Archbishop Paul Cremona said today that the most important message in the statement issued by the Church on Saturday evening was the need for society to reflect on how it could strengthen families.

Both sides in the divorce referendum campaign had declared that they wanted to see strong families, and the Church therefore, wished to see them get together to propose concrete proposals on how that could be done. "This should not be just a wish list," Mgr Cremona said when interviewed on the PBS breakfast show Bongu.

The statement, he said, had been issued before the result of the referendum was known, because the Church wanted to assure the people that its intentions were genuine.

He recalled that even after the last general election, he had written in The Times calling on MPs to translate their comments on the family into practical measures.

Mgr Cremona said the Church, too, needed to reflect on its actions in view of a changing society. The Church, he said, had always been and remained, at the forefront of promoting marriage stability.

The state too needed to shoulder its responsibilities in marriage preparation since a broken marriage was detrimental to society.

Now that the people have taken their decision in the referendum, the Church respected the choice but society needed to move on from here. This should be a starting point for action to help marriage and families, Mgr Cremona said.

In its Saturday statement, Mgr Cremona said, the Church had also sought reconciliation between the two sides. It had expressed its regret for any hurt caused during the referendum campaign. Such hurt, he said, could have taken various forms. One could have said something which, unintentionally, may have hurt some people. There may also have been some exaggerations from both sides.

At the same time, he stressed, the Church had been duty bound to declare during the referendum campaign that the people had responsibilities before the Lord.

The Church, Mgr Cremona said, needed to reflect how it communicated its message not just to the faithful, but the community at large. It needed to see how it could be closer to the individual members of society in a changing scenario. One had to reach a point where the faithful acted as Christians, independently of the changing culture of society, Mgr Cremona said.

Asked about the 'fear' factor, Mgr Cremona said the point of reference with regard to the Church was the pastoral letter, where the Church listed the responsibilities of the faithful and their responsibilities before God. This was nothing to do with fear, but explaining the teachings of the Church.

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