widows, widowers, separated for handmaids (MFC-Handmaids) and servants (MFC-Servants). Together these provide a “womb-to-tomb” renewal ministry, where persons are evangelized from a very young age and are sustained as they grow through the different stages and states of life.

MFC-Kids – Assists parents in developing and nurturing Christian values in their children by providing a planned environment that would embody the MFC culture. It is open to all children of members aged 4-12.

MFC-Youth – a ministry dedicated for teenagers aged 13-20.  This ministry provides a venue and opportunities which allow its members to be “what they want to be as long as they are Christians”. The fun aspect of being a youth is not taken away from them by the program, but rather is enhanced because they know that they have the best friend of all in the person of Jesus Christ. This ministry is an urgent response to the need to provide a healthy and exciting environment for the youth in the family to come together where faith can flourish, forming bonds of friendship, brotherhood and sisterhood with other young men and women.  It is a response towards these young men and women’s call in bringing the family closer together.

MFC-Singles – a ministry for single people and young adults (between the ages 21-39), envisioned to be a support environment for individuals who are already past college or currently in college but working part-time or a young professional working full time.

MFC-Couples – a ministry for married men and women. A ministry that help build strong marriages and a family centered in Jesus Christ.

MFC-Handmaids – a ministry for single women (specifically single parents, separated, or divorced women, unmarried mature singles), for married women (whose husbands are working abroad, physically incapacitated or not now interested in any religious affiliation) and finally, for widows.

MFC-Servants – a ministry for single men (specifically single parents, separated, or divorced men, unmarried mature singles), for married men (whose wives are working abroad, physically incapacitated or not now interested in any religious affiliation) and finally, for widowers.