Think of the witness of a vibrant family. Within the family, we first encounter joys, trials and tensions – and we learn to navigate them. Within the family, we learn to know ourselves and to relate with others. A joyful, faithful family is at the center of evangelization in a society eroding the values of marriage and family life.
With enthusiasm and charity, Pope Francis exhorts the faithful to not only reflect on the vocation of the family, but also to consider how the Church can support and renew the family.
This past fall, the Synod of Bishops addressed the contemporary reality of the family. As we know, the diagnosis is bleak – sociocultural realities discourage the young from marrying and affect the increasing number of divorces, and a disrespect for life belittles motherhood and perpetuates the exploitation of children.
Yet we keep our gaze on Christ and on revelation to understand the original mission of the family! Indeed, Jesus is born in a family. Jesus reaffirms the enduring union of man and woman (Matthew 19:8) and yet extends genuine mercy to the Samaritan woman who lives outside this union (John 4:1-30).
Recent Church documents continue teachings on marriage and the family that have been consistent for centuries. In Gaudium et Spes, marriage is defined as a community of “life and love,” which includes a mutual gift of self (48). In Humanae Vitae, Blessed Pope Paul VI specially addresses the intimate union of conjugal love and the generation of life. Pope Francis explores the connection of family and faith in Lumen Fidei, declaring that faith “makes us aware of a magnificent calling, the vocation of love” (53).
In their assembly, our pontiff and the world’s bishops posed a dynamic Church-wide query – how can the Church support the family and its mission as seen in Christ and revelation?
From the beginning, pastoral care for families should start with the whole community guiding engaged couples in their preparation for marriage. This support necessarily continues during those “vital and sensitive” first years of marriage. All churches must aspire to be welcoming and resourceful communities, supporting families as they face the challenges of raising and educating children in today’s culture.
Pope Francis and the bishops also emphasize that while continuing to proclaim the “Gospel of the Family” and foster marriage, there is a pressing necessity for a courageous and constructive pastoral response to “a great many who no longer live in this reality.”
In imitation of the charity and mercy of Christ, pastoral care extends also to civilly married couples, couples living together and wounded families. The Synod particularly encourages reflection on how to care for wounded families – people who are separated, divorced and not remarried, divorced and remarried or single parents.
Following the assembly, Pope Francis addressed an international, inter-religious gathering and spoke of endeavoring to care for our fragile social environment like we endeavor to care for our natural environment. As society continues to threaten the institution of the family, the pontiff calls us to “foster a new human ecology and advance it!”
The Synod of Bishops will reconvene this fall to continue their dialectic on the mission of the family in the church and the contemporary world. In the interim, the questions raised by their prior assembly will be developed and clarified through reflection in local churches and their lay movements and organizations.
May we support our pontiff and our bishops during this time through ongoing charitable dialogue and prayer!
Let us pray for the Synod of Bishops on the Family in the words Pope Francis provided on the Feast of the Holy Family (Dec. 29, 2013):
Jesus, Mary and Joseph,
in you we contemplate
the splendor of true love,
to you we turn with trust.
Holy Family of Nazareth,
grant that our families too
may be places of communion and prayer,
authentic schools of the Gospel
and small domestic Churches.
Holy Family of Nazareth,
may families never again
experience violence, rejection and division:
may all who have been hurt or scandalized
find ready comfort and healing.
Holy Family of Nazareth,
may the approaching Synod of Bishops
make us once more mindful
of the sacredness and inviolability of the family,
and its beauty in God’s plan.
Jesus, Mary and Joseph,
graciously hear our prayer.
