At the center of the meeting, entitled "The Vocation and the Mission of the Family," will be the reflections and proposals that emerged during the VIII World Meeting of Families, held in Philadelphia last September. The participants will also have the opportunity to listen to Mr. D. Anthony Dias, president of the Episcopal Commission for the Laity and the Family, and to one of the Bishops present at the Synod, as representative of the Portuguese Episcopal Conference, who will speak about the vocation of the family in the Church and the contemporary world, according to the last Synod's final report. The other speakers will be Fr. Rui Pedro Carvalho, and two couples of the sector of family pastoral ministry in Lisbon.

In the course of the Jubilee Year of Mercy, these two days finally intend to invite the faithful to stop for a moment in midst of the everyday hustle and bustle to recognize and look more closely at families abandoned on the outskirts of life. This invitation is a part of a series of events planned throughout 2016, which can be consulted here. In organizing these meetings devoted to the family, the Patriarchate of Lisbon wants to place them alongside others focused on mercy.