Interchurch FamiliesBringing our churches to unity through love. |
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In the autumn of 2005, members of the Interchurch Families International Network (IFIN) had opportunity to meet with several staff of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity (PCPCU). In the course of that meeting, it was suggested that we interchurch families help the Church explore the concept of the term "domestic church" as raised in the Second Council of the Vatican.
Thus began a project which has born great fruit, in discussions among families and groups and organizations of interchurch families, in reports on these discussions, and in papers presented at various conferences and published in various journals.
We're told that after the Sabbath, several women came to anoint Jesus as a proper preparation for his burial. When they arrived, they found the tomb empty. The person who did appear, they mistook as the gardener. How many times does Jesus stand before us, yet me mistake him for someone else? Read more.
Some people come to this site to learn more of what the churches are saying on the journey to Christian unity. Others come here because they have a family member or friend who is married to, or considering marrying, a Christian of another tradition. Still others come in an attempt to make sense of the pain and frustration they are feeling as they live in their marriage the impact of the scandal of churches divided. More and more, however, people are coming here to discover the richness and joy to be found in sharing in each other's church traditions, and worshipping as much as possible together in each other's churches.
Whatever your reason for coming here,
Interchurch families (where the partners belong to different denominations - often a Roman Catholic and a Christian of another communion) are increasingly found all over the world. We have found that as we draw closer to Christ, we draw closer to each other, and to each other’s churches. Today we are gathering in groups and Associations in various countries. We lend support to each other, share information, and discuss how to live the often painful and confusing situations arising out of the divisions in the churches. We also reach out to other interchurch families so they, too, may come to discover and celebrate the richness of each other's traditions, a richness of our baptismal unity which we know from experience far exceeds the divisions.
This web site seeks to link all those families, groups, and Associations so that together we may grow in Christian unity, and become for our churches an ever-greater gift of healing of the scandal of disunity.
It takes seriously both our marriage commitment to one another and the fact that two churches are represented in our family; by affirming at local, national and global levels the gifts of interchurch families and their potential as a catalyst for wider church unity.
The Interchurch Families Listserv enables us to share joys and sorrows, to discuss ways of dealing with immediate issues which arise as a consequence of living our marital unity within churches which are divided. Many, be they interchurch couples, pastors, or family and friends of interchurch couples, have found it a source of great encouragement.
We hope that as you browse these pages, you will find new insights which will help you better understand your Christian brothers and sisters of other traditions, find new ways of responding to Christ's prayer that all may be one and, if you are involved in an interchurch marriage, discover a new source of encouragement and support for the vocation to which you have been called. Enjoy and, if you have comments or questions, please contact me, Ray Temmerman, at
