“For where two or three are gathered in my name,
there am I in the midst of them.”
Matthew 18:17

“I therefore say to you, dear friends of the Movements:  act so as to ensure that they are always schools of communion, groups journeying on in which one learns to live in the truth and love that Christ revealed and communicated to us through the witness of the Apostles, in the heart of the great family of his disciples.
May Jesus' exhortation ceaselessly re-echo in your hearts:  "Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven" (Mt 5: 16). Bring Christ's light to all the social and cultural milieus in which you live. Missionary zeal is proof of a radical experience of ever renewed fidelity to one's charism that surpasses any kind of weary or selfish withdrawal.
Today, the Ecclesial Movements and New Communities are a luminous sign of the beauty of Christ and of the Church, his Bride. You belong to the living structure of the Church. She thanks you for your missionary commitment, for the formative action on behalf of Christian families that you are increasingly developing and for the promotion of vocations to the ministerial priesthood and consecrated life which you nurture among your members.”

Message of His Holiness Benedict XVI to the participants of the Second World Congress on Ecclesial Movements and New Communion, May 22, 2006

The Office for Faith Formation of the Laity is the Liaison to Lay Agencies & Organizations in the Archdiocese of Philadelphia. For further information, contact:

Marti Harrington, maharrin@adphila.org , 215.587.3694 or fax 215.587.3561.

Link to Archdiocese of Philadelphia Lay Agencies and Organizations: