“Moldova―said Msgr. Anton Cosa, Bishop of Chisinau, in an interview for SIR (link to the interview)―is not a highly developed ecclesial reality and so many elements are missing, for example there is no real office of family ministry.” Families are “moving, dependent on employment outside of the country, and the person who leaves and stays abroad for many months, then returns for a few days to be with his or her family.” Moreover, “there are many poor families,” mostly in villages outside Chisinau, the capital. There is a noticeable presence of irregular families, where the couple is not married, whether civilly or in church, but has children, and whose history of life together may be very long. “Now we must do more in the area of formation,” says the Bishop, “for so many people abandon their families because there is no real preparation for an authentic concept of the family and for a lifetime Christian marriage.”