Strengthening the Marriage Bond through Service to Others
Francis and Therese Baduria, members of Missionary Families of Christ, reflect on how their marriage has been enriched by their participation both in a lay movement and in parish life.
1. What is Missionary Families of Christ and what is your role in that?
The Missionary Families of Christ (MFC) is an evangelistic and missionary community committed to become families empowered by the Holy Spirit to renew the face of the earth. The movement is global, holistic and Catholic. It is an evangelizing and missionary community, serving the universal church as a family life renewal movement, serving as part of the life and mission of the Roman Catholic Church.
MFC has different ministries: Couples, Young Couples, Handmaids, Servants, Singles, Youth and Kids.
MFC serves in many parishes in over 54 countries around the world, including Canada. MFC Canada held its first Christian Life Program/Seminar in September 1994 at St Joseph’s Parish, Scarborough, with Fr. Locky Flanigan, as the then Pastor. From its first beginnings, MFC Canada has flourished in the many provinces in Canada. To this date, MFC members are very active at St Joseph’s Parish, where we ourselves had our humble beginnings since April 2000.
For over 25 years of our membership with MFC, we have been involved in many ministries, including being the National Co-ordinators for the Youth Ministry for three years, Kids Ministry for 10 years and currently household servants, Mission Volunteers for the Live Christ Share Christ Program and the Church Liaison for the Archdiocese of Toronto.
"We know that all things work for the good for those who love God, who are called according to his purpose." (Romans 8:28)
Learn more about MFC at https://missionaryfamiliesofchrist.org/.
2. How does your involvement in this lay movement enrich your marriage and family life?
When we joined MFC in April 2000, we were grouped with four other couples with younger children, almost the same ages as our two boys, four and six years old. This encouraged us to continue attending our bi-weekly prayer meetings. Through the prayer meetings and gatherings, we learned so much from the other couples in our group on how to deal with the challenges of married couples with growing children. Our prayer meetings include praying the rosary, praise and worship, sharing of a bible verse/reading & reflection and a topic for discussion. By committing ourselves to attending these meetings and other MFC events, teachings and conferences with our children, we have developed virtues such as being prayerful, patient, loving, joyful, hopeful and being ready to serve others and to always rely on the grace of God and gift of the Holy Spirit. As husband and wife, our relationship, our love for each other, has been strengthened, as we put God as the centre of our married and family lives–in everything we do, God is our priority.
During these years, we faced many challenges in our family life and we kept in our hearts God’s promise that He will take care of His faithful servants. In 2002, our faith was tested when doctors advised us to terminate Therese’s third pregnancy as the baby had shown signs of down syndrome. Our daughter was born in 2003 as a normal baby girl. Francis was sick with a life-threatening unknown illness in 2006, Therese with cancer in 2009 and our second son almost lost his leg from a school rugby tournament in 2014. We are truly blessed to belong to MFC. Our MFC brothers and sisters helped us overcome these challenges through their prayers and spiritual encouragement.
With inspiration from some of our MFC brothers and sisters, we have been going to daily Mass, especially with the recent retirement of Francis. We value the real presence of Jesus in the Eucharist. We are nothing without Him. Philippians 4:13, “I have the strength for everything through him who empowers me."
This Jubilee Year 2025, it is so fitting with the Jubilee theme, Pilgrims of Hope, we joined as mission volunteers to the first MFC Canada Medical Mission to the Philippines – Feb. 7 to 9, 2025, along with 68 MFC brothers and sisters and our MFC-Toronto Spiritual Director, Fr Arinze Onwuzulike, Associate Pastor of St Joseph’s Parish. The mission is targeting to help about 3000 people in need of medical and dental assistance in Taytay, Palawan.
We are inspired by the Holy Spirit to live out Christ’s mission of love and mercy. Romans 5:5, "hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us.”
We can’t wait to see what the future holds for us in the next 25 years.
3. How does participating in parish and archdiocesan activities and events impact your marriage?
Since we became parishioners of St. Joseph’s Parish in June 1997, we have been actively participating in many of the parish ministries and events, as well as Archdiocesan events, as a way to give thanks to God for the bountiful blessings He has showered on us and our three children.
Our involvement has drawn us closer to each other and has made us flexible on how to handle our busy life—by communicating openly in planning our schedule to balance family life, parish life, work, MFC and other commitments. We also learned to be more understanding and supportive of one’s needs. Our faith in God has been made stronger than ever.
When our three children were younger, they served as altar servers. We are currently Eucharistic Ministers and Baptism Orientation Facilitators. Therese is more active serving as a Lector and a member of the Parish Pastoral Council.
We enjoy serving our parish, making new friendships, bonding with other parishioners and have gotten to know our priests on a more personal level.
We hope to inspire our fellow parishioners so they can also serve.
4. Do you have any marriage tips for young couples?
As a married couple, our life verse is taken from 1 Corinthians 16:14, "Your every act should be done with love."
Having been married for over 31 years, we are truly blessed to be surrounded by Christ-centred people. Why do we say this?
- Husband and wife should make a commitment to make God as the centre of their marriage.
- Make your family your second priority, after God.
- Pray for each other. Husband, your goal is to help your wife to go to heaven. And wife, your goal is to help your husband to go to heaven. Parents, your goal is to help your children go to heaven.
- Teach your children about God. Walk the talk. As parents, you are their first teachers, their role model of what a good Catholic should be.
- Pray together as a family—at the dinner table before each meal, pray before going to bed, pray the rosary (even one decade).
- Be patient and forgiving with each other.
- Go to church every Sunday as a family, avail yourself of the Sacrament of Reconciliation and receive our Lord in the Holy Eucharist as often as you can.
- Serve your parish and encourage your children to do the same.
- Get involved in a Catholic lay organization to help you and your family enrich your faith journey, like MFC.
- Live a balanced life – have one-on-one time for each other as husband and wife weekly and spend quality time together as a family.
Photo of the Baduria Family
