In 1953, nationwide more than a half a million catholic families collaborated to form an interest and action committee: The Catholic Family Association (FDK). The ideal behind this collaboration was and remains today the conviction that in society families can and must actively participate and undertake responsibility, in order to receive the necessary ideals and material recognition. The Catholic Family Association is today a non partisan, recognised family political expert association. It advocates on all levels of politics, state, church and society to realise family tolerance, social justice for families and for the central meaning of marriage and family. Thus freedom of choice and compatibility of working and family life are the applicable principles that the association tracks.
The national committee headquarters in Berlin acts as the representative of interests in national policy. The 25 diocese and 10 regional alliances of the family alliance engage themselves in family policy on a national level and additionally, they are active in family education, family advice and family regeneration. Caritas and Kolpingwerk compose just two of the 15 member alliances of the FDK. Single person membership of families and groups of families are usually only possible in the diocese alliances.