The History of the AFLC
The Archdiocesan Family Life Commission (AFLC) was established in 1980 by the late Archbishop Anthony Pantin.
Its mandate was renewed and enhanced following a Synod of the Catholic Church in January 2003 under Archbishop Edward J. Gilbert, C.S.S.R.
The resolutions at the Synod, as amended at the Second Synod in 2005 stated that such a Commission be mandated to develop, promote and co ordinate Marriage and Family Life Programmes for the Archdiocese of Port of Spain.
It was envisaged that the AFLC would proclaim to all people the plan of God for marriage and family life and thus contribute to the renewal of Church and Nation. This would require, among other things, bringing together the resources of the Catholic Church in Trinidad and Tobago, and strengthening and developing the Church’s role in providing pastoral care for Marriage and Family.
MISSION
To proclaim to all people the plan of God for marriage and family life and thus promote the renewal of family, Church and Nature
VISION
Families everywhere becoming life giving communities, where each memeber can realize his/her full potential for wholeness as God’s child reflecting the Kingdom of God.
OBJECTIVE
Bringing together the resources of the Catholic Church in Trinidad and Tobago and applying them to the renewal of family life via our ministries to individuals, families and communities.
OUR PLAN FOR FAMILY LIFE
Developing, promoting and co-ordinating Marriage and Family Life programmes.
Developing a comprehensive pastoral plan for Marriage and Family Life.
Developing faith-based services for family life.
The Domestic Church
At the Synod of the Archdiocese of Port of Spain, 2009, synod participants resolved, through a strong movement, that the evangelisation of the family would be the New Evangelization’s main component (Resolution 9 New Evangelization).
Shortly after, in 2012, Pope Benedict XVI called a synod in Rome titled, “The New Evangelization for the Transmission of the Christian Faith”. Here, the Synod Fathers also pivoted the synod to the evangelisation of the family.
Pope Francis then called for an extraordinary synod in 2014 and an ordinary synod in 2015, both focused on the family. It was out of these that the Holy Father gave us his post-synodal apostolic exhortation, Amoris Laetitia (Joy of Love). And long before all of this, Pope John Paul II laid the foundation in his 1981 apostolic exhortation, Familiaris Consortio (The Fellowship of the Family), subtitled, “On the Role of the Christian Family in the Modern World”.
At Pentecost 2020, Archbishop Charles Jason Gordon asked that we all work together to mission the domestic Church. This does not mean going on a mission to the family. Rather, we are calling the family to reclaim its identity as a domestic Church. It is in this reclamation of identity that the family will naturally embark on mission.
The Church does not provide an official definition of the term “domestic church.” In absence of a formal definition of the term, our working definition of a domestic church is, “a household of persons united to God and each other though the sacramental life of the Church and committed to living out the Christian/Trinitarian vision of love in their relationships with each other and the world.  The degree to which a household demonstrates these qualities is the degree to which it already is a domestic church. The degree to which it does not reflect these qualities is the decree to which it is called to become a domestic church.” Â
Please note that this definition is inclusive of all types of family structures (e.g., single-parent, divorced, grandparent-led, etc.) while simultaneously respecting the special significance married households enjoy relative to their deeper sacramental connection. A domestic church is formed when an intentional household of Christian persons shares at least some of the Sacraments of Initiation and strives, in their shared life, to live out the Christian/Trinitarian vision of love. Domestic Churches that are also blessed by matrimonial grace represent the fullness of domestic church life, not necessarily because of the superior character of the persons in such a domestic church, but again, because of the greater outpouring of sacramental grace and the greater potential to witness to the fullness of the Christian/Trinitarian vision of love as “Icons of the Trinity.”  Dr. Greg and Lisa Popcak.
Link to Transforming the Caribbean Family –Â https://catholictt.org/wp-
A Definition of a Christian Marriage
Marriage is a union by which a man and woman establish between themselves an intimate partnership for their whole lives, and which of its own nature is ordered to the well being of the spouses and to the procreation and upbringing of children.
Christian marriage finds its origin in the story of Genesis where man and woman are created for one another and where their love is intended to be fruitful and realised in the common work of watching over creation.
Since God, who is himself love, created man and woman in his own image and likeness, the couples mutual love becomes an image of the absolute and unfailing love with which God loves mankind.
Because it is the consequence of a commitment to love, the union in marriage is established by free consent where the spouses mutually give and receive one another. Christ the Lord himself raised marriage between the baptized to the dignity of a sacrament (Mt 19:3-6) and declared it indissoluble.
Family Life: A Definition
By its very nature the marriage covenant is ordered to the good of the couple, as well as the generation and education of children. The family therefore is formed by the natural consequence of this covenant love made fruitful and has as its primary task to be at the service of life.
The result is a community of persons whose unique relationship of love is intended to bring forth the fruits of a moral, spiritual and supernatural life. It is here that individuals are meant to grow and develop into life giving persons as they experience the joy of work, fraternal love, forgiveness, discipline, divine worship in prayer and the offering of one’s life.
Parents are the primary teachers by example of their own lives and the life of their relationships with God and each other.
