International Conference about Family Policy

On Friday, 28 October 2016, the Slovak Bishops’ Conference hosted a conference “Family mainstreaming – Starting point of the demographic and cultural crisis in Europe” aimed at addressing the causes and answers to the demographic winter and cultural crisis Europe is faced with. The General Bishop Miloš Klátik attended the Conference.

The main aim of the Conference was characterize the family situation in homeland and in countries of the European Union; introduce the family status in legal law system; give insight into family policy in its base line and propose measures, which should be a part of the official policy of the European Union. Representatives from different fields discussed together starting point of the demographic and cultural crisis in Europe. The Conference was prepared by the Slovak Bishops´ Conference and Trnava University in Trnava and with support of Konrad Adenauer Stiftung.

The General Bishop Miloš Klátik in his contribution underlined the meaning of the family and illustrated an impact of the family on the education of children on the example of the family of evangelical pastors mainly in 19th century. He emphasized, that the most important was spiritual grounding in the faith, personal witnesses of parents in relation to each other and in relation to their children, education. In all these aspects the Christian Church should be help for the families. He informed also about Statements about the family, which was adopted by the Synod in 2013.

“The whole continent has arrived to a situation in which wounded families have become an accelerator of the demographic crisis” stated the Metropolitan of Bratislava and President of the Slovak Bishops’ Conference, Archbishop Stanislav Zvolenský. He said “The crisis is so enormous and will have visible social, economic and cultural impact, therefore, we need a functional and stable families.”

Source: www.kbs.sk
Photos: Peter Zimen