IMPORTANCE OF FAMILY

Family is important because it provides love, support and a

framework of values to each of its members. Family members teach
each other, serve one another and share life’s joys and sorrows.
Families provide a setting for personal growth. Family is the single
most important influence in a child’s life. From their first moments
of life, children depend on parents and family to protect them and
provide for their needs. Parents and family form a child’s first
relationships. Family provides all members with security, identity
and values, regardless of age. When a member of the family feels
insecure or unsafe, he turns to his family for help. He learns about
his sense of self and gains a foundation for the rest of his life. This
foundation includes the family’s values which provide the basis for
his own moral code. Spending time with family shows individuals
the value of love, appreciation and open communication.

The newly published Compendium of the Social

Doctrine of the Church dedicates one of its first
chapters to the institution of the family, described as
"the vital cell of society."
The opening number of the section of the family begins with how
Sacred Scripture repeatedly underlines the importance and centrality
of the family. The book of Genesis narrates the creation of the first
man and woman, and the family is portrayed as having a central role
in creation. Other Old Testament books speak of the love to be found
in the family, which is also where children are taught wisdom and the
virtues.

The Compendium recalls Paul VIs words during his visit to Nazareth in
1964, when the Pontiff spoke of Jesus being born and living within a
family, "accepting all its characteristic features, and he conferred the
highest dignity on the institution of marriage." (No. 210)

The Church, continues the text, sees in the family "the first natural
society, with underived rights that are proper to it, and places it at the
center of social life." (No. 211) The family founded on marriage
between a man and a woman is important both for natural reasons, as
the principal place of interpersonal relationships, and also for
supernatural reasons, as a divine institution.

The Compendium then explains the importance of the family for

society. For each individual the family is the cradle of life and love
where they are born and grow. (No. 212) The climate of affection that
unites the family is also where we learn about truth and goodness.

Moreover, the family unit is a community of persons where moral

values are taught and the spiritual and cultural heritage of society are
passed on.

The family is also essential in ensuring people are strong in their

commitments, and promote both social responsibility and solidarity.

Given its vital importance the family has priority over society and the
state. "Every social model that intends to serve the good of man must
not overlook the centrality and social responsibility of the family." (No.
214)

Invoking the principle of subsidiarity the text affirms that public

authorities must not take away from the family tasks that it can carry
out by itself, or in association with other families.

Marriage - foundation of the family

With regards to marriage the Compendium explains that the family is
founded on the free choice of spouses to unite themselves. The
institution of marriage, while it is regulated by human institutions and
laws, is, even more importantly, a partnership established by God and
endowed with its own laws. (No. 215)

Marriages divine character, and the natural right to marriage, places

limits on what society can legitimately do in regulating marriage. The
dignity and specific characteristics of marriage must be safeguarded.
The fundamental characteristics of marriage are: totality, in which the
spouses give themselves to each other mutually; unity, created by the
union of the couple; indissolubility and fidelity, which a definitive
mutual self-giving requires; and fruitfulness, to which marriage is
open.

An important part of marriage is the transmission of life through the

birth and nurturing of children. Nevertheless, number 218 adds that
procreation is not the only reason for marriage and that when a couple
is unable to have children the value of communion between the
spouses remains.

The Compendium also deals with the sacrament of marriage,

explaining that it unites couples within the Church according to Gods
plan. In fact, the sacrament makes the family a sort of "domestic
Church" in which the family is called to be a sign to the world. And the
love of the married couple is also raised to a new level by the
sacramental grace.

Love and the family

The role of love within marriage and the family is another theme dealt
with in the text. The family is a place where communion is brought
about, and thanks to love each person is recognized, accepted and
respected. (No. 221)

Love, affirms the Compendium, is essential for human beings. But

marital love is more than just emotions or sexual expression. It is a full
and total gift, marked by unity and fidelity. Moreover, the nature of
conjugal love requires the marital union to be stable. The introduction
of civil divorce "has fueled a relativistic vision of the marriage bond"
and can be termed "a plague on society." (No. 225)

For those couples who have divorced and remarried

the Compendiumadds that the Church does not abandon them. "She
prays for them and encourages them in the difficulties that they
encounter in the spiritual life, sustaining them in faith and hope." (No.
226) Nevertheless, they cannot receive the Eucharist until they obtain
reconciliation through the sacrament of penance.

The text also rejects attempts to redefine marriage through the

introduction of new concepts that see gender as dependent merely on
social and cultural factors. "Physical, moral and spiritual difference
and complementarities are oriented towards the goods of marriage
and the flourishing of family life." (No. 224) It is therefore incongruous
to demand that same-sex unions receive the status of marriage. At the
same time the Compendium calls for homosexuals to be fully
respected in their human dignity, but also encouraged to exercise
chastity. (No. 226)

The Compendium is also critical of de facto unions as they are based

on a false conception of the freedom to choose. Marriage is more than
a simple agreement to live together but is a social instrument and the
principal means for helping each person to grow in an integral
manner. (No. 227)

Another section addresses themes related to life matters within the

family. "Conjugal love is by its nature open to the acceptance of life."
(No. 230)

This is particularly the case for Christian families, that by virtue of the
sacrament should be witnesses of the gospel of life. The Compendium
acknowledges the weight of this responsibility, but encourages
couples to take decisions based on "a generous acceptance of life."
(No. 232)
Excluded, as being morally unacceptable, are anti-life means such as
abortion, sterilization and contraceptive methods. Couples, however,
may decide to use methods based on periodic abstinence to regulate
the number of children, based on a consideration of the personal,
family and social factors.

On the other side of the coin the Compendium excludes the idea that
parents have a right to children. A desire for children at any cost leads
to the use of reproductive techniques that are ethically unacceptable.

Nurturing children

The Compendium also explains the familys function in bringing up

children, "a completely original and irreplaceable role." (No. 239) The
parents love is placed at the service of their children and animates all
educational activity. Parents have both a right and a duty to educate
their children, which the state should respect. The text also insists that
to carry out this function parents have a right to found educational
institutions and that the state should provide economic support to
these non-public schools.

The primary role of the parents in education is particularly the case

when it comes to religious and moral formation. But it must also be
respected in the area of sexual education. The Compendium stresses
the importance of linking sexual education with an instruction in moral
norms and the human values.

Children dignity must also be protected, first of all by protecting their

right to be born within a real family. As well, the Compendiumdraws
attention to problems such as child labor, lack of health care and
sexual exploitation.

The concise and complete treatment of the family in the Compendium

provides a useful resource for pastors and lay people interested in
knowing more about the position of the Church regarding many of the
fundamental issues touching marriage and family.