On Sept. 12, 1984, at Canada's Quidi Vidi Lake in St. John's, Newfoundland, Pope John Paul II celebrated Mass with some 50,000 faithful. In his homily, he thanked God for vocations to the family (See stories by Brian McGuire and Tim Drake, this page):

We offer a very special act of thanksgiving at this time for our Christian families. In union with his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord, we thank the Father “from whom every family takes its name.” We thank him:

- For all those many families throughout Canada whose lives reflect the beauty and grandeur of the vocation to love and the service of life.

- For the deep love that Christian spouses communicate to each other in the communion of married life, as they keep alive in the world an altogether special image of God's love.

- For the lives of mutual fidelity lived by countless couples through the power of sacramental grace.

- For all those couples who generously endeavor to follow God's plan for human love as expressed in the Church's teaching in Humanae Vitae and Familiaris Consortio, and whose marriage is always open to new life; and for all those who help educate couples in Natural Family Planning (No. 5).