Marriage and the family

Many express their great concern for the acute crisis which marriage and the family are experiencing all over the globe. It does seem, however, that few are aware that it is only a collective effort that will help save marriage and the family.

Many today speak and write in terms of statistics and relative comparisons between one nation and another, between one continent and another, between the past and the present. And they just stop there.

As far as our archdiocese is concerned, one hopes that the Synod will lead to a collective effort to strengthen both marriage and the family in Malta. Besides the Lord's help and prayer we all have to make a sustained effort.

Indeed, the family is the basic community in society. In its multifaceted forms it is the universal experience of humanity, and as such it is a profound influence on spiritual and emotional growth. For the vast majority of people the most important human relationship they have is marriage.

The family is the universal school of life and the school of love. Life and love move on meaningfully hand in hand in an ongoing journey. It is love that gives oxygen to life, as well as tone and tune to family life.

Strong families mean a strong society. If the family is weakened, then the whole quality of life within our society is impaired and the average individual finds it even more difficult to learn how to love and to form mature and satisfactory relationships. On its part the Church cannot focus simply on Christian marriage but on the situation of family life in today's society.

The encyclical Humanae Vitae (On Human Love) is the authentic teaching of the Church. Regrettably, a good section of foreign media had labelled this immortal document of the late Pope Paul VI as the "encyclical of the Pill"! This document has to be read and appreciated in the light of the Vatican Council's teaching.

The Church's mind on the full meaning of marriage and the human relationship within marriage needs continual examination and deeper explanation to enable it to be better understood and lived in complete fidelity to be the Church's magisterium.

It is very clear that the most important and characteristic feature of Christ's teaching on marriage was his insistence on its penanence, on the life-long commitment of husband and wife to each other.

It is appropriate to quote an extract from Pope John Paul's address at York during his pastoral visit to the England: "Treasure your families. Protect their rights. Support the family by your laws and administration. Allow the voice of the family to be heard in the making of your policies. The future of your society, the future of humanity, passes by way of the family."