Work and family

TO immediately give the focus of this essay, let me quote some lines from Pope Paul II’s “Laborem exercens”, his encyclical on human work.

“Work constitutes a foundation for the formation of family life…These two spheres of values—work and family—must be properly united and must permeate each other.” (10.1)

I feel that there’s a tremendous need for us to have a good understanding not only of the crucial roles work and family play in our lives, but also of the intimate mutual relationship that exists between the two.

Work depends on the family, and vice-versa, the family depends on work. I believe much of our problem today stems from our failure, quite common, to blend these two basic values properly.

The Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church echoes the same concern when it says: “Family and work deserve finally to be considered in a more realistic light, with an attention that seeks to understand them together.” (294)

Work assures a means of subsistence and serves as a guarantee for raising children. It also has a highly educational value so important in the life and responsibility of families.

It is a school of virtues for all the members of the family. The sense of justice and solidarity, the sense of order and priority, the virtues of prudence, fortitude, industry, patience, determination, etc. are learned through work.

Work should not be pursued in a strictly economic way where things are simply calculated in terms of money and of cold, often inhuman inefficiency. It should help in the humanization of men in the family.

The family, on the other hand, should not be so understood and developed as to deny the importance of work. It should also help in the humanization of work, giving work its heart and soul.

In many countries, and even in ours, anomalies regarding this intimate relationship between work and family exist, causing untold damage in the lives of persons and of societies in general.

Everyone should be encouraged, from individuals to different social institutions and even the government, to know and build up the healthy dynamic relationship between work and family.

Thus, the same Compendium says: “It is necessary that businesses, professional organizations, labor unions and the State promote policies that, from an employment point of view, do not penalize but rather support the family nucleus.” (294)

We have to realize deeply that on these values depends to a large extent our authentic development, both as individual persons and members of society, both in our material and temporal aspect as well as in our spiritual and supernatural dimension.

We should try to avoid situations where we have to travel great distances to the workplace, to keep two jobs, and to fall into physical and psychological fatigue that reduce the time devoted to the family.

We should also try to avoid situations of unemployment which have material and spiritual repercussions on families. Tensions and family crises have negative influences on attitudes and productivity in the area of work.

Work conditions should always be attentive to objective and subjective family needs, since we are dealing with persons, and not machines or objects.