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About
CFCFFL
Who
is the CFCFFL?
The
Movement for Restoration Our
Covenant
Our
Mission and Vision
Our Statement of philosophy
Our
Core Values
Family Ministries Kids
for Family and Life (KFL) Youth
for Family and Life (YFL)
Singles
for Family and Life (SFL)
Handmaids
for Family and Life (HFL)
Servants
for Family and Life (SvFL)
Wish
to JOIN?
The
highest courage is to dare to be yourself in the face of adversity,
choosing right over wrong, ethics over convenience, and truth over
popularity.
Travel the path of integrity without looking back, for THERE IS
NEVER A WRONG TIME TO DO THE RIGHT THING.
-
Bishop Soc Villegas
25 July 2007
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AN
OPEN LETTER TO CFC-FFL WORLDWIDE
FROM THE SERVANT GENERAL
ONE YEAR AFTER
July 30,
2008
My dear brethren in Christ,
Peace be with you all. It has been one year since the split in CFC. The
pain still lingers. The challenges still are formidable. But we have
been given a second chance. God has raised a remnant. We need to see
God’s hand in order to respond properly.
From the beginning, God’s plan for CFC was to focus on family life and
evangelization. This was, and is, our charism. The family has been under
severe attack, and the darkness of evil has spread throughout the whole
world. God raised CFC in 1981 to defend the family and to proclaim the
good news of salvation in Jesus to the whole world.
The first crisis was in 1993, when CFC separated from its parent
community. This was because its parent basically opposed the growingly
clear call to CFC to do rapid, massive and global evangelization. With
the split, CFC grew rapidly and touched the lives of very many people of
many different nationalities in many countries. The 1990s were golden
years for the evangelistic work of CFC.
The next crisis was last year in 2007. CFC in the last few years had
been veering away from its authentic call. There came a greater focus on
the social dimension of our work, at the expense of proclaiming Christ
and evangelization. There was even opposition to the Church, manifested
in violation of Catholic values, disrespect and disobedience to bishops,
and later even outright attacks on the hierarchy.
At the start of 2007 the Lord brought us to Lamentations in order to set
us aright. But there were those who saw no need to lament, and those who
quickly wanted to get over with Lamentations and back to business as
usual. We did not learn the intended lessons. The bishops had earlier on
warned about impending crisis. They were not heeded. Even our efforts at
restoration from within were not heeded. The crisis intensified,
ultimately resulting in a split in CFC.
But the Lord once again was at work. Last year we prayed, “Lead us
back to you, O Lord, that we may be restored: give us anew such days as
we had of old.” (Lam 5:21). God heard our prayers. God raised a
remnant. God restored us to the authentic charism and call for CFC. And
God once again intends to use us for His own purposes, to proclaim
Christ to the world. “At that time I will bring you home, and at that
time I will gather you; for I will give you renown and praise, among all
the peoples of the earth, when I bring about your restoration before
your very eyes, says the Lord.” (Zep 3:20).
Now we must be mindful that the enemy continues to seek to destroy
God’s authentic work. God has His plan, and the enemy opposes it. Thus
we are into deep spiritual warfare.
As Paul reminds us that our struggle is not against flesh and blood but
against principalities and powers, then we need to put on the armor of
God. Crucial are truth and righteousness (Eph 6:14). We must always
speak the truth, and it is the truth that sets people free. But we speak
the truth in a loving way, not judgmental, not maligning, not attacking,
not slandering. We bear insults and oppression without retaliation. We
pray for those who malign and oppose us.
Amidst all these, we simply continue on with our evangelistic work. We
proclaim the gospel of peace (Eph 6:15). We move on, as much time and
energy are being wasted because of the crisis.
As we are back on track, we can look to the restoration of God’s
anointing, for after all this is His work, and we are merely His
unworthy instruments. To allow Him to use us according to His purposes,
we need to live our covenant. That means growing in holiness, and giving
of ourselves in selfless service. And let us always look to our Core
Values as our guideposts, so that we will never again veer away.
I know many still feel the pain of separation, and continue to have the
hope for healing and reconciliation. We have done our part, by treating
our separated brethren with love and still as brethren. We also have our
standing proposal of having one big CFC family but with two distinct
branches. These can pave the way to eventual reconciliation and unity.
But we must no longer be distracted from our mission. There is much to
be done. Let us therefore keep ourselves focused on Christ, and proclaim
Him to the world with a passion.
We continue to pray for the intercession of our Blessed Mother.
May our Lord bless and protect you all, and fill your hearts always with
peace and joy.
Your brother in Christ,
Frank Padilla
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