Participation in professional associations

As part of their apostolic formation, you should encourage them to take an active part in professional, artistic, athletic and cultural associations. In doing so, you should always respect their freedom to join or not, and to join whatever ones they prefer. Nevertheless, you do have to give them appropriate guidance about these associations, whenever they relate in some way to matters of faith or morals.

Participation in religious associations

There is also no problem in their belonging to religious associations. Here they should be trying to prepare others to run the association, so that they themselves can remain humbly in the background. You know well, my daughters and sons, what my guiding principle is in this matter. We recommend that they participate in the associations approved by the local bishop, but without imposing any false obligations, because in this they are completely free.

Belonging to a religious association of one type or another is not in any way incompatible with taking part in the formative activities of the St Raphael work. We don’t constitute a group, nor do we form religious associations that belong to the Work.