Couples for Christ celebrates 40th anniversary

Couples for Christ (CFC) is celebrating its 40th anniversary as a Catholic renewal community.

CFC will celebrate the milestone anniversary virtually with a Mass to be presided over by Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle from Rome, Italy on June 26.

Among the activities will be the Clergy-Lay Congress on June 24, with Cardinal Kevin Joseph Farrel, Prefect of the Dicastery for the Laity, Family and Life, as keynote speaker.

On June 17, CFC also started its World Rosary for Love and Healing. WRLH features nine days of prayer for specific intentions, each hosted by a chosen country.

There will also be LiveLoud concert on June 19. All the activities will be streamed worldwide.

CFC began in 1981 with 16 Filipino couples who joined a seminar organized by the Ligaya ng Panginoon, a Catholic charismatic community.

Over the years, CFC has inspired couples, singles, and young people to dedicate their lives to the mission of “renewing the face of the earth.”

Recognized by the Vatican as a private international association of the lay faithful of pontifical right, CFC is now present in 122 countries and territories.

Originally enlisting only married couples, the CFC started having “family ministries” in 1993. They are now known as Kids for Christ, Youth for Christ, Singles for Christ, Handmaids of the Lord, and Servants of the Lord.

CFC also launched various social development programs in order to reach out to more sectors of society.

These include the Order of Saint Michael, giving values formation seminars to uniformed personnel; OIKOS Society, taking care of the environment; Migrants Program, giving values orientation to departing overseas workers; Isaiah 61:1, providing comfort to persons deprived of liberty; ReForm, facilitating the social re-integration of former substance-dependent people and St. Thomas More and Associates, guiding CFC members in civic and social awareness.

CFC also founded ANCOP, which stands for Answering the Cry of the Poor, and which has already built houses for many beneficiaries and helped thousands of children from poor families through the grant of scholarships in elementary school, high school, college, and technical/vocational courses. (CBCP News)

A version of this article was first published on CBCP News.