Family as priority

ALL over the world, the family has increasingly become a focus of priority
attention by Church authorities due to the many challenges it is facing. The flight from God brings with it the itch to tinker and tamper with the nature of the family, that’s the problem.

For one, there is a spreading erroneous understanding of man, which separates him from his family roots. He is now supposed to transcend or outgrow his family ties. His development is hardly seen in the context of the family.

There is reason to believe that in the current culture of professional work and labor, man is seen almost exclusively in terms of output or results, in terms of being a worker simply, without any due consideration to the family. Man’s economic value is outpacing his intrinsic value as a person with a family.

As a result, now the family is often seen as a hindrance to one’s fulfillment. There seems to be a social drift to individualism and selfishness, driven strongly by the pursuit of worldly goals: pleasure, comfort, power, wealth, etc.

The family becomes an expendable prop, an easy casualty along the road to
development. In our country, it should be interesting to find out how the increase of OFW’s, otherwise with good economic effects, is affecting the family.

My hunch, based on direct personal knowledge, is that the economic benefits of husbands or wives separated from their spouses and children just to work and earn abroad, come at a great price with respect to family health. We can
even speak of a rip-off when we start comparing benefits and costs.

We often talk a lot about the economic benefits, but are deafeningly quiet with respect to the harm inflicted on the family. But the harm and damage are all there to see. This anomalous situation has to be corrected.

Besides, there is also the trend to detach man from the supreme and fundamental value of life. More than life, what is held important is how man performs, especially in terms of practicality, achievement, human convenience, etc.

In short, man is now seen more often for what he has, what he does and accomplishes, what he gives, rather than for what he is. These aspects in man are increasingly put into conflict, and are given wrong priorities, again making the family among the first victims.

That is why we have an explosion of abortion being legalized in many countries. And the relative scourges, like euthanasia, forms of discrimination against the handicapped, etc., are already popping their heads in many places.

Many other problems face the family today. Conjugal love is now often debased. It is pegged more on the carnal than on the spiritual. Thus it is a love that is very vulnerable to acquire the contraceptive mentality. Divorce, separations, infidelities are getting common.

The sense of commitment is loosening up. There a clear inclination toward
the family being separated from marriage. The family is now fast becoming a purely private affair, giving rise to phenomena like trial-marriages, live-in arrangements, etc.

Congresses and parliaments all over the world are also strongly pressured to legalize other forms of family that are not exactly natural, as in the case of homosexual unions. Organized ideological groups are behind these moves.

Then you also have some radical feminist influences to contend with. While
it’s good to see the status of women improve over the years, there’s also a spreading effort to remove women from their basic roles as wives and mothers.

To these feminists, being wives and mothers is to work against womanhood. They are supposed to undermine the feminists’ idea of freedom and choice. This is a challenge to be handled expertly.

Certainly, this state of affairs with respect to the family demands priority attention not only by Church authorities, but also by everyone, especially the laity. Everyone should cooperate vigorously. We cannot be lukewarm in this.

In some places, family institutes and other centers dedicated to tackling family matters are put up. We should have this kind of structures also to better face the challenge we have with respect to the family.