Oct 29 Thu
Is it good to have a real family, with parents united in sacred marriage? (cont.)
In the so-called “de facto unions,” there is a serious lack of mutual commitment, and an inconsistent desire to maintain the autonomy of one’s independent will within a relationship that should be relational.
What is missing in non-marital cohabitation is trusting openness to a future life together, which love must create and build and which the law is specifically tasked to guarantee.
In other words, the law should not be a mere set of norms, but a guarantee of human coexistence and its dignity.
When “de facto unions” claim the right to adopt, they clearly show their disregard for the child’s proper upbringing.
The “de facto unions” between homosexuals are a deplorable distortion of what should be a communion of love and life between a man and a woman in a reciprocal gift open to life.
Today, there is a widespread fear of being parents coupled with a disregard for the right of children to be conceived within the context of total human self-giving, which is an indispensable prerequisite for their peaceful and harmonious growth.
Thus, an alleged right to fatherhood or motherhood at any cost is asserted, and its exercise is sought through technical means involving a series of morally illicit manipulations.
Another feature of the present cultural context is the tendency of many parents to renounce their proper role, to become merely friends to their children, refraining from warning and correcting them even when this is necessary for teaching them the truth, albeit with every affection and tenderness.
It therefore should be stressed that the education of children is a sacred duty and a shared task of the parents, both father and mother: it requires warmth, closeness, dialogue, and example. At home, parents are called to represent the good Father in heaven, the one perfect model to inspire them.
Fatherhood and motherhood, by the will of God himself, intimately share in his creative power and consequently have an intrinsic reciprocal relationship. On this subject, I wrote in the Letter to Families: “Motherhood necessarily implies fatherhood, and in turn, fatherhood necessarily implies motherhood. This is the result of the duality bestowed by the Creator upon human beings ‘from the beginning.’”
This is another reason why the relationship between man and woman is the cornerstone of social relationships: while it is the source of new human beings, it closely binds husband and wife, who have become one flesh, to each other and, through them, their respective families.
Dear brothers and sisters, as I thank you for your dedication to defending the family and its rights, I assure you of a constant remembrance in my prayer. May God make fruitful the efforts of all those who, in every part of the world, are devoted to this cause. May he help the family, the bulwark and defense of humanity itself, to withstand every attack.
Second part, excerpted from Address of John Paul II to the members of the Pontifical Council for the Family, June 4, 1999