Fr. John Connor, LC – Our Regnum Christi Mission is the Family

Transcript Territorial director’s message to the territory regarding our work with families February 29, 2016

Good afternoon. I’m speaking to you from Atlanta, and a few weeks ago I sent you a message on our 75th anniversary. And, at the time I mentioned, first and foremost, the importance for us to be deeply grateful for this time of celebration. God has given us 75 years as a mission, as a vocation, to help the Church form apostles. In this 75th year we realize that we’ve been through a lot over the last few years; the Lord has really helped us gain a deeper appreciation of our charismatic family. We’ve really developed deep roots in understanding the beauty of our spirituality, our communion, and our mission to help form apostles and help the Church transform society. Now, as we celebrate the 75th anniversary, we need also to be looking forward, my friends. We need to be looking forward in how we can help the Church through our mission. So, what should that look like? First and foremost, our mission, what is it? It hasn’t changed. It is still the same mission; we reveal Christ’s love to the individual, providing them, through the Holy Spirit, with a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. Forming the new man and new woman in Jesus Christ. Then, we launch them. We reveal Christ’s love, we form them, then we launch them, we send them out into society to create new apostolic endeavors to help the Church bring the gospel into the culture. How do we want to be living that mission today? The 75th anniversary, Jubilee Year, renewal. How do we want to be living out that mission to help best serve the Church? Well, over these last 12 months I’ve been listening to a lot of you at the local level and what has been echoing is the importance of the focus on the family. Not just focusing on men or youth but focusing on the family. Now, we’ve always been doing that but we think and what we’ve been hearing is we need to be working with greater intentionality on forming families of apostles to help the Church really imbue the culture with the Gospel. Now, that’s smart, isn’t it? It’s smart to focus on the family; it’s the domestic church; it’s the rock bed of society; we know that. But there’s a more important reason: the Holy Spirit has provided us with a profound experience of family: Our spiritual family and the importance of each member of the family in fulfilling our family mission. These deep roots that Christ has given us, this profound experience of charism, of our charismatic family is meant to help us effectively evangelize the culture of the family. So, my friends I would love to see – vision five years – that we are helping the Church form families of apostles, thousands of families of apostles, leaders that are helping the Church bring the Gospel into the culture. Apostolic endeavors, multiplying apostolic endeavors to help the Church evangelize. So at the local level, I would ask you that over these next 12 months you begin talking, praying and reflecting on how you, at the local level, can begin forming families of apostles for the Church. We’re at an exciting time: the Church needs us to really fulfill our mission, and we can do it: all together, one spiritual family, Regnum Christi. God bless you!