From: kriz@skat.usc.edu (KRIZ)
Newsgroups: talk.religion.misc
Subject: Cath. Christianity 101 - JP II's letter "On the Family" - 7 (repost)
Date: 25 Jul 1992 19:56:10 -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 3III


                           PART THREE
                THE ROLE OF THE CHRISTIAN FAMILY
                             (cont)


III. PARTICIPATING IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF SOCIETY.
-------------------------------------------------


42. The Family as the first and vital cell of society.
------------------------------------------------------

  "Since the Creator of all things has established the conjugal
partnership as the beginning and basis of human society," the
family is "the first and vital cell of society" [105].

  The family has vital and organic links with society since it is
its foundation and nourishes it continually through its role of
service to life: It is from the family that citizens come to birth
and it is within the family that they find the first school of the
social virtues that are the animating principle of the existence
and development of society itself.

  Thus, far from being closed in on itself, the family is by nature
and vocation open to other families and to society and undertakes
its social role.


43. Family life as an experience of communion and sharing.
----------------------------------------------------------

  The very experience of communion and sharing that should
characterize the family's daily life represents its first and
fundamental contribution to society.

  The relationships between the members of the family community are
inspired and guided by the law of "free giving."  By respecting and
fostering personal dignity in each and every one as the only basis
for value, this free giving takes the form of heartfelt acceptance,
encounter and dialogue, disinterested availability, generous
service and deep solidarity.

  Thus the fostering of authentic and mature communion between
persons within the family is the first and irreplaceable school of
social life, an example and stimulus for the broader community of
relationships marked by respect, justice, dialogue and love.

  The family is thus, as the synod fathers recalled, the place of
origin and the most effective means for humanizing and
personalizing society: It makes an original contribution in depth
in building up the world, by making possible a life that is,
properly speaking, human, in particular by guarding and
transmitting virtues and "values."  As the Second Vatican Council
states, in the family "the various generations come together and
help one another to grow wiser and to harmonize personal rights,
with the other requirements of social living" [106].

  Consequently, faced with a society that is running the risk of
becoming more and more depersonalized and standardized and
therefore inhuman and dehumanizing, with the negative results of
many forms of escapism -- such as alcoholism, drugs and even
terrorism -- the family possesses and continues still to release
formidable energies capable of taking man out of his autonomity,
keeping him conscious of his personal dignity, enriching him with
deep humanity and actively placing him, in his uniqueness and
unrepeatability, within the fabric of society.


44. The social and political role.
----------------------------------

  The social role of the family certainly cannot stop short at
procreation and education even if this constitutes its primary and
irreplaceable form of expression.

  Families therefore, either singly or in association, can and
should devote themselves to manifold social service activities,
especially in favor of the poor or at any rate for the benefit of
all people and situations that cannot be reached by the public
authorities' welfare organization.

  The social contribution of the family has an original character
of its own, one that should be given greater recognition and more
decisive encouragement, especially as the children grow up, and
actually involving all its members as much as possible [107].

  In particular, note must be taken of the ever greater importance
in our society of hospitality in all its forms, from opening the
door of one's home, and still more of one's heart, to the pleas of
one's brothers and sisters, to concrete efforts to ensure that
every family has its own home as the natural environment that
preserves it and makes it grow.  In a special way the Christian
family is called upon to listen to the apostle's recommendation.
"Practice hospitality" [108] and therefore, imitating Christ's
example and sharing in his love, welcome the brother or sister in
need: "Whoever gives to one of these little ones even a cup of cold
water because he is a disciple, truly, I say to you, he shall not
lose his reward" [109].

  The social role of families is called upon to find expression
also in the form of political intervention: Families should be the
first to take steps to see that the laws and institutions of the
state not only do not offend, but support and positively defend the
rights and duties of the family.  Along these lines families should
grow in awareness of being "protagonists" of what is know as
"family politics" and assume responsibility for transforming
society; otherwise families will be the first victims of the evils
that they have done no more than note with indifference.  The
Second Vatican Council's appeal to go beyond an individualistic
ethic therefore holds good for the family as such [110].


45. Society at the service of the family.
-----------------------------------------

  Just as the intimate connection between the family and society
demands that the family be open to and participate in society its
development, so also it requires that society should never fail in
its fundamental task of respecting and fostering the family.

  The family and society have complementary functions in defending
and fostering the good of each and every human being.  But society
-- more specifically the state -- must recognize that "the family
is a society in its own original right" [111], and so society is
under a grave obligation in its relations with the family to adhere
to the principle of subsidiarity.  The public authorities should
take care not to take from families the functions that they can
just as well perform on their own or in free associations; instead
it must positively favor and encourage as far as possible
responsible initiative by families.  In the conviction that the
good of the family is an indispensable and essential value of the
civil community, the public authorities must do everything possible
to ensure that families have all those aids -- economic, social,
educational, political and cultural assistance -- that they need in
order to face all their responsibilities in a human way.


46. The charter of family rights.
---------------------------------

  The ideal of mutual support and development between the family
and society is often very seriously in conflict with the reality of
their separation and even in opposition.

  In fact, as was repeatedly denounced by the synod, the situation
experienced by many families in various countries is highly
problematical if not entirely negative: Institutions and laws
unjustly ignore the inviolable rights of the family and of the
human person; and society, far from putting itself at the service
of the family attacks it violently in its values and fundamental
requirements.  Thus the family, which in God's plan is the basic
cell of society and subject of rights and duties before the state
or any other community, finds itself the victim of society, of the
delays and slowness with which it acts, and even of its blatant
injustice.

  For this reason the church openly and strongly defends the rights
of the family against the intolerable usurptions of society and the
state.  In particular the synod fathers mentioned the following
rights of the family:

  -- The right to exist and progress as a family, that is to say,
the right of every human being, even if he or she is poor, to found
a family and to have adequate means to support it;

  -- The right to exercise its responsibility regarding the
transmission of life and to educate children;

  -- The right to the stability of the bond and of the institution
of marriage;

  -- The right to believe in and profess one's faith and to
propagate it; 

  -- The right to bring up children in accordance with the family's
own traditions and religious and cultural values, with the
necessary instruments, means and institutions;

  -- The right, especially of the poor and the sick, to obtain
physical, social, political and economic security;

  -- The right to housing suitable for living family life in a
proper way;

  -- The right to expression and representation, either directly or
through associations, before the economic, social and cultural
public authorities and lower authorities;

  -- The right to form associations with other families and
institutions in order to fulfill the family's role suitably and
expeditiously;

  -- The right to protect minors by adequate institutions and
legislation from harmful drugs, pornography, alcoholism, etc;

  -- The right to wholesome recreation of a kind that also fosters
family values;

  -- The right of the elderly to a worthy life and a worthy death;

  -- The right to emigrate as a family in search of a better life
[112].

  Acceding to the synod's explicit request, the Holy See will give
prompt attention to studying these suggestions in depth and to the
preparation of a charter of rights of the family to be presented to
the quarters and authorities concerned.


47. The Christian family's grace and responsibility.
----------------------------------------------------

  The social role that belongs to every family pertains by a new
and original right to the Christian family, which is based on the
sacrament of marriage.  By taking up the human reality of the love
between husband and wife in all its implications, the sacrament
gives to Christian couples and parents a power and a commitment to
live their vocation as lay people and therefore to "seek the
kingdom of God by engaging in temporal affairs and by ordering them
according to the plan of God" [113].

  The social and political role is included in the kingly mission
of service in which Christian couples share by virtue of the
sacrament of marriage, and they receive both a command which they
cannot ignore and a grace which sustains and stimulates them.

  The Christian family is thus called to offer everyone a witness
of generous and disinterested dedication to social matters through
a "preferential option" for the poor and disadvantaged.  Therefore,
advancing in its following of the Lord by special love for all the
poor, it must have special concern for the hungry, the poor, the
old, the sick, drug victims and those who have no family.


48. For a new international order.
----------------------------------

  In view of the worldwide dimension of various social questions
nowadays, the family has seen its role with regard to the
development of society extended in a completely new way: It now
also involves cooperating for a new international order, since it
is only in worldwide solidarity that the enormous and dramatic
issues of world justice, the freedom of peoples and the peace of
humanity can be dealt with and solved.

  The spiritual communion between Christian families, rooted in a
common faith and hope and give life by love constitutes an inner
energy that generates, spreads and develops justice,
reconciliation, fraternity and peace among human beings.  Insofar
as it is a "small scale church," the Christian family is called
upon, like the "large-scale church," to be a sign of unity for the
world and in this way to exercise its prophetic role by bearing
witness to the kingdom and peace of Christ, toward which the whole
world is journeying.

  Christian families can do this through their educational activity
-- that is to say, by presenting to their children a model of life
based on the values of truth, freedom, justice and love -- both
through active and responsible involvement in the authentically
human growth of society and its institutions, and supporting in
various ways the associations specifically devoted to international
issues.

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Footnotes:

[105] Second Vatican Council, APOSTOLICAM ACTUOSITATEM, 11.

[106] GAUDIUM ET SPES, 52.

[107] Cf. Second Vatican Council, DIGNITATIS HUMANAE, 5.

[108] Rom. 12:13.

[109] Mt. 10:42.

[110] Cf. GAUDIUM ET SPES, 30.

[111] Second Vatican Council, DIGNITATIS HUMANAE, 5.

[112] Cf. PROPOSITIO 42.

[113] Second Vatican Council, LUMEN GENTIUM, 31.

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