Written by 13-16 November 2025. Budapest, Hungary
Sixty women including Sophie Rudge, Helen Burgess and Margaret Clark from the NBCW, attended the WUCWO European Regional meeting on the theme of “the family, the hope for humanity”.
The aim of the conference was to look at WUCWO Resolution 4, which reads:
Let us embark with renewed conviction on the joyful journey of family love, motherhood and fatherhood:
- The value of family, motherhood and fatherhood as a path to holiness
- How to accompany women who are not in an ideal family situation
- The situation and reality of the family in Europe today
- Successful Hungarian family policy
- Best practices on the subject in other European countries
The meeting began on Thursday evening with a welcome dinner, which was followed by the official opening on Friday morning.
A welcome prayer and address was given by the President of the Hungarian Bishops’ Conference, Archbishop Janos Szekely.
He reminded us how the Bible tells us marriage is about becoming one, and how the husband makes the wife whole. The love of a mother leads us to God, and it is the right of a child to have a father and mother.
Mary is the mother of the Church, but we are still searching for the place of Mary’s charisma, whilst the Church fully recognises the charisma of Peter in the Church.
Borbala Vadnal, Vice president of WUCWO for Europe from the Hungarian organisation KALASZ, as the conference organiser then welcomed us . She explained a little about KALASZ which is now 90 years old. It promotes Faith, Catholic morality and National culture and values. In 1946 the organisation was driven underground, but with WUCWO’s support re-established itself in 1990.
Monica Santamarina WUCWO President General then welcomed us and reminded us how Pope Francis saw the family as the cell of society. We must restore the vocation of marriage and motherhood and fatherhood. We must support the efforts of the Church and state to support marriage. Every family is a domestic church.
To support family, priests, catechists and seminarians must be educated in all aspects of family life. Lay people who have experience must have more input.
She finished with the teaching from Pope Leo- families generate the future church. Faith is transmitted as bread on the table.
The keynote speakers followed, Zoltan Kunszabo and Panni Kunszabo on the subject;
Marriage and Family -difficulties, challenges and opportunities
Zoltan Kunszabo, who is an ordained deacon had the dominant role in this presentation.
He outlined how God has created one, so male and female shall be one body, so as God created marriage so it cannot be undone. In secular culture it is a contract, however God has ordained you should gift yourself completely to your husband and you can only gift yourself to one person.
Panni his wife then took over to explain husbands love their wives as God loves the Church. The biggest sacrifice ever made was Jesus on the cross, so our challenge is to let go of our egos as we gift ourselves to our husbands. If marriage partners follow Christ they take up their cross and pray about it.
Zoltan continued;
Both spouses need to act in the same way as you sacrifice yourself for your spouse.
We live in a world where people in secular society live for themselves, however Jesus was a revolutionary who told us we must live for our spouse and neighbour.
Social sciences are not useful in marriage as marriage requires grace.
Panni;
You must believe in Jesus to feel his promise when conflict develops. Reading the gospels together will show how forgiveness is necessary in dealing with conflict.
Zoltan;
We must pray together as before God we are so small and insignificant, so this helps in conflicts. We must ask mutual forgiveness the same day in any conflict, as in 35 years he and his wife have had only two conflicts unresolved overnight.
Panni;
In marriage we must believe God has the power to change and work in us.
We must always assume as God forgives us, so our husbands will.
Zoltan;
Revenge plays no part in Christian marriage, and this requires constant prayer.
Withdrawal of sexual relationships as part of revenge is widespread in society, however Catholic teaching says that sexual relationships cannot be separated from marriage. Withdrawal will lead the husband to have affairs or to use pornography. Men cannot live without sex although women can.
Panni;
Panni then shared her childhood family background with an alcoholic father who committed suicide. After 18 years at home she left to open a centre for the homeless.
Zoltan;
Concluded the presentation, however I am sorry I have no notes to share. I was reeling from his last contribution.
There was no opportunity for questions as the coffee break followed, and discussion was timetabled for the afternoon. Sadly, Zoltan and Panni left immediately, so Zoltan went entirely unchallenged.
After a lively coffee break Maria Francisca Sanchez, Director on Human Trafficking and Migrants for the Spanish Bishops’ Conference presented on the subject,
Experiences of welcoming women in vulnerable situations.
She spoke about women’s outreach work to the most vulnerable and marginalised women in Spain led by four religious organisations, Oblate sisters of the most Holy Redeemer, Good Shepherd Helpers, Company of the Daughters of Charity of Saint Vincent de Paul and Sisters Adorers Handmaids of the Blessed Sacrament and of Charity.
We were left with discussion questions for the afternoon, but as this involved all the presentations the first topic consumed most of the time.
Following lunch, which was excellent with a buffet of delicious Hungarian food and the opportunity to meet and network with the women from the ten different countries present. The Spanish were the largest delegation with 21 delegates, followed by the UK with 15, thanks to NBCW member Evelyne Brooks and her CWA colleagues from Cameroon.
The afternoon was given over to discussion and feedback.
The bishop’s opening short talk was perceived as very traditional, patronising, authoritarian, out of touch with reality and totally outdated.
Where was the language of the final synod document?
Zoltan caused many serious concern as he was an ordained deacon.
The Spanish particularly liked the vision of the perfect couple, however commented lack of sexual control can never justify unfaithfulness, and women cannot be held responsible for this.
The ladies from Cameroon liked the ideal of marriage as God wants.
There were good points about the need for reconciliation and humility in marriage, however we all have ownership of our own bodies.
Marriage cannot only have an idealistic vision, as many different forms work and there are many reasons they fail. The Church recognises domestic abuse.
Responding to the talk of work with trafficked victims and migrants, everyone could empathise and would like to support the work of the people who really engage with these women by recognising them, accompanying them and showing love for them.
There was a desire to network as WUCWO for these women, as they need spiritual as well as practical support. This support should also be for their helpers. In Hungary there is a mission for women suffering from domestic violence.
Monica Santamarina, WUCWO president, concluded by saying that WUCWO does not support the couple’s views on sexuality, however we have to listen to and respect everyone’s opinions.
The evening was spent on a wonderful Danube cruise with excellent food and a chance to chat and enjoy the company of everyone present.
Saturday gave every organisation a chance to speak about our mission and work.
Monica Santamarina, WUCWO president, spoke about a rebranding exercise to modernise WUCWO as an organisation for evangelisation and development of women. WUCWO was founded in 1910 and now has 8 million members. As well as working at grassroot level with local action it has a board of working groups and involves itself internationally with consultative status at the UN human rights council, the food and agriculture council at the UN and
has ECOSOC status. It participates at the Council of Europe, where Maureen Meatcher is its representative, and WUCWO is an official member of UNESCO.
It produces a newsletter and regular letters to members and offers, formation, networking, synergy, gives voice, solidarity and support and prayer to members.
It is also the only Catholic women’s association recognised and financed by the Holy See .
The next general assembly will be 5-12 June 2027 in El Escorial.
Presentations were given by the following organisations;
Action Catolica General from Spain
Adoracione nocturne femina de Espana from Spain
Association Donna Vaticana from the Vatican. This is a social and cultural organisation which is 10 years old with 100 members
Catholic Womens League from UK by Siobhan Garibaldi
CWA from Cameroon by Evelyne Brooks
Femina Europa from France and Belgium
Action Cattolica from Italy
Schweitz Frauenbund (previously SKF) from Switzerland
Catholic Women in Austria
KFD from Germany
Lithuanian Catholic Women’s League
Manos Unidas (hands joined) from Spain
NBCW from UK.
UCID from Italy. Men and women who work with young people
KALASZ from Hungary
Action Catholique des Femmes ACF from France
This was followed by work in countries to try and form an action plan to implement in our respective countries and to reinforce the work all the associations do to support families.
This was interesting, but notably the English, German, Austrian and Swiss could not define what was meant by family, as there are so many forms that children, young adults, adults and the elderly will experience as “family”.
The English group are going to set up a sub committee with members from all organisations in the UK to try and organise a National Family Day, which at various times will incorporate spirituality, social events, practical events, charitable fund raising and political elements to raise awareness and lobby for tax changes etc.
The French group would like to focus on Fertility/Infertility to promote natural contraception and educate men on women’s biology.
They would like to encourage the young who live in such a consumer society and encourage them to commit and produce families.
The Italian group would like to produce a magazine to share ideas and accompany all families in all the circumstances they are in.
The German speaking group asked why is family a women’s issue?
They feel the Catholic linking of marriage and family is not a good model for today. Maybe there should be a sacrament for taking on a family?
Most organisations already work on families but all three countries will post on 15th May which is UN Family Day. They will support the WUCWO initiative to have one meal a week as a family in a non digital environment.
They also asked WUCWO to reword the resolution on the family, especially drawing on final synodal documents.
The Hungarian group will work with the families the state works with regarding the impact on families of television and social media. Parents need advice on managing children with mobile phones.
Maureen Meatcher ,as Council of Europe representative, will feed back information on the family to the Council of Europe.
Monica Santamarina promised WUCWO will promote one meal a week as family in a digital free environment and share best practice.
She thanked everyone for participating and really felt we were beginning to build a network.
The afternoon was spent on a guided coach tour of Budapest and a Mass in the beautiful Jaki Chapel celebrated by the bishop of Budapest, who surprised many, by during his sermon telling us WUCWO was a testimony to the prophecy he had heard as a curate in 2000. The third millenium will be the millenium of women.
Dinner followed and we enjoyed sharing different perspectives and views with old and new friends.
Particularly interesting for me as president of Andante was sharing with WUCWO president, Monica about how our two organisations complement each other and how we can build and share our strengths and work together in the future.
Andante is present in far more countries in Europe and we have far greater experience with organising European study days. I was disappointed by the lack of presentations, as we only had two, and the second was not on the subject of family. Monica shared that the conference was financed partly by the Bishops Conference of Hungary so the speakers on the family were recommended by the archbishop. WUCWO being recognised by the Holy See brings advantages, but Andante is certainly free to choose our own topics and speakers.
Overall all the NBCW delegates, in the words of Helen, thought it was interesting to see the challenges we face as women in the church on a wider scale and where the different influencing factors sit and how they are expressed through voices, experiences, church hierarchy, political decisions etc.. We should all like to express our gratitude to the NBCW Trust for making our experience possible.