We, 551 participants, lay faithful, religious and clergy,
coming from 14 Asian countries, 60 Philippine dioceses and 20 lay associations,
gathered in Manila from 13 to 16 May 2014 to celebrate with exuberant joy the
thirty years since the Charter of the
Rights of the Family was promulgated.
With us was the Secretary of the Pontifical Council for
the Family, Bishop Jean Laffitte, as well as 28 bishops and some men and women
of other faith traditions.
The Charter of Rights of the Family
The Charter
manifests that nothing authentically human fails to find an echo in the heart
of each believer (Gaudium et Spes, n.
1). It expresses what we hold to be the basic framework within which the human
family – any human family – every human family – can form, flourish and fulfill
its mission.
50 years since Vatican II
In the past 50 years, the world has been undergoing great
changes in the economic, social, political, cultural and religious spheres.
Affected by these changes is the most basic human institution, the family. In
fact, the family itself has been the primary beneficiary and victim of these
changes, which have become challenges to families all over the world.
Challenges and Threats
These challenges present themselves as threats to the
very existence of the family itself. Abortion kills the very life without which
no family can exist. Contraception and sterilization – and a contraceptive
mentality which refuses to shoulder the responsibility of having children – threaten
the procreative purpose of marriage and the family by attacking the very
wellsprings of human life. The advocacy for same-sex marriages likewise
attempts to reduce marriage to a sterile relationship between people of the
same sex.
An amnesia of God and moral relativism
A consumeristic, materialistic and individualistic
culture that suffers from an amnesia of
God (Pope Benedict XVI) and is fed by a certain liberal and moral relativism has also threatened the family by
breeding lifestyles harmful to family living. And so people live, motivated not
so much by the cultivation of healthy human relationships but driven rather by
the desire for money, pleasure and success. The outcome is a society where
fidelity and commitment come in short supply and are subordinated to the accumulation
of possessions and the achievement of personal ambitions; hence, the widespread
phenomenon of divorce and marital infidelity.
Poverty breeds moral desolation
Looming large like a storm cloud whose waters can drown
the family is the poverty that afflicts billions of people in our continent.
This poverty has resulted in conditions which make moral living almost
impossible, and has become a fertile field of temptations for impoverished
families to surrender their own human dignity in order to meet the economic
requirements of survival. Poverty is the fertile ground for pornography,
cybercrimes, prostitution, human trafficking, slavery, and other practices that
dehumanize and divide members of families. Poverty has also driven people to
seek means of livelihood that separate husbands and wives from each other and
from their children. Thus, poverty, the deprivation of the necessities for
decent human living, has led to the destruction of families.
The ambiguity of affluence
If poverty is gravely harmful to the family, affluence
also affects families destructively if it is not tempered by a sense of
solidarity with others, especially the poor. Affluence, when enjoyed in a
self-centered manner, can only result in the destruction of the lives of individuals
and families through hedonism and extravagance.
Threats from other institutions
Compounding the threats to the family are governments and
other social institutions that militate against life and the family through
coercive measures that run counter to the rights of individuals, couples and
families to flourish according to the natural law and the laws of the Church. This
natural law we refer to is the participation of human beings in God’s eternal
law, a participation inscribed in our very humanity and can be discovered by
the light of reason aided by the grace of God. Governments that promote
contraception, abortion, sterilization, coercive population control, divorce,
same-sex marriages and euthanasia, destroy families which they are duty-bound
to protect and foster.
A tsunami of evils
The result of all of these and other threats to family
life is a tsunami of evils threatening to engulf families today, whether they
be rich or poor.
The family is dear to the heart of God
But the present changes present not only threats but
opportunities for families. We believe that the family is especially dear to
the heart of God, for the family is the first social institution established by
God to foster, defend and promote human life and human love. It is by way of
the family, that the good of society, of humanity and of the Church herself
passes (CRF, Preamble, K). Because it is so precious to God, it must also be
most highly valued by us. Thank God, we in Asia do. Because the family is so
valuable and because God wants the future of humanity to pass through the human
family, we must safeguard, protect, foster and promote the family. We – each
one of us, all of us – must individually and together do this for what is at
stake is the future of humanity.
Therefore, we must continue to insist that:
– the family is based on marriage, that
intimate union of life in complementarity between a man and a woman which is
constituted in the freely contracted and publicly expressed indissoluble bond
of matrimony and is open to the transmission of life;
– marriage is the natural institution to which
the mission of transmitting life is exclusively entrusted;
– the family, a natural society, exists prior
to the State or any other community, and possesses inherent rights which are
inalienable (CRF, Preamble, B-D).
Because the family exists prior to the State, we should
not allow the State to encroach upon the inherent and inalienable rights of
families.
We urge respect for every human life
We urge respect for every human life from conception to
natural death and echo the words of St. John Paul II, the saint of the family,
who called upon the faithful in Asian countries “where the demographic question
is often used as an argument for the need to introduce abortion and artificial
population control programs, to resist ‘the culture of death’. They can show
their fidelity to God and their commitment to true human promotion by
supporting and participating in programs which defend the life of those who are
powerless to defend themselves” (Ecclesia
in Asia, n. 35).
The family and the destiny of nations
We should also ensure that the family remains “the place
where different generations come together and help one another to grow in human
wisdom and to harmonize the rights of individuals with other demands of social
life” (CRF, Preamble, F). We should realize that our place in human history
comes by way of our family.
The need for social equity
We commit ourselves and we urge our Asian societies to
work for a more equitable sharing in the goods of this world so as to enable
all families to have their rightful share in this world’s goods.
The family and the Church as sacrament
We in the Catholic Church have a special obligation to
protect and promote the human family and the Christian family. For the Church
is of its nature a sacrament of salvation which both signifies and effects the
union of God with human beings and the union of human beings with each other
(LG 1). Hence, what makes for the unity of human beings should be protected and
fostered by the Church. The family is, of course, most necessary for the union
of human beings with each other. But we in the Church should especially protect
and foster the Christian family because it is the basic unit of the Church, the
domestic Church, the Church in the home. As the Christian family goes, so goes
the Church. If the Christian family is strong, the Church will be strong. If
the Christian family is weak, the Church will be weak.
The Church protects the
family
But it is also true that the Church is the most potent
protector of the family. If the Church cannot protect the family, the family
will be left without much protection. But if the Church is vigorous in
protecting and fostering the family, the family will be protected and flourish.
Governments must protect the family
We urge governments to consider seriously the Charter on
the Rights of the Family in the formulation of policies affecting the family.
We pledge ourselves to encourage dialogue with our respective governments on
matters affecting the family.
The witness of families…
During this assembly, we have heard and seen couples and
young people witness how the Christian family has been a powerful transmitter
of Gospel values, and of the Good News itself. Where Christ is accepted in
faith and imitated in love, there also Christian values are protected and
transmitted and the Christian family is strengthened.
…under the sign of the Cross
In this assembly, we wish to express our solidarity with
our brothers and sisters in Asia and in other parts of the world who are
prevented from expressing their faith in God by oppressive cultural systems and
government policies.
With brothers and sisters of other faiths…
We have come to appreciate more through the sharing of
our brothers and sisters who are of other faiths that they are also our allies
in transmitting to our future generations the values of God and his Kingdom.
We choose life!
Today, we are challenged to choose between life and death
for the human family. If we choose life and obey the law of God written in our
hearts, we shall live (cf. Dt
30:19f). We in this assembly choose life for the family! We will pray and work
for the protection, preservation, and flourishing of every human family.
Encouraged by one another, we are joyful missionaries!
Strengthened by the testimony of those who have given
witness in this assembly, encouraged by our togetherness and sharing, and
fortified by the Spirit of the Lord, we go forth in joy to make of the family
and especially the Christian family Good News for the salvation of the world. We
shall be joyful missionaries for the family, proclaiming the Gospel of life and
love so as to be “a voice in public life” on behalf of freedom and justice that
cannot be silenced by force (cf. Evangelii
Gaudium, n. 74).
The Holy Family, the Family of Life
We ask the Holy Family of the Lord Jesus Christ – who is
Life (Jn 14:6) – the Blessed Virgin
Mary – Mother of Life (cf. Jn 19:26f;
cf. Rev 12:1-6) – and St. Joseph –
Guardian of Life (Mt 3:13-23) – to
intercede for us in our prayer and work for the family to the praise and glory
of the Blessed Trinity.
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