Beating out the Tenenbaums!

Some thoughts on modern family life. (Can't use this picture enough!)

Pope Benedict's recent pilgrimage to Spain was to attend the World Meeting of Families in Valencia. As everyone knows, the traditional family is being undermined by secular culture. The list of what is infecting and attacking the family is a long one; contraception, abortion, children out of wedlock, single parent homes, gay marriage, etc. Contemporary culture is trying to destroy the family - we all know that. So is materialism.

My friend Don Marco, in a homily yesterday was speaking about what went wrong after Vatican II. He said:

" What happened? The reality was one­ sided: Church listening to world without world listening to Church. Church adapting to world without world adapting to Church. Church open to world without world open to Church. Instead of the Church evangelizing the world, the world began secularizing the Church. Confusion ensued. In many cases, the General Chapters of Renewal mandated by the Second Vatican Council were, in effect, Chapters of Demolition, breaking with the past and intoxicated with change for the sake of change. Seminaries and novitiates closed. People stopped going to Mass. Children stopped learning their catechism and their prayers. In a single generation, families that had been strong in the Catholic faith for centuries fell away from the Church, some into agnosticism, some into neo-paganism, some into materialism and indifference."

This wonderful monk from Rome hit it pretty dead on. After Humanae Vitae was promulgated by Paul VI and it's subsequent rejection by many, if not most, the contraceptive mentality was in full swing. Sexual morality fell by the wayside while economic affluence excellerated, and materialism and luxury became the staple of many people's lives. Through it all developed a relatively good mantra, 'focus on the children' ostensibly regarding impoverished children of the underclass who lacked basic education and the means to acquire it - naturally, it is more comprehensive than that, but I won't develop that for this post.

It seems to me that oftentimes the 'focus on the children' thing is taken to extremes by the upper middle class family. How do I mean that? I'm talking about parents who spoil their kids. Parents who oftentimes both have jobs outside the home and who become their kids servants. They car pool their kids to this game and that activity to the point of exhaustion. They 'wine and dine' them and take them on exotic vacations. They buy them everything they want and all of the latest software, cell phones, and ipods - anything they want. If they want designer clothes, they got it. If they want tatoos and body piercings and multi-colored hair - they got it.

Yes these parents also pay for a great education and provide a wonderful home, sometimes a lake cabin to boot, for the family. Many provide a Catholic atmosphere in their homes and encourage prayer and catechisis. Most attend Mass on Saturday night, or Sunday morning, or even Sunday night, if they are late getting back from the cabin. Whatever, they squeeze it in. Sometimes they even luck out by attending a wedding on Saturday afternoon, which they reckon kills two birds with one stone - it takes care of the Sunday obligation as well.

Cardinal Re spoke about what is important for the family at Valencia this past weekend, here is a report on that:

" Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re, prefect of the Congregation for Bishops and president of the Pontifical Commission for Latin America, said during the International Theological Pastoral Congress at the World Meeting of Families that faith and not material possessions is the greatest inheritance parents can leave their children.

At the closing Mass of the Congress, which was concelebrated by some two thousand bishops, Cardinal Re explained that, “some parents cannot leave many things as an inheritance, but if they pass on the faith to their children they will be giving them the most precious good that exists.”According to the AVAN news agency, Cardinal Re maintained that, “what is sown in the heart of a child will bear fruit in the future,” and that there are many parents, “whose faith is deepened thanks to their children, in whom they see the values of the Gospel.”The cardinal said many people do not value the importance of the family out of selfishness, over-dedication to work, or the desire to follow the latest fads. He also reiterated that teaching children to pray is, “to teach them the greatest strength,” for their lives." - Catholic News Agency

I was thinking on similar lines this past week when considering family life and parental responsibilities. I wondered how many parents realize how importatnt it is to raise children to be saints? How many raise them in such a way as to avoid mortal sin, at all costs, even to the point of death, as in the case of St. Maria Goretti? Material goods, scholastic and athletic achievements, grace and natural beauty, riches and wealth, things many parents and their children think are almighty important - they are just not. What is of prime importance is their soul and their eternal salvation, and sadly, a lot of kids - their parents as well - do not know what that means.

St. John of the Cross writes; "Christ says of these people, that they circle the earth and the sea in order to enrich their children, and they make them children of perdition twofold more than they themselves are." [Mt. 23:15] It is just such a sobering awesome responsibilty to be a parent and raise children. Let's pray for families - parents and children.