BELONG was founded by Leslie and Charmaine Caruana, who together with other couples wanted to help couples as they develop a meaningful relationship. The group It started in May 2004 with a mission to: ‘bring hope and joy within marriage and families’. This aim drove its threefold vision, to see couples: belong to one another (relational aspect); belong to a group (social aspect); and belong to God who is Love everlasting (spiritual aspect). Its works focus on accompanying couples and families through their lifelong journey towards oneness, so that they may find hope when life presents its challenges and enjoy their life journey to the full when it is going strong, because the good times are not to be missed! Couples at various life stages are provided with skills to learn and to use, which strengthen their relationship and gives them the opportunity to create meaningful friendships with others who hold Christian values. Finally, it helps couples nurture a deeper knowledge of God’s love. Countless dating and married couples benefit profoundly from BELONG. The group organises open monthly events, seminars, retreats, fun activities and liturgical celebrations which ooze acceptance, harmony and belonging. Through them couples delve into relational, social and spiritual aspects which they can discuss according to their maturity. For more details refer to our pages belong.mt or facebook.com/Belong.Malta.Foundation or instagram.com/belongmalta or youtube.com/belongcouplesgroup or contact us on [email protected] or call us on 99462992.
The Belong (Malta) Foundation was established by a deed in February 2016 together with its Statue, enrolled with the Office of the Commissioner of Voluntary Organisations (VO/1254) in May 2016, and registered with the Registrar for Legal Persons (LPF-225) in October 2016. The Foundation is a social purpose, non-profit, non-governmental organisation. All who contribute in it do so voluntarily and proceeds are used to fund activities for the wellbeing of families. The Board of Administrators ensures that the mission, vision and works of the Foundation are runs as described in its statute. The Board is assisted in the performance of its functions by the Vision Team who engage in the various ministries of the Foundation and serve through prayer, discernment and commitment. The Foundation networks with AGAPE Europe, which helps affiliated organisations with training, resources and conferences. The Foundation participates also to events organised by the ‘International Commission on Couple and Family Relations’ (ICCFR). On a National level, the Foundation collaborates with the ‘Cana Movement’ and works with various Parishes to organise events and formation courses and seminars. It participated in the ‘Malta Foundation for the Wellbeing of Society’ since its inception. The youth section, SHINE, is registered with the government entity ‘Aġenzija Żgħażagħ’ and the ‘Malta Catholic Youth Network’ (MCYN) and participated in various national events. Besides BELONG, the Foundation also runs the following ministries:
- GLOW (God Lights Our Way – for children till school year four) and WAKE (for pre-teens till school year eight) which organise activities during BELONG meetings so that parents can maximise their time together. These contain audiovisuals and games which transmit positive values in a fun way.
- SHINE is a teens ministry animated by youths to help adolescents and teenagers bring out inner qualities as they mature. It equips them through fun activities, meaningful friendships and Christian formation, inspiring them to grow in faith, love and altruism. Events include monthly meetings, live-ins, social events, weekends and liturgical functions. SHINE collaborates with SHINE Europe. For more details refer to our pages shine.mt or facebook.com/Shine.Agape.Malta or instagram.com/shine_malta.
- 4TWELVE serves students and young adults by providing spiritual formation as they face life challenges in the adult world through formation meetings and discussions so that they are given space to share through meaningful conversations. 4TWELVE collaborates with AGAPE Student Led Ministry (SLM). For more details refer to our pages facebook.com/4TwelveMalta or instagram.com/4twelvemalta.
- DAWN is a woman’s ministry which celebrates the gift of womanhood, especially on the international woman’s day, and encourage one another.
- MARRIAGE MATTERS are a series of Marriage Preparation Seminars designed to enrich dating couples as they prepare to receive each other in marriage. Through them couples explore significant personal, relational, spiritual and social aspects. This course is couple focused whereby couples are seated together and work out exercises both individually and as a couple. The learning approach adopted takes the ‘see-judge-act’ concept where short presentations are followed by personal reflection and couple discussion. When completed, couples are presented with a certificate of attendance that is eligible to be presented when registering for marriage in the Catholic Church. For more information refer to our pages marriagematters.mt or facebook.com/marriagematters.mt or email us on [email protected] or call us on 99462992.
- BELIEVE TO BELONG (B2B) is a follow-up for dating couples or in their early years of marriage. It aims to help them enrich their relationship during these important years as they build good foundations. Participating couples gave incredibly positive feedback as they found it fun, meaningful and formative.