Zagreb (IKA) – The president of the Pontifical Council for the Family, Cardinal Alfonso Lopez Trujillo, was in Zagreb from July 8 to 10, on the occasion of the Fourth International Meeting of TeenSTAR (Sexuality Teaching in the context of Adult Responsibility) held in Samobor. At the invitation of the Council for the Family of the Croatian Conference of Bishops and its chairman, Bishop Valter Župan, Cardinal Trujillo had several meetings with those responsible for family welfare and pastoral activity in the Church and society. On July 9 at the Secretariat of the Croatian Conference of Bishops, he met with the Croatian bishops, led by the archbishop of Zagreb, Cardinal Josip Bozanić, and the episcopal commissioners for family pastoral activity. On July 10, he met with representatives of the associaitons engaged in family pastoral activity and welfare. On the morning of the same day, Cardinal Trujillo met with the deputy premier of the Republic of Croatia and the minister for the family, veterans and inter-generational solidarity, Jadranka Kosor. Noting the beauty of the Croatian land, “blessed by God, with a rich culture, religious and Church tradition,” Cardinal Trujillo pointed out that at a meeting with approximately fifty laypersons engaged in family pastoral work and welfare in the premises of the Croatian Conference of Bishops, that without the family there is no future for the nation or the state, there is no new evangelization, there are no spiritual callings. Pope John Paul II has also constantly emphasized the crucial importance of the family for the Church and society and with justification can be called “the Pope of the family and the Pope of life.” The cardinal then explained to the assembled laity, among whom were physicians, lawyers, economists and parents with many children, about the importance of family pastoral activity. He referred to the dramatic demographic situation in Croatia, with which he had become acquainted that morning by Minister Kosor. He also spoke about the world political climate in which many politicians and parliaments “take more from the family than they help them.” Cardinal Trujillo also considered it particularly dangerous to call into question the very definition of marriage, referring to the negative phenomena of so-called “de facto unions,” unmarried couples, and attempts to secure for homosexual and lesbian pairs the prerogatives of families. Adding to this the fear of having children, it is a fact that the faithfulness of spouses has been transformed into an object of play, that the media generally present marriage as a failure, asking the question: is not the humanization of the person occurring today. Or is it, as the Pope says, a “new paganism?” The president of the Pontifical Council for the Family pointed out that this danger is particularly present in Croatia, as in all the countries of the former eastern block, in which for years there was a “sterilization of values.” The cardinal observed that it is actually the lay faithful active in the Church who are responsible for the future of Croatia and the Croatian families. In his discussion, he pointed out how in Croatia there is no lack of initiative and ideas and it is noticeable that for such an important and wide ranging task such as work with families it is not possible to rely solely on volunteer work, which is connected with considerable financial expenditures. During the meeting, Cardinal Trujillo gave his host, Bishop Župan of Krk, a plaque with a relief of the Holy Family and two valuable editions of the Pontifical Council for the Family, and the bishop Krk gave the cardinal a monography on Croatia and the Pope’s last visit to our country. During the afternoon of July 9, Cardinal Trujillo visited the participants of the Fourth International Meeting of TeenSTAR. At the meeting, in addition to representatives of 15 countries from all over the world and Croatia, the founder of TeenSTAR, Sister Hanna Klaus, was also present. Cardinal Trujillo expressed his support of TeenSTAR, especially because in the sea of “sexual educations,” it promotes comprehensive training. Such education does not manipulate the sex act but considers it in the context of love between two persons and in relation to procreation. He urged the assembled coordinators in their concrete work with young people to gather experience and to build knowledge based upon it so that thanks to them the Church will be able to become better acquainted with the actual state of affairs. Cardinal Trujillo also emphasized that in the world of various artificial contraceptive devices, for the previously mentioned “sex educations” and for the politics of abortion, 16 billion dollars are allocated. At the meeting in Samobor, there were representatives of TeenSTAR from the USA, South Korea, Poland Zimbabwe, the Ukraine, France, Austria, Germany, Switzerland, Rumania, Ethiopia, Chile, Italy and Uganda, the only African country that fights AIDS in its program based on the education of young people for premarital abstinence. It is also the only country that achieves positive results against the epidemic. At a meeting with the commissioners for pastoral work in Croatian dioceses, after a meeting with the Croatian bishops that was closed to the public on the afternoon of July 9, Cardinal Trujillo spoke about the reasons for which pastoral activity for the family is a central concern of Church proclamation. He particularly emphasized how the guidelines of Church documents must spill over into levels of Church activity: from the bishops’ conferences via the bishops to the parishes and Church movements. A particular task of commissioners as coordinators of pastoral family work is to launch pastoral activity with the family in every parish, and that is only possible with the correct formation of pastoral workers. In this sense, there are two levels of formation: academically oriented for experts, to provide more educated persons to institutions throughout the world and second, more practical, such as courses that train workers for acting in concrete situations. In response to a question on how the Pontifical Council for the Family could help the local Churches, specifically our Church, to perform pastoral tasks in working with the family as well as possible, the cardinal briefly presented his dicasterium. He then proposed a type of course for bishops, to be organized by his associates from the Pontifical Council for the Family, which has been attended by more than 1,400 bishops throughout the world. Another course could be prepared for the broad circle of interested persons, in which Vatican and Croatian experts would participate as lecturers.