The congress icon shows Jesus being carried on the shoulders of St Joseph, with the Virgin Mary alongside. The explanation from the Congress website:
This icon has an important connotation and its presence in the VI International Families’ Congress answers the need for looking at the roots of the whole Christian family: the family of Nazareth.
It represents the journey back from Jerusalem, after Jesus was found in the Temple. Saint Joseph carries Jesus on his shoulders, and Jesus is looking at his mother, Virgin Maria. During the journey, Mary delivers the scroll to him with the words that announce his mission. The text from Isaiah 61:1-2 is written in Greek: “The Lord’s spirit is on me, as he has elected me…”.
Saint Joseph’s face reflects the features of Yaweh’s servant “the face of the Holy Shroud”, as a preparation symbol for the mission of God’s servant who carries the world’s sins.
There is also a logo for the congress. The following explanation is taken from the congress website, where it is provided in English translation
The Logo uses human silhouettes, to represent a family born of love which is symbolized by three hearts and sustained by faith which is represented by a cross on top. The cross also represents the presence of God as the One who holds the family together. Christ gives life, strength and light. The three hearts represent a united family, brought together by love and relationship. The family members´ attitude is joy and trust in the Lord.
These three elements family, hearts and cross stand on an ellipse that represents the world, seen as a global fraternity. It also represents the family joined by faith and love, which are the foundation of an authentic development of all the human and Christian values, that is to say, an integral personal development, which begins with the family. The family is in the world but transcends it because it lives human and Christian values.
The delicately outlined figure of a woman, who is pregnant, points to life, the first fundamental value promoted, defended and cherished by the family.
The green color has two meanings, the cheerful hope in the Family’s future and the color of Mexico, where the VI World Families' Meeting will take place. The black and green combination gives the Meeting seriousness, elegance and solemnity as well as a touch of youthful energy.
3 comments:
zero says
What a delightful logo it is the ideal family and i don't know what the meeting entails. However, for very many families there is not that happy, hand-holding experience. In the course of your work and mine we see this and the effects of this. So at this conference are there stratergies, ideas ,practical help and advice to groups as to how to help families that don't fit the logo?
Zero:
These World Meetings of Families are rather like the families equivalent of World Youth Day, but with a target audience of families instead of "youth". So think of Cologne but for families. The event is sponsored by the Pontifical Council for the Family (the Pontifical Council for the Laity sponsors the World Youth Days).
There does not seem to be a published programme on the website yet.
In all areas of Christian life - even for us singles - we are trying to live up to what the Church teaches is the right thing to do. So, firstly, at the level of teaching, we need to know what we are trying to live up to. This is one aspect of what the World Meeting of Families is about, and it is expressed in the logo. We also need help when we fail to live up to that teaching and so I would expect the World Meeting to have a pastoral aspect as well. But saying that we should help when there is difficulty living up to the Church's teaching is not the same as saying that we abandon the Church's teaching, and neither is it the same as saying that it is an "ideal", but that we cannot expect people to live up to it. We commit - compassionately - to living up to the Church's teaching to the best of our ability, and to helping others to do so.
In our respective jobs (I teach, Zero is a midwife) we encounter situations where it would be quite inappropriate for us to engage in the aspect of teaching, but I hope we do our bit on the aspect of helping. It is in other circumstances that we might be called on to take part in the aspect of teaching.
zero says
ok thanks for the enlightenment! I daresay you would have liked a trip down Mexico way!
Also the youth and the families have their day what about the in betweens?!
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