ATLANTA—Calling on families to “live openly” their vocation as Christian families of sacrificial love, Archbishop John F. Donoghue ushered in the Atlanta Archdiocese’s first Family Day held Sept. 10 at Holy Spirit Church.

The event was sponsored by the Apostolate for Family Consecration, founded in 1975 to “nourish families through the Catholic faith.” President Jerry Coniker and his wife, Gwen, co-founders of the international organization based in Ohio, participated.

About 130 people attended the celebration which began as children dressed in their Sunday finery carried and placed on the altar roses, a picture and a statue of the Holy Family.

In his homily, Archbishop Donoghue addressed the need to promote the “health and preservation of the traditional family,” quoting from Pope John Paul II’s 1981 encyclical, “On the Family.” The pope wrote that “the church perceives in a more urgent and compelling way ... that the well-being of society and her own good are intimately tied to the good of the family.”

The pope emphasized that proclaiming God’s plan for marriage and family would renew society. But this message is often not accepted by many today, Archbishop Donoghue said. “In fact, for many, the virtues and strengths of Christianity have become objects of derision and rejection, and sometimes it seems that the more we proclaim, the more we celebrate those wonderful gifts by which our Church and our families are identified—self-sacrifice, hard work, just goals and unpretentious home life—the more we work at making these into a visible witness of our faith, the more others mock our efforts and tell us we’re wasting our time.”

Many of those who would ridicule the church “turn their heads, and close their hearing to the truth,” the archbishop added. “Like the deaf man in the Gospel, they cannot be harmed, they cannot be moved by what they cannot hear.” A hardened heart and a conscience that will “not see nor hear what might make it better” are the only things that can stand against the truth, he said.

The pope teaches us, however, that these “lost and lonely souls hidden under the pretenses of scorn” cry out for the virtues that come from “the living of the good family life,” the archbishop said.

Christ’s followers do not have the spiritual eloquence nor strength to bring about an “instantaneous miracle” as he did in healing the deaf man, but they do have “the eloquence, by not hiding, but living openly, and showing the world how much we love our families, how devoted we are to our old people, and how precious above everything else we hold our children to be,” he said. “We have the eloquence to move some of those who scorn us, to think again, to consider what they have lost and what they are missing, and to turn back from their foolish ways.”

This can happen through the church and the Spirit of Christ who lives in the church, which provides special ministries like the Apostolate for Family Consecration, the archbishop said.

The church reveals to families their true identity, the pope wrote, “(to) the same self-giving and sacrificial love that the Lord Jesus has for the entire human race ... In turn, the Christian family is grafted into the mystery of the church to such a degree as to become a sharer, in its own way, in the saving mission given us by our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.”

The archbishop called on those present to use the graces, such as those they would receive from a family eucharistic blessing at the end of the Mass, to “work for greater miracles than we can imagine.”

Families, some kneeling and others with heads bowed, approached the altar for a eucharistic blessing at the end of the Mass.

Following the dismissal, families listened and watched a video on the apostolate’s “Be Not Afraid Family Hours,” programs complete with catechetical videos, meditations and songs to be viewed by families either at home or in churches in the presence of the tabernacle. The programs draw on the insights of clergy and other noted teachers of the faith, and have received the support of church heavyweights, like Mother Teresa who inspired the program.

Mark Fiorentino, a parishioner at St. Michael the Archangel Church in Woodstock and a member of the apostolate, formally introduced Jerry Coniker and his wife, who were chosen as one of 20 couples to serve a five-year term on the Pontifical Council for the Family. The Conikers, along with some of their 13 children and 46 grandchildren, were among the presenters at the third World Encounter with Families in Rome in October.

Coniker addressed the congregation, praying first the Chaplet of Divine Mercy. In his presentation, he referred to the “Hail Mary pass” used in a football game. Whether thrown in desperation or as a surprise tactic, its intent is to score fast and score big.

So is the hope of Coniker, who echoed the pope’s pronouncement that this is a crucial time for humanity, teetering on the threshold of a new millennium either of fervent catechesis or annihilation.

“We’re now living in the most grace-filled year—the Holy Father believes it. If we don’t take advantage of it, we’ll lose the graces (associated with it). It’s like the Hail Mary pass when the quarterback throws the ball ... If we’re not in the right part of the field, we’re going to miss the graces,” he said. “These graces can reverse the demonic effect and lead to true catechesis.”

If we follow the pope into “the catechesis of a new evangelization,” we will see the greatest period of peace. Otherwise, Coniker warned, we will see “the greatest era of purification.”

“Because of technology, we can self-destruct. We have the power to destroy ourselves and it doesn’t take a super power to do it,” he said. “It will require divine intervention. Our Lady promised it at Fatima if we follow the Holy Father.”

“It’s very hard to talk like this in such a nice area with nice cars, nice lawns,” said Coniker. He added that the Israelites in the Old Testament failed to heed the warnings of chastisement for their insolence.

“It took until 1945 to restore their nation. (The United States) has been warned. We are a super power. We control the economy and (have the strongest) military. Yet we are forcing abortion on the rest of the world,” said Coniker, blaming the United States for pushing the “death culture” on the poor. “The only country consumed with forcing abortion on the Third World is the United States. Others still practice it, but they aren’t as consumed as the United States is. You and I are accountable.”

He noted that the Philippines is one of the few remaining countries that has not legalized abortion, but the church there, “the last line of defense,” is having to stave off, among other things, the “blackmailing” taking place. The country cannot receive favorable trade status unless it legalizes abortion and complies with population control tactics, Coniker said. “That’s the policy (of the United States).”

The true test of a country’s greatness is not its economic or military strength, but the way it treats every human being, he said, particularly the unborn.

Talking about the major moral rifts in U.S. policy and in society should not lead one to have an attitude of “‘Oh, it’s too late,’” Coniker said, “... but should move us into action.”

Families can play a pivotal role in bringing about a positive change in society. From the beginning of his pontificate, families have been the crux of the pope’s approach to a vibrant church, Coniker said. He relayed how the pope has put into practice the advice of a close cardinal friend given to him before he was elected pope. “He said, ‘Karol, if you want to renew the church, renew the family.’ He’s never forgotten that,” Coniker said.

And a mystical chapter of the pope’s journey in matters of the family began on May 13, the feast day commemorating the appearance of Our Lady of Fatima to two shepherd children in 1917. On that day in 1981, a gunman shot the pope before he was to officially inaugurate the Pontifical Council of the Family, Coniker said, and the pope later credited the intervention of Our Lady of Fatima for his survival. The pope began to study more about Fatima and its secrets, one of which predicted the attempt on his life, the pope believes. Coniker cautioned people about using apparitions like Fatima to predict the future, but to use them to introduce people “to the heart of the church.”

“You and I have a unique, unrepeatable mission that no one else can duplicate. That mission is to save souls.”

Coniker encouraged those present to “move out into the arena” of their communities, not waiting to obtain spiritual perfection. “We sanctify ourselves by sanctifying others. As soon as you learn the faith, share the faith,” he said.

While the prayers of many helped to bring down the walls of communism in Europe, the aftermath should prove as a lesson to Catholics, Coniker said. “We didn’t go into Russia; the Protestants and Playboy did,” he pronounced. “You and I, our children, are called to evangelize. How do we do it? Locally. We give children the vision to give their lives up for the world.”

He mentioned that the hub of the apostolate is Catholic Familyland in Bloomingdale, Ohio. Other centers are in Ireland, Mexico, Puerto Rico and the Philippines. Located on 950 acres, Catholic Familyland offers economical family-friendly events and conferences and is also the headquarters for the Catholic Corps for laity who devote their lives to the pope’s personal Marian credo, “Totus Tuus” or “Totally yours.”

At the heart of the apostolate is the laity. “It gives the average layman the tools to evangelize,” he said, emphasizing the importance of Family Holy Hours.

Realizing the impact of the media on today’s culture, the apostolate uses multimedia approaches in its outreach, which includes the 24-hour Familyland television network broadcasting the Holy Hours and other “family-safe and exclusive spiritual programming.”

Fiorentino is one who has accepted the call “to save families” as a member of the lay apostolate. He and his wife, Nancy, serve as area team leaders. Their four children, ranging in age from 10 months to 7 years old, have grown up watching the Familyland channel and enjoy learning about the faith from the channel’s many guest speakers. The apostolate also helps families to live out their vocation.

“The laity, by being faithful to their duties in life, can obtain the highest degree of sanctity; we can be saints, too,” said Fiorentino, who added that the apostolate teaches family members how to work toward holiness and asks, in turn, for them to evangelize other families. Direction for their work comes from the apostolate’s “Lay Ecclesial Team Evangelization System,” which incorporates the spiritual and corporal works of mercy in 12 different ecclesial teams, such as ministries for the chemically dependent and poor, or organizing perpetual adoration and Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults programs.

The mission of the apostolate is not to “take over” a parish, but to “fill in gaps of the parish. Maybe it needs eucharistic adoration and no one is organizing it. If the pastor is open to it, we can start a team to do that. The whole idea of the apostolate is to supplement the parish.”