The Utmost Importance of Families

This coming September the Catholic Church will host The World Meeting of Families in Philadelphia.  Discussions will center around the rich meaning and importance of marriage and families, and include a visit by Pope Francis.  Timing couldn’t be better.  Our world is suffering greatly because of the changes in our culture that demeans marriage and fails to understand the importance of families in sustaining civil society.  Damage caused by the crumbling of our appreciation for marriage is not limited to children and the family.  The effects of single-parent families and/or single-gender parenting are well-known, not only by religious supporters of traditional marriage, but by sociologists and demographers alike.  Demographer Nicholas Eberstadt has documented the tragic consequences to children who grow up without both biological parents in terms of poverty, education, crime, depression, and happiness.  This is not merely a political opinion, but well-documented social science.

The Church’s position on marriage and family are much more than a “policy” or political position, they are expressions of basic truths revealed in nature and held to be our most sacred religious beliefs, as revealed by God in scripture and in the life of Jesus.  In His infinite love for us, God created us male and female, complementary in every way.  The permanence of marriage is meant to be a reflection of God’s covenant with humanity.  It is also the basis for the continuation of civilization where children are born and raised in love with the benefit of learning important life-lessons from both parents. 

One of the most valuable lessons parents can impart to their children is the importance of chastity, which is not a dreary string of prohibitions, but as George Weigel puts it, “a matter of loving with integrity; loving rather than ‘using;’ loving another for himself or herself.  The sexual temptations to which the Church says “no” are the implications of a higher, nobler, more compelling “yes” to the integrity of love; love as the gift of oneself to another; “yes” to the family as the fruit of love, and “yes” to the family as the school where children are taught the true meaning of love.”  Catholic sexual ethics, as so well presented by St. John Paul II, is joyful, deeply fulfilling, and far more meaningful than the self-absorbed sexual ethics of our modern culture.  Moreover, the Christian family is the best gift we can offer the world mired in a culture of death and unwitting self-destruction.

Stable marriages and families are the most powerful anti-poverty program in the world, and quite literally, the future of civilization.  Parents are the most important teachers children will ever encounter, not only by word, but example.  Ironically, those who advocate absolute freedom to avoid, dissolve, and dissemble marriage, and avoid children by any and all means, are the same people who want to set up government as if it were everyone’s parent, dictating everything from the seat of power.  When Mussolini coined the term “totalitarianism” he described it as a society in which every Italian was treated like family.  His intent was paternalism and a nanny state in which father government made decisions for everyone, and those who rebelled were punished severely.

While this may sound extreme, our American culture is now dominated by a president and government who are dictating that we all comply with the new mores, or risk falling “on the wrong side of history.”  In Catholic teaching and tradition, the Seven Sacraments are solemn events, each the sign of a greater Truth as revealed by God.  Compare these to the principles of our current government and culture: 

1.      In Baptism, every newborn child is joyfully welcomed into the world and blessed in the name of the Trinity.  In America, children are too often considered an untenable burden to be avoided or killed in the womb, and our government encourages and assists in this effort by using taxpayer funds to promote and pay for abortions, not only in the USA but around the world. 

2.      In Reconciliation, Catholics acknowledge their sinfulness and seek forgiveness and healing along with the grace to avoid future sin.  In modern culture, guilt is considered a superstition because the most important value is absolute freedom.  Our president recently defined sin as “failure to live by one’s own values,” implying that there is no absolute moral code, only individual ideals. 

3.      Confirmation is the Sacrament in which we receive the Holy Spirit to strengthen us on our journey to maturity.  The gifts of the Holy Spirit are countercultural in the sense that they help us grow in the love of God and service of others while modern culture promotes absolute freedom, and celebrates the individual, not the family, as the basic unit of society.

4.      In the Eucharist, we receive the Real Presence of the Body and Blood of Christ.  In our culture, Islam is treated as a religion of peace, but Christianity is regarded as a cult of hatred.  Religious freedom is under attack by our government who now insists that religious beliefs be confined to the house of worship, never to be lived out in public or in the workplace.  People who refuse to compromise their religious beliefs are subject to heavy fines and imprisonment.

5.      Marriage is a sacred, permanent covenant in which one man and one woman join together to form a family in the life-giving image of the community of the Trinity.  Our government not only treats marriage as less substantial than a simple contract, it has redefined it to be the union of any two people in love, regardless of gender, with no regard for the rights or welfare of children.

6.      Holy Orders is the sacrament of taking religious vows to wed oneself to the Church in a life of service to humanity and to God.  Our culture demeans religious vocations, questions the wisdom of celibacy, and seeks to dictate terms to religious organizations, forcing them to violate their most sacred beliefs about birth control, abortion, and marriage.

7.      The Sacrament of the Sick brings peace, forgiveness and spiritual healing to those in danger of death.  Our nation now defines the value of life according to “quality of life” and contribution to society, making assisted suicide not only available, but creating a culture in which those who are a burden to others may feel obligated to make a final exit.

Holy Week is a good time to reflect on the meaning of our faith and the tenets of our belief, especially those pertaining to marriage and family.  Jesus suffered greatly for our salvation.  What must we suffer to save our country from the onslaught against our Christian beliefs?