I. THE FAMILY IN GOD'S
PLAN
The nature of the family
2201 The conjugal community is established
upon the consent of the spouses. Marriage and the family are ordered to the good
of the spouses and to the procreation and education of children. The love of the
spouses and the begetting of children create among members of the same family
personal relationships and primordial responsibilities.
2202 A man and a woman united in marriage,
together with their children, form a family. This institution is prior to any
recognition by public authority, which has an obligation to recognize it. It
should be considered the normal reference point by which the different forms of
family relationship are to be evaluated.
2203 In creating man and woman, God instituted
the human family and endowed it with its fundamental constitution. Its members
are persons equal in dignity. For the common good of its members and of society,
the family necessarily has manifold responsibilities, rights, and duties.
The Christian family
2204 "The Christian family constitutes a
specific revelation and realization of ecclesial communion, and for this reason
it can and should be called a domestic church."[9] It is a community of
faith, hope, and charity; it assumes singular importance in the Church, as is
evident in the New Testament.[10]
2205 The Christian family is a communion of
persons, a sign and image of the communion of the Father and the Son in the Holy
Spirit. In the procreation and education of children it reflects the Father's
work of creation. It is called to partake of the prayer and sacrifice of Christ.
Daily prayer and the reading of the Word of God strengthen it in charity. The
Christian family has an evangelizing and missionary task.
2206 The relationships within the family bring
an affinity of feelings, affections and interests, arising above all from the
members' respect for one another. The family is a privileged community called to
achieve a "sharing of thought and common deliberation by the spouses as
well as their eager cooperation as parents in the children's
upbringing."[11]
II. THE FAMILY AND
SOCIETY
2207 The family is the original cell of social
life. It is the natural society in which husband and wife are called to give
themselves in love and in the gift of life. Authority, stability, and a life of
relationships within the family constitute the foundations for freedom,
security, and fraternity within society. The family is the community in which,
from childhood, one can learn moral values, begin to honor God, and make good
use of freedom. Family life is an initiation into life in society.
2208 The family should live in such a way that
its members learn to care and take responsibility for the young, the old, the
sick, the handicapped, and the poor. There are many families who are at times
incapable of providing this help. It devolves then on other persons, other
families, and, in a subsidiary way, society to provide for their needs:
"Religion that is pure and undefiled before God and the Father is this: to
visit orphans and widows in their affliction and to keep oneself unstained from
the world."[12]
2209 The family must be helped and defended by
appropriate social measures. Where families cannot fulfill their
responsibilities, other social bodies have the duty of helping them and of
supporting the institution of the family. Following the principle of
subsidiarity, larger communities should take care not to usurp the family's
prerogatives or interfere in its life.
2210 The importance of the family for the life
and well-being of society[13] entails a particular responsibility for society to
support and strengthen marriage and the family. Civil authority should consider
it a grave duty "to acknowledge the true nature of marriage and the family,
to protect and foster them, to safeguard public morality, and promote domestic
prosperity."[14]
2211 The political community has a duty to
honor the family, to assist it, and to ensure especially:
- the freedom to establish a family, have children, and bring them up in keeping
with the family's own moral and religious convictions;
- the protection of the stability of the marriage bond and the institution of
the family;
- the freedom to profess one's faith, to hand it on, and raise one's children in
it, with the necessary means and institutions;
- the right to private property, to free enterprise, to obtain work and housing,
and the right to emigrate;
- in keeping with the country's institutions, the right to medical care,
assistance for the aged, and family benefits;
- the protection of security and health, especially with respect to dangers like
drugs, pornography, alcoholism, etc.;
- the freedom to form associations with other families and so to have
representation before civil authority.[15]
2212 The fourth commandment illuminates other
relationships in society. In our brothers and sisters we see the children of our
parents; in our cousins, the descendants of our ancestors; in our fellow
citizens, the children of our country; in the baptized, the children of our
mother the Church; in every human person, a son or daughter of the One who wants
to be called "our Father." In this way our relationships with our
neighbors are recognized as personal in character. The neighbor is not a
"unit" in the human collective; he is "someone" who by his
known origins deserves particular attention and respect.
2213 Human communities are made up of persons.
Governing them well is not limited to guaranteeing rights and fulfilling duties
such as honoring contracts. Right relations between employers and employees,
between those who govern and citizens, presuppose a natural good will in keeping
with the dignity of human persons concerned for justice and fraternity.
III. THE DUTIES OF
FAMILY MEMBERS
The duties of children
2214 The divine fatherhood is the source of
human fatherhood;[16] this is the foundation of the honor owed to parents. The
respect of children, whether minors or adults, for their father and mother[17]
is nourished by the natural affection born of the bond uniting them. It is
required by God's commandment.[18]
2215 Respect for parents (filial piety)
derives from gratitude toward those who, by the gift of life, their love and
their work, have brought their children into the world and enabled them to grow
in stature, wisdom, and grace. "With all your heart honor your father, and
do not forget the birth pangs of your mother. Remember that through your parents
you were born; what can you give back to them that equals their gift to
you?"[19]
2216 Filial respect is shown by true docility
and obedience. "My son, keep your father's commandment, and forsake not
your mother's teaching.... When you walk, they will lead you; when you lie down,
they will watch over you; and when you awake, they will talk with you."[20]
"A wise son hears his father's instruction, but a scoffer does not listen
to rebuke."[21]
2217 As long as a child lives at home with his
parents, the child should obey his parents in all that they ask of him when it
is for his good or that of the family. "Children, obey your parents in
everything, for this pleases the Lord."[22] Children should also obey the
reasonable directions of their teachers and all to whom their parents have
entrusted them. But if a child is convinced in conscience that it would be
morally wrong to obey a particular order, he must not do so.
As they grow up, children should continue to respect their parents. They should
anticipate their wishes, willingly seek their advice, and accept their just
admonitions. Obedience toward parents ceases with the emancipation of the
children; not so respect, which is always owed to them. This respect has its
roots in the fear of God, one of the gifts of the Holy Spirit.
2218 The fourth commandment reminds grown
children of their responsibilities toward their parents. As much as they can,
they must give them material and moral support in old age and in times of
illness, loneliness, or distress. Jesus recalls this duty of gratitude.[23]
For the Lord honored the father above the children, and he confirmed the right
of the mother over her sons. Whoever honors his father atones for sins, and
whoever glorifies his mother is like one who lays up treasure. Whoever honors
his father will be gladdened by his own children, and when he prays he will be
heard. Whoever glorifies his father will have long life, and whoever obeys the
Lord will refresh his mother.[24]
O son, help your father in his old age, and do not grieve him as long as he
lives; even if he is lacking in understanding, show forbearance; in all your
strength do not despise him.... Whoever forsakes his father is like a
blasphemer, and whoever angers his mother is cursed by the Lord.[25]
2219 Filial respect promotes harmony in all of
family life; it also concerns relationships between brothers and sisters.
Respect toward parents fills the home with light and warmth. "Grandchildren
are the crown of the aged."[26] "With all humility and meekness, with
patience, [support] one another in charity."[27]
2220 For Christians a special gratitude is due
to those from whom they have received the gift of faith, the grace of Baptism,
and life in the Church. These may include parents, grandparents, other members
of the family, pastors, catechists, and other teachers or friends. "I am
reminded of your sincere faith, a faith that dwelt first in your grandmother
Lois and your mother Eunice and now, I am sure, dwells in you."[28]
The duties of parents
2221 The fecundity of conjugal love cannot be
reduced solely to the procreation of children, but must extend to their moral
education and their spiritual formation. "The role of parents in education
is of such importance that it is almost impossible to provide an adequate
substitute."[29] The right and the duty of parents to educate their
children are primordial and inalienable.[30]
2222 Parents must regard their children as
children of God and respect them as human persons. Showing themselves obedient
to the will of the Father in heaven, they educate their children to fulfill
God's law.
2223 Parents have the first responsibility for
the education of their children. They bear witness to this responsibility first
by creating a home where tenderness, forgiveness, respect, fidelity, and
disinterested service are the rule. The home is well suited for education in the
virtues. This requires an apprenticeship in self-denial, sound judgment, and
self-mastery - the preconditions of all true freedom. Parents should teach their
children to subordinate the "material and instinctual dimensions to
interior and spiritual ones."[31] Parents have a grave responsibility to
give good example to their children. By knowing how to acknowledge their own
failings to their children, parents will be better able to guide and correct
them:
He who loves his son will not spare the rod.... He who disciplines his son will
profit by him.[32]
Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the
discipline and instruction of the Lord.[33]
2224 The home is the natural environment for
initiating a human being into solidarity and communal responsibilities. Parents
should teach children to avoid the compromising and degrading influences which
threaten human societies.
2225 Through the grace of the sacrament of
marriage, parents receive the responsibility and privilege of evangelizing their
children. Parents should initiate their children at an early age into the
mysteries of the faith of which they are the "first heralds" for their
children. They should associate them from their tenderest years with the life of
the Church.[34] A wholesome family life can foster interior dispositions that
are a genuine preparation for a living faith and remain a support for it
throughout one's life.
2226 Education in the faith by the parents
should begin in the child's earliest years. This already happens when family
members help one another to grow in faith by the witness of a Christian life in
keeping with the Gospel. Family catechesis precedes, accompanies, and enriches
other forms of instruction in the faith. Parents have the mission of teaching
their children to pray and to discover their vocation as children of God.[35]
The parish is the Eucharistic community and the heart of the liturgical life of
Christian families; it is a privileged place for the catechesis of children and
parents.
2227 Children in turn contribute to the growth
in holiness of their parents.[36] Each and everyone should be generous and
tireless in forgiving one another for offenses, quarrels, injustices, and
neglect. Mutual affection suggests this. The charity of Christ demands it.[37]
2228 Parents' respect and affection are
expressed by the care and attention they devote to bringing up their young
children and providing for their physical and spiritual needs. As the children
grow up, the same respect and devotion lead parents to educate them in the right
use of their reason and freedom.
2229 As those first responsible for the
education of their children, parents have the right to choose a school for them
which corresponds to their own convictions. This right is fundamental. As far as
possible parents have the duty of choosing schools that will best help them in
their task as Christian educators.[38] Public authorities have the duty of
guaranteeing this parental right and of ensuring the concrete conditions for its
exercise.
2230 When they become adults, children have
the right and duty to choose their profession and state of life. They should
assume their new responsibilities within a trusting relationship with their
parents, willingly asking and receiving their advice and counsel. Parents should
be careful not to exert pressure on their children either in the choice of a
profession or in that of a spouse. This necessary restraint does not prevent
them - quite the contrary from giving their children judicious advice,
particularly when they are planning to start a family.
2231 Some forgo marriage in order to care for
their parents or brothers and sisters, to give themselves more completely to a
profession, or to serve other honorable ends. They can contribute greatly to the
good of the human family.
