By Caroline Smith
Each week, normally on a Friday, a group of men and women meet at a family home in Perth for an evening of prayer and reflection, and to share about their faith.
Guided by a small booklet, attendees read a Gospel passage and discuss how its message impacts on them and their lives and families.
Later, discussion moves to events being organised by the group – such as a sports day at a local park, where proceeds will go to a variety of causes, mainly educational.
“The group is known as Couples For Christ (CFC) which began in 1981 in Manila, Philippines,” said Chapter Head for CFC-Western Australia, Carlos Jamito.
“Through the years, it has blossomed into a worldwide ministry and was established in Sydney, Australia in 1988. CFC arrived in Western Australia in 1995.”
The group comprises a range of related family ministries catering to different people and age groups, including Kids For Christ (KFC) – for children aged four to 12, Youth For Christ (YFC) – which evangelises to people aged 13 to 21, Singles For Christ (YFC) – which focuses on the needs of single men and women aged 21 to 40, Handmaids of the Lord (HOLD) – for mature women who are single, widowed or divorced, and Servants of the Lord (SOLD) – for mature men in similar circumstances.
“The primary goal of CFC and its family ministries is towards the renewal and strengthening of family life and making the love of God felt among the poor,” Mr Jamito added.
“It was intended to create a renewal of family life, to encourage people to fulfil their vocation through marriage, and to see the establishment of more Christian families through evangelisation.”
Together with his wife Lynn, Mr Jamito leads a ‘household’ of six couples and one member of HOLD who have a prayer meeting each week and a Chapter prayer assembly on the second Saturday of the month.
Throughout Perth, there are 99 couples doing the same, and these are connected to a range of other ministries seeking to evangelise and build the Catholic faith for families and individuals.
“Across these groups, we have 448 members,” Mr Jamito said.
Within the household group is a married couple, Peter and Kaye Tuyay, who first met in YFC as young members.
They later served as singles in SFC, fell in love and got married. Now they are members of the CFC community in WA and serving as YFC couple coordinators.
Mr Jamito said that while the strong connections between ministries often bring people to CFC, the group also reaches out to new couples within parish communities and even people who are new to the Christian faith.
“We meet people through our parishes, or in other places, and we develop friendship,” he said.
“During this friendship, we invite people to attend an evangelisation program called Christian Life Program (CLP). Once they’ve completed this, we invite them to join the CFC Community.”
CLP is an integrated course which guides participants into a renewed understanding of God’s call to them as Christian couples. Sessions are normally held once a week and consist of a teaching, a group discussion, and a time for fellowship, therefore following a similar pattern to that of CFC prayer meetings.
Mr Jamito said that couples and family Ministries are often connected by national and regional events, such as the CFC Oceania Conference, which is to be held in Sydney on the 21 April and the Clergy and Lay Congress which will be held in Canberra on 4 November with the theme ‘The Joy of Love, Marriage and Family’ – taken from Pope Francis’ post Synodal Exhortation Amoris Laetitia.
Other local events – such as a sports day held in Perth’s eastern suburbs recently – allow CFC members to raise money to help marginalized children and youth in the Philippines , Papua New Guinea and Solomon Islands, through the ANCOP Child sponsorship program whose name means ‘Answering the Cry Of the Poor’.
At this recent event, around 200 participants took part in sports such as basketball, volleyball, badminton, Zumba and ‘Kid’s Olympics’, with $966 raised in total.
From pages 12 and 13 from Issue 7: ‘Dominic Perissinotto: Growing in faith, with music’ of The Record Magazine