From: kriz@skat.usc.edu (KRIZ)
Newsgroups: talk.religion.misc
Subject: Cath. Christianity 101 - JP II's letter "On the Family" - 5 (repost)
Date: 25 Jul 1992 19:54:31 -0700
Organization: University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA
NNTP-Posting-Host: skat.usc.edu


The following is a portion of Pope John Paul II's 1981 Apostolic
Exhortation "Familiaris Consortio" (On the Family).  The document
is organized in the following way:

     Introduction.
     Part 1. Bright Spots and Shadows for the Family Today.       
     Part 2. The Plan of God for Marriage and the Family.
(*)  Part 3. The Role of the Christian Family.
          I. Forming a Community of Persons.
          II. Serving Life.
--->           A. The Transmission of Life.
               B. Education.
          III. Participating in the Development of Society.       
          IV. Sharing in the Life and Mission of the Church.      
    Part 4. Pastoral Care of the Family.
          I. Stages of Pastoral Care of the Family.
          II. Structures of Family Pastoral Care.
          III. Agents of the Pastoral Care of the Family.
          IV. Pastoral Care of the Family in Difficult Cases.     
     Conclusion.

Note: (-->) denotes which portion of the document is presented
herein.

In Christ,

Dennis
kriz@skat.usc.edu

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John Paul II's 1981 Apostolic Exhortation "On the Family" - Pt 3IIa


                           PART THREE
                THE ROLE OF THE CHRISTIAN FAMILY
                             (cont)


II. SERVING LIFE.
-----------------

A. The Transmission of Life.
----------------------------

28. Cooperators in the love of God the Creator.
-----------------------------------------------

  With the creation of man and woman in his own image and likeness,
God crowns and brings to perfection the work of his hands: He calls
them to a special sharing in his love and his power as creator and
Gather through their free and responsible cooperation in
transmitting the gift of human life: "God blessed them, and God
said to them, 'be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and
subdue it.'" [80].

  Thus the fundamental task of the family is to serve life, to
actualize in history the original blessing of the creator -- that
of transmitting by procreation the divine image from person to
person [81].

  Fecundity is the fruit and the sign of conjugal love, the living
testimony of the full reciprocal self-giving of the spouses: "While
not making the other purposes of matrimony of less account, the
true practice of conjugal love, and the whole meaning of the family
life which results from it, have this aim: that the couple be ready
with stout hearts to cooperate with the love of the creator and the
savior, who through them will enlarge and enrich his own family day
by day" [82].

  However, the fruitfulness of conjugal love is not restricted
solely to the procreation of children, even understood in its
specifically human dimension: It is enlarged and enriched by all
those fruits of moral, spiritual and supernatural life which the
father and mother are called to hand on to their children, and
through the children to the church and to the world.


29. The church's teaching and norm, always old yet always new.
--------------------------------------------------------------

  Precisely because the love of husband and wife is a unique
participation in the mystery of life and of the love of God
himself, the church knows that she has received the special mission
of guarding and protecting the lofty dignity of marriage and the
most serious responsibility of the transmission of human life.

  Thus, in continuity with the living tradition of the ecclesial
community throughout history, the recent Second Vatican Council and
the magisterium of my predecessor Paul VI, expressed above all in
the encyclical HUMANAE VITAE, have handed on to our times a truly
prophetic proclamation, which reaffirms and reproposes with clarity
the church's teaching and norm, always old yet always new,
regarding marriage and regarding the transmission of human life.

  For this reason the synod fathers made the following declaration
at their last assembly:

  "This sacred synod, gathered together with the successor of Peter
in the unity of faith, firmly holds what has been set forth in the
Second Vatican Council (Cf. GAUDIUM ET SPES, 50) and afterward in
the encyclical HUMANAE VITAE, particularly that love between
husband and wife must be fully human, exclusive and open to new
life (HUMANAE VITAE, 11: cf. 9, 12)" [83].


30. The church stands for life.
-------------------------------

  The teaching of the church in our day is placed in a social and
cultural context which renders it more difficult to understand and
yet more urgent and irreplaceable for promoting the true good of
men and women.

  Scientific and technological progress, which contemporary man is
continually expanding in his dominion over nature, not only offers
the hope of creating a new and better humanity, but also causes
ever greater anxiety regarding the future.  Some ask themselves if
it is a good thing to be alive or if it would be better never to
have been born; they doubt therefore if it is right to bring others
into life when perhaps they will curse their existence in a cruel
world with unforeseeable terrors.  Others consider themselves to be
the only ones for whom the advantages of technology are intended
and they exclude others by imposing on them contraceptives or even
worse means.  Still others imprisoned in a consumer mentality and
whose sole concern is to bring about a continual growth of material
goods, finish by ceasing to understand, and thus by refusing, the
spiritual riches of a new human life.  The ultimate reason for
these mentalities is the absence in people's hearts of God, whose
love alone is stronger than all the world's fears and can conquer
them.

  Thus an anti-life mentality is born, as can be seen in many
current issues: One thinks, for example of a certain panic deriving
from the studies of ecologists and futurologists on population
growth, which sometimes exaggerate the danger of demographic
increase to the quality of life.

  But the church firmly believes that human life, even if weak and
suffering, is always a splendid gift of God's goodness.  Against
the pessimism and selfishness which cast a shadow over the world,
the church stands for life: In each human life she sees the
splendor of that "yes", that "amen", who is Christ himself [84]. 
To the "no" which assails and afflicts the world, she replies with
this living "yes", thus defending the human person and the world
from all who plot against and harm life.

  The church is called upon to manifest anew to everyone, with
clear and stronger conviction, her will to promote human life by
every means and to defend it against all attacks in whatever
condition or state of development it is found.

  Thus the church condemns as a grave offense against human dignity
and justice all those activities of governments or other public
authorities which attempt to limit in any way the freedom of
couples in deciding about children.  Consequently any violence
applied by such authorities in favor of contraception or, still
worse, of sterilization and procured abortion must be altogether
condemned and forcefully rejected.  Likewise to be denounced as
gravely unjust are cases where in international relations economic
help given for the advancement of peoples is made conditional on
programs of contraception, sterilization and procured abortion
[85].


31. That God's design may be ever more completely fulfilled.
------------------------------------------------------------

  The church is certainly aware of the many complex problems which
couples in many countries face today in their task of transmitting
life in a responsible way.  She also recognizes the serious problem
of population growth in the form it has taken in many parts of the
world and its moral implications.

  However, she holds that consideration in depth of all the aspects
of these problems offers a new and stronger confirmation of the
importance of the authentic teaching on birth regulation reproposed
in the Second Vatican Council and in the encyclical HUMANAE VITAE.

  For this reason, together with the synod fathers I feel it is my
duty to extend a pressing invitation to theologians, asking them to
unite their efforts in order to collaborate with the hierarchial
magisterium and to commit themselves to the task of illustrating
ever more clearly the biblical foundations, the ethical grounds and
the personalistic reasons behind this doctrine.  Thus it will be
possible, in the context of an organic exposition, to render the
teaching of the church on this fundamental question truly
accessible to all people of good will, fostering a daily more
enlightened and profound understanding of it.  In this way God's
plan will be ever more completely fulfilled for the salvation of
humanity and for the glory of the Creator.

  A united effort by theologians in this regard, inspired by a
convinced adherence to the magisterium, which is the one authentic
guide for the people of God, is particularly urgent for reasons
that include the close link between Catholic teaching on this
matter and the view of the human person that the church proposes:
Doubt or error in the field of marriage or the family involves
obscuring to a serious extent the integral truth about the human
person in a cultural situation that is already so often confused
and contradictory.  In fulfillment of their specific role
theologians are called upon to provide enlightenment and a deeper
understanding, and their contribution is of incomparable value and
represents a unique and highly meritorious service to the family
and humanity.


32. In an integral vision of the human person and of his or her 
---------------------------------------------------------------
vocation.
---------

  In the context of a culture which seriously distorts or entirely 
misinterprets the true meaning of human sexuality because it
separates it from its reference to the person, the church more
urgently feels how irreplaceable is her mission of presenting
sexuality as a value and task of the whole person, created male and
female in the image of God.

  In this perspective the Second Vatican Council clearly affirmed
that "when there is a question of harmonizing conjugal love with
the responsible transmission of life, the moral aspect of any
procedure does not depend solely on sincere intentions or on an
evaluation of motives.  It must be determined by objective
standards.  These, based on the nature of the human person and his
or her acts, preserve the full sense of mutual self-giving and
human procreation in the context of true love.  Such a goal cannot
be achieved unless the virtue of conjugal chastity is sincerely
practiced" [86].

  It is precisely by moving from "an integral vision of man and of
his vocation, not only his natural and earthly, but also his
supernatural and eternal vocation" [87], that Paul VI affirmed that
the teaching of the church "is founded upon the inseparable
connection willed by God and unable to be broken by man on his own
initiative between the two meanings of the conjugal act: the
unitive meaning and the procreative meaning" [88].  And he
concluded by re-emphasizing that there must be excluded as
intrinsically immoral "every action which, either in anticipation
of the conjugal act, or in its accomplishment, or in the
development of its natural consequences, proposes, whether as an
end or as a means, to render procreation impossible" [89].

  When couples, by means of recourse to contraception, separate
these two meanings that God the creator has inscribed  in the being
of man and woman and in the dynamism of their sexual communion,
they act as "arbiters" of the divine plan and they "manipulate" and
degrade human sexuality and with it themselves and their married
partner by altering its value of "total" self-giving.  Thus the
innate language that expresses the total reciprocal self-giving of
husband and wife is overlaid, through contraception, by an
objectively contradictory language, namely, that of not giving
oneself totally to the other.  This leads not only to a positive
refusal to be open to life, but also to a falsification of the
inner truth of conjugal love, which is called upon to give itself
in personal totality.

  When, instead, by means of recourse to periods of infertility,
the couple respect inseparable connection between the unitive and
procreative meanings of human sexuality, they are acting as
"ministers" of God's plan and they "benefit from" their sexuality
according to the original dynamism of "total" self-giving, without
manipulation or alteration [90].

  In light of the experience of many couples and of the data
provided by the different human sciences, theological reflection is
able to perceive and is called to study further the difference,
both anthropological and moral, between contraception and recourse
to the rhythm of the cycle: It is a difference which is much wider
and deeper than is usually thought, one which involves in the final
analysis two irreconcilable concepts of the human person and of
human sexuality.  The choice of the natural rhythms involves
accepting the cycle of the person, that is, the woman, and thereby
accepting dialogue, reciprocal respect, shared responsibility and
self-control.  To accept the cycle and to enter into dialogue means
to recognize both the spiritual and corporal character of conjugal
communion and to live personal love with its requirement of
fidelity.  In this context the couple comes to experience how
conjugal communion is enriched with those values of tenderness and
affection which constitute the inner soul of human sexuality in its
physical dimension also.  In this way sexuality is respected and
promoted in its truly and fully human dimension and is never "used"
as an "object" that, by breaking the personal unity of soul and
body, strikes at God's creation itself at the level of the deepest
interaction of nature and person.


33. The church as teacher and mother for couples in difficulty.
---------------------------------------------------------------

  In the field of conjugal morality the church is teacher and
mother and acts as such.

  As teacher, she never tires of proclaiming the moral norm that
must guide the responsible transmission of life.  The church is in
no way the author or arbiter of this norm.  In obedience to the
truth which is Christ, whose image is reflected in the nature and
dignity of the human person, the church interprets the moral norm
and proposes it to all people of good will without concealing its
demands of radicalness and perfection.

  As mother, the church is close to the married couples who find
themselves in difficulty over this important point of the moral
life: She knows well their situation, which is often very arduous
and at times truly tormented by difficulties of every kind, not
only individual difficulties but social ones as well; she knows
that many couples encounter difficulties not only in the concrete
fulfillment of the moral norm but even in understanding its
inherent values.

  But it is one and the same church that is both teacher and
mother.  And so the church never ceases to exhort and encourage all
to resolve whatever conjugal difficulties may arise without ever
falsifying or compromising the truth: She is convinced that there
can be no true contradiction between divine law on transmitting
life and that on fostering authentic married love [91]. 
Accordingly, the concrete pedagogy of the church must always remain
linked with her doctrine and never be separated from it.  With the
same conviction as my predecessor, I therefore repeat: "To diminish
in no way the saving teaching of Christ constitutes an eminent form
of charity for souls" [92].

  On the other hand, authentic ecclesial pedagogy displays its
realism and wisdom only by making a tenacious and courageous effort
to create and uphold all human conditions -- psychological, moral
and spiritual -- indispensable for understanding and living the
moral value and norm.

  There is no doubt that these conditions must include persistence
and patience, humility and strength of mind, filial trust in God
and in his grace, and frequent recourse to prayer and to the
sacraments of the eucharist and of reconciliation [93].  Thus
strengthened, Christian husbands and wives will be able to keep
alive their awareness of the unique influence that the grace of the
sacrament of marriage has on every aspect of married life
including, therefore, their sexuality: The gift of the Spirit,
accepted and responded to by the husband and wife, helps them to
live their human sexuality in accordance with God's plan and as a
sign of the unitive and fruitful love of Christ for his church.

  But the necessary conditions also include knowledge of the bodily
aspect and the body's rhythms of fertility.  Accordingly, every
effort must be made to render such knowledge accessible to all
married people and also to young adults before marriage through
clear, timely and serious instruction and education given by
married couples, doctors and experts.  Knowledge must then lead to
education in self-control: Hence the absolute necessity for the
virtue of chastity and for permanent education in it.  In the
Christian view, chastity by no means signifies rejection of human
sexuality or the lack of esteem for it: Rather it signifies
spiritual energy capable of defending love from the perils of
selfishness and aggressiveness, and able to advance it toward its
full realization.

  With deeply wise and loving intuition, Paul VI, was only voicing
the experience of many married couples when he wrote in his
encyclical: To dominate instinct by means of one's reason and free
will undoubtably requires ascetical practices, so that the
affective manifestations of conjugal life may observe the correct
order, in particular with regard to the observance of periodic
continence.  Yet this discipline which is proper to the purity of
married couples, far from harming conjugal love, rather confers it
to a higher human value.  It demands continual effort, yet thanks
to its beneficent influence husband and wife fully develop their
personalities, being enriched with spiritual values.  Such
discipline bestows upon family life fruits of serenity and peace,.
and facilitates the solution of other problems; it favors attention
for one's partner, helps both parties to drive out selfishness, the
enemy of true love, and deepens their sense of responsibility.  By
its means, parents acquire the capacity of having a deeper and more
efficacious influence on the education of their offspring" [94].


34. The moral progress of married people.
-----------------------------------------

  It is always very important to have a right notion of the moral
order, its values and its norms; and the importance is all the
greater when the difficulties in the way or respecting them become
more numerous and serious.

  Since the moral order reveals and sets forth the plan of God the
creator, for this very reason it cannot be something that harms
man, something impersonal.  On the contrary, by responding to the
deepest demands of the human being created by God, it places itself
at the service of that person's full humanity with the delicate and
binding love whereby God himself inspires, sustains and guides
every creature toward its happiness.

  But man, who has been called to live God's wise and loving design
in a responsible manner, is an historical being who day by day
builds himself up through his many free decisions; and so he knows,
loves and accomplishes moral good by stages of growth.

  Married people too are called upon to progress unceasingly in
their moral life with the support of a sincere and active desire to
gain ever better knowledge of the values enshrined in and fostered
by the law of God.  They must also be supported by an upright and
generous willingness to embody these values in their concrete
decisions.  They cannot, however, look on the law as merely an
ideal to be achieved in the future: They must consider it as a
command of Christ the Lord to overcome difficulties with constancy. 
"And so what is know as 'the law of gradualness' or step-by-step
advance cannot be identified with 'gradualness of the law,' as if
there were different degrees or forms of precept in God's law for
different individuals and situations.  In God's plan, all husbands
and wives are called in marriage to holiness, and this lofty
vocation is fulfilled to the extent that the human person is able
to respond to God's command with serene confidence in God's grace
and in his or her own will" [95].  On the same lines, it is part of
the church's pedagogy that husbands and wives would first recognize
clearly the teaching of HUMANAE VITAE as indicating the norm for
the exercise of their sexuality, and that they should endeavor to
establish the conditions necessary for observing that norm.  As the
synod noted, this pedagogy embraces the whole of married life. 
Accordingly, the function of transmitting life must be integrated
into the overall mission of Christian life as a whole which,
without the cross, cannot reach the resurrection.  In such a
context it is understandable that sacrifice cannot be removed from
family life, but must in fact be wholeheartedly accepted if the
love between husband and wife is to be deepened and become a source
of intimate joy.

  This shared progress demands reflection, instruction and suitable
education on the part of the priests, religious and lay people
engaged in family pastoral work: they will all be able to assist
married people in their human and spiritual progress, a progress
that demands awareness of sin, a sincere commitment to observe the
moral law and the ministry of reconciliation.  It must also be kept
in mind that conjugal intimacy involves the wills of two persons,
who are thereby called to harmonize their mentality and behavior,
requiring much patience, understanding and time.  Uniquely
important in this field is unity of moral and pastoral judgement by
priests -- a unity that must be carefully sought and ensured in
order that the faithful may not have to suffer anxiety of
conscience [96].

  It will be easier for married people to make progress if, with
respect for the church's teaching and with trust in the grace of
Christ, and with the help and support of the pastors of souls and
the entire ecclesial community, they are able to discover and
experience the liberating and inspiring value of authentic love
that is offered by the Gospel and set before us by the Lord's
commandment.


35. Instilling conviction and offering practical help.
------------------------------------------------------

  With regard to the question of lawful birth regulation, the
ecclesial community at the present time must take on the task of
instilling conviction and offering practical help to those who wish
to live out their parenthood in a truly responsible way.

  In this matter, while the church notes with satisfaction the
results achieved by scientific research aimed at more precise
knowledge of the rhythms of women's fertility, and while it
encourages a more decisive and wide-ranging extension of that
research, it cannot fail to call with renewed vigor on the
responsibility of all -- doctors, experts, marriage counselors,
teachers and married couples -- who can actually help married
people to live their love with respect for the structure and
finalities of the conjugal act which expresses that love.  This
implies a broader, more decisive and more systematic effort to make
the natural methods of regulating fertility known, respected and
applied [97].

  A very valuable witness can and should be given by those husbands
and wives who, through their joint exercise of periodic continence,
have reached a more mature personal responsibility with regard to
love and life.  As Paul VI wrote: "To them the Lord entrusts the
task of making visible to people the holiness and sweetness of the
law which unites the mutual love of husband and wife with their
cooperation with the love of God the author of human life" [98].

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Footnotes:

[80] Gn. 1:28.

[81] Cf. Gn. 5:1-3.

[82] Second Vatican Council, GAUDIUM ET SPES, 48.

[83] PROPOSITIO 21. Section 11 of the encyclical HUMANAE VITAE ends
with the statement: "The church, calling people back to the
observance of the norms of the natural law, as interpreted by her
constant doctrine, teaches that each and every marriage act must
remain open to the transmission of life (ut quilibet matrimonii
usus ad vitam humanan procreandam per se destinatus permaneat)":
AAS 60 (1968), 488.

[84] Cf. 2 Cor. 1:19; Rv. 3:14.

[85] Cf. The sixth Synod of Bishops' Message to Christian Families
in the Modern World (Oct. 24, 1980), 5.

[86] GAUDIUM ET SPES, 51.

[87] Encyclical HUMANAE VITAE, 7: AAS 60 (1968), 485.

[88] Ibid., 12: loc cit. 488-489.

[89] Ibid., 14: loc cit. 490.

[90] Ibid., 13: loc cit.,m 489.

[91] Cf. Second Vatican Council, GAUDIUM ET SPES, 51.

[92] Encyclical HUMANAE VITAE, 29: AAS 60 (1968), 501.

[93] Cf. Ibid., 25: loc cit. 498-499.

[94] Ibid., 21: loc cit. 496.

[95] John Paul II, Homily at the Close of the Sixth Synod of
Bishops (Oct. 25, 1980), 8: AAS 72 (1980), 1083.

[96] Cf. Paul VI, Encyclical HUMANAE VITAE, 28: AAS 60 (1968), 501.

[97] Cf. John Paul II, Address to the Delegates of the Centre de
Liaison des Equipes de Recherche (Nov. 3, 1979), 9: INSEGNAMENTI,
II, 2 (1979), 1035; and cf. Address to the Participants in the
First Congress for the Family of Africa and Europe (Jan. 15, 1981):

[98] Encyclical HUMANAE VITAE, 25: AAS 60 (1968), 499.

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