In 1985, Kiko, Carmen and Father Mario presented to St. John Paul II a project – welcomed with great enthusiasm on his part – to reevangelize northern Europe by sending missionary families accompanied by a priest. In 1986, the Pope sent the first 3 families: one to the north of Finland, another to Hamburg (Germany) and the third to Strasbourg (France). In 1987, the first 3 families were sent to the so-called “young towns” of Latin America.
On December 30, 1988, St. John Paul II arrived by helicopter at the International Center of the Neocatechumenal Way in Porto San Giorgio to send 72 families throughout the world. “Holy Church of God, you cannot fulfill your mission, you cannot accomplish your task in the world if not by the family and its mission! Family in mission, Trinity in mission! The Holy Family is nothing other than this: the human family in divine mission. Family in mission, Trinity in mission! You should help the family, you should protect it from all destruction”, said St. John Paul II on that day.
Since then, almost 1,800 families have been sent by the last Pontiffs to the five continents to evangelize with their testimony of Christian life in the image of the Holy Family of Nazareth and through various missionary tasks.
They are families, many rebuilt, that after years in this post-baptismal formation itinerary are grateful for the work of salvation that God has worked in them. These families, most with several children, offer to go in mission, leaving the comfort of their places of origin. They leave on mission to where bishops see the need for a Christian family’s testimony, living and taking root in the local churches and performing various evangelizing tasks, participating in the implementation of new Christian communities.
In the Statutes of the Way, it is indicated that the realization of the Neocatechumenal Way can be assisted by families on mission that, at the request of the bishops, are established in de-Christianized areas or where an “implantatio ecclesiae” (Art. 33) is necessary. ([Families in Mission], Statutes of the Neocatechumenal Way, May 11, 2008)