The Episcopal Commission of Pastoral Care for Life and the Family (CEPVF) of the National Conference of Brazilian Bishops encourages the community to join together for the defense of the family and to believe that the family is the first and fundamental expression of man's social nature, the smallest and elemental human community of love and life, the social cell, a sovereign institution in various aspects and fundamental to the life of every society.

In this sense, the Bishop of Camaçari (Bahia), HE Msgr. João Carlos Petrini said: “The reality of the family is the one most attacked and disrespected by the State dominated by the utilitarian, individualistic and anti-life society; a concrete example is that it does not recognize the human and religious reasons to promote family and life.”

The Association of Families was created to respond to the call of Blessed Pope John Paul II in his Apostolic Exhortation Familiaris Consortio, renewed by Pope Benedict XVI and promoted by the Pontifical Council for the Family, that associations be formed in all cities to help the family to have the resources to be a social subject and assume its role. The Association of Families, duly registered, has legal personality, with political and social validity, and is able to bring together other family members outside and in addition to those associated with the family ministry or family movements. Bishop Petrini traces the profile of the members of these associations: “People sensitive to the good of the family, which is threatened today, willing to promote and defend them through presence and testimony.”

The main objective of the Association of Families is to bring together people who are convinced about family values so that they may commit themselves to strengthening the family by promoting a positive cultural climate as well as the conditions that allow it carry out its tasks and continue to be the greatest resource available for Brazilian society.

For the assistant of the CEPVF, Fr. Wladimir Porreca, the Associations of Families represent a chance for looking to the future with hope: “It's the certainty that the family is crucial for building settings of solidarity and cooperation, for promoting the growth of man / of the citizen, the relational and spiritual growth people, and especially of the young, and for promoting peace in society.”

The CEPVF will diffuse on its website (http://www.cnbb.org.br/site/comissoes-episcopais/vida-e-familia) texts that explain the procedure communities should follow for the implementation the Associations of the Family; how the groups should be structured and move within the consolidation of the Associations. The texts suggest actions to be implemented, formation of the members, use of media for extending the Association of Families and its objectives.