By JoJo Mattingly

Today we usually apply the label “activists” to demonstrators, long-haired students, and protest groups.

But there is a special group of moms and dads who would wear that tag with pride.

They belong to the Christian Family Movement and it is their policy to speak out and act on the issues that really count.

In fact, the movement is far from underground in Atlanta. It began to really move back in 1960 with a dedicated core of families under the leadership of Mr. and Mrs. Paul Traina of Immaculate Heart of Mary and has now spread from parish to parish.

Two very articulate spokesman for the CFM are John Olsen and his wife, Marlene, who were chosen the chair couple of the Atlanta federation last March. “The CFM is an action group, not a study group,” said Olsen. “We are an apostolate and our role is to observe, judge, and act. We study family life and its relationship to the community, the parish, the nation, and the world.”

There are now about 70 couples involved in CFM in Atlanta. The most important part of the structure is the parish group, which has from seven to ten couples who meet every other week in members’ homes.

There are no strict rules of regulations for the meetings, but the members do have a general format. They read a passage from Scripture on a certain phase of Christ’s life and as individuals and as a group can best apply this message to their everyday lives. Here is where the action starts.

Olsen cited some very concrete examples of how the CFM begins with small works and gradually steps into the larger areas of community and national life. One group had a series of discussions on communication in the home and decided that husband and wife should have more time together to talk. The men knew that they have an hour of conversation with their business associates at lunch, so they invited their wives to meet them for lunch once a week.

Another recent topic was the role that parents should play in their child’s school discipline. Both teachers and the students themselves spoke at the meetings and from this evidence, the couples drew up a “workable conclusion.”

On a parish level, the CFM activities vary depending on the individual church’s needs. For instance, many groups sponsor Cana Days, evenings of reflections, dances, and provide help for the CCD programs.

The CFM philosophy is not stagnant. It encourages its member to work on social problems such as race relations. Back in 1964 and 1965, an Immaculate Heart of Mary group tried to help the black people by joining a Human Relations Council, only to find that there was no such organization in DeKalb County. So, Dave Martin and other CFM helped form the first DeKalb County unit and he became its first president.

In Virginia, a group became involved in the fair housing question and brought some real estate to develop housing for the underprivileged. Soon it was a full-time business.

Membership is constantly changing as couples move in and out of the parish. But communication between the different groups in the diocese flows through the Atlanta federation, which has one elected couple from each group represented. It meets quarterly with Father Matthew Kemp as its chaplain.

The Olsens are not only the leaders of this federation, but also recently received national recognition when they were elected the presiding couple of the national recognition coordination committee. One federation couple from each diocese in the country serves on this council, which meets annually.

Mrs. Olsen said that their most important function is to provide leadership training, help in problem solving, and serve as a communications channel between the dioceses and national CFM. They must attend biennial conventions and help plan the guidebook, the “National Inquiry”.

Last year, they kept Atlanta in contact with the International Confederation of Family Movement by sponsoring a 2-day tour and providing housing for 67 French men and women visiting the U.S.

Olsen said that CFM used to be a radical movement in the Church. It advocated English in the Mass, singing, and other liturgical changes. However, now it has lost some of this appeal because there are so many other progressive groups and agencies for people to join. But some new ideas need family involvement.

Foremost among these is ecumenism. CFM can play a major role here because strong family ties are important to people of all faiths.

Other new ideas are the establishment of a Diocesan Marriage Commission, originally planned by the late Archbishop Hallinan; parish marriage counseling, and a Marriage Encounter. The latter is an innovative plan for couples to spend a weekend in prayer and reflection, trying to strengthen their relationship. The main problem is finding a place for such a retreat.

Olsen said, “With the current lack of priests and vocations, there is more and more need of family involvement in the parish. The title of the new inquiry book is “People Are” and CFM tries to help by teaching what people of a Christian attitude really ARE.”