Gearing up the family

WE are right in the midst of the happy Christmas season when the family plays a very crucial role in everyone’s life. It’s time to look again into the current challenges of this most natural, most basic and most indispensable social unit, since on it hangs much of the fate of our lives.

            Definitely we cannot be blind to the many challenges and difficulties that the contemporary family faces. The number of broken and dysfunctional families is increasing. Its nature, purpose and requirements are getting vaguer and vaguer to many people, especially the young.

            Many developments today, while offering some good, are also creating havoc on the family because they are not understood well nor assimilated properly to the needs of the family. There’s so much concern for the economic viability of the family at the expense of taking care of its spiritual and moral vitality which is more important.

            There are many absentee parents. They often delegate their parenthood to others. Besides, parenthood is many times restricted to the act of begetting children alone, without the necessary complementing duty of bringing up children properly. Many do not know anymore what it is to be truly a parent.

            Quite often, the parental responsibilities are confined to the material and temporal needs of the family. There can be an overdrive of the emotional side of family life, which to a certain extent is good, but the spiritual and moral upbringing of the children is often untouched.

            In fact, that the family is a domestic church remains at best a theory. It is more commonly ignored and not understood, its practical implications unknown to many. That it is in the family where faith, hope and charity ought to be nourished, where the art of prayer and the development of virtues are taught and pursued, is hardly felt by many.

            That some family catechesis ought to be done is practically not done at all. Many parents feel awkward with that idea, and much less are trained to carry out that duty. It’s really quite a disaster.

            More and more couples enter marriage and start a family without adequate preparation not so much in the material and economic side as in the spiritual and moral dimensions of the family. There’s even that scary development of young couples not knowing that marriage is for life.

            The social and professional environment also gives some serious problems. In the world of entertainment, for example, so much frivolity is generated that the sacredness of love and life is often compromised.

            Also, more and more people spend more time at work and little time for the family. When they get home, they are often too tired to bother about playing with the little ones. The family is often taken for granted or made a poor second in terms of attention behind one’s work.

            That sex is often trivialized is left to fester to its dire consequences. The inculcation of proper masculinity and femininity of the children is practically not done. Nowadays, you see a lot of children whose gender is practically in a confused state. This is a serious problem since a big part of the developed countries are actively propagating the same-sex culture.

            Even our legal and political systems are giving problems with respect to the family. The contraceptive mentality now widely and vigorously pushed by our laws is certainly distorting the essence of love and life. Morality is discarded. It’s only practicality and convenience that are made the primary considerations.

            Of utmost concern also is that many parents do not realize that they actually need to do an active apostolate on the family, clarifying its nature and character, and defending it is attacked either openly or subtly.

            The duty to do apostolate is still an unknown concept to many. They feel that they have no such duty. In fact, many believe that apostolate is already in intrusion to the privacy of others.

            We have to stem the tide of irregularities regarding the family. It’s good that there are now many groups that aim precisely to proclaim, clarify and defend the nature and purpose of the family. Many are parish-based, but a good number are also of the private initiative type. Let’s hope this trend flourishes.

            We need to reach out to many people regarding this concern, and in fact, to involve them in this business. I would say that the true character of society would be shown when many of its constituents take active duty in promoting the family.