Domestic Church family branch of the LightLife Movement

Domestic Church family branch of the Light-Life Movement

HISTORY The Domestic Church (DC) is a marriage-family lay movement in the Catholic Church. It is part of the Light -Life Movement which is a Post Vatican Council branch of revival of the Catholic Church in Poland. DC joins two charisms: of the Light-Life Movement and the International Movement of the Catholic couples Equipes Notre-Dame (END, Teams of Our Lady).

FOUNDER DC was founded by Servant of God Fr. Franciszek Blachnicki (19211987).

ASSISTANT Sister Jadwiga Skudro RSCJ (1914 -2009) also worked on on the DC development.

SYMBOLS Domestic Church has two symbols: Icon of Holy Family Symbol of a cross with Greek letters FOS-ZOE, with two rings put in the shape of a house

BEGINNING The DC's place of origin is Kroscienko upon the Dunajec river where the first reat of families took place in 1973. This started the development of the DC.

THE DC MEMBERS The DC members are sacramentally married couples who togeher (husband wife) get involved in the formation. The couples join the DC circles in order to help one another. „The equal serve the equal. ” (Humane vitae, 26)

SPIRITUALITY The DC pays special attention to marriage spirituality, which means reaching sainthood in union with your spouse. The movement wants to help couples married in the Catholic Church to build true unity, which provides the appropriate conditions to raise children in the Christian faith.

FORMATION The DC formation aims to renew marriage and family through the intiation of: • life according to the Word of God, so that His Word becomes our very life • life of prayer, as a personal meeting with Jesus Christ, our Saviour • sacramental life, especially Holy Eucharist • sharing personal experiences of faith in our marriages, and families • the attitude of service within the Church community according to the gifts you’ve received

THE COMMITMENTS The DC formation aims to renew marriage and family through the intiation of: • everyday personal prayer-meditation (The Tent of Meeting) • listening to the Word of God (Bible study) • everyday couple prayer • everyday family prayer • couple dialogue once a month • the rule of life (systematic shaping of one's character, marriage and family) • the annual retreat

THE COMMITMENTS Through practicing these elements, each husband wife get closer to one another and individually to God, and they make progress on the way of conjugal spirituality.

Composed of 4 to 7 married couples (preferably from the same parish) The couples meet in the name of Christ, for Him, and because they love Him. They want to seek Him together and stand by Him in their everyday life. One couple is responsible as animators (fascilitators) THE CIRCLE

THE CIRCLE The doctrinator and spiritual help of a priest/moderator is essential for the proper functioning of a circle.

MONTHLY MEETING OF THE CIRCLE The meeting of a circle takes place once a month in one of the couples’ houses. Each couple takes a turn hosting.