Building A Culture of Life And The Family

Written by F. B. Henry, Bishop of Calgary on Friday, 13 January 2012

In a small African village, two brothers were about to set out to make their fortune in a distant country. "Go with my blessing," their father said, "but on your way put marks on the trees lest you lose your way."

So the brothers went off. The older brother proceeded through the thick forest. As he went traveled on, he cut down some trees and carve marks into others. The younger brother, however, took another route. As he journeyed on, he stopped at a various houses along the way and offered to work in return for food and shelter. He returned his hosts' kindness with generosity and gratitude. The brother made many friends all along his travels.

The two brothers returned home and shared their adventures with their father. Happy to have his sons back, their father said, "I would like to see the marks you left."

So the father went off first with his older son. They followed his road, marked by all the trees the son had cut down, eventually returning to their village.

Then the father set out with his second-born. They were received warmly by all the friends the son had made. Father and son had a wonderful time and returned home with many gifts and warm memories.

After their return, the father called together his two sons. "I have seen the work you have done. Now that I am old, I must entrust the affairs of our family to one of you." To the older brother, he said: "My son, your journey was marked by many fallen trees. But what good are such marks? You must learn to care for people."

But to the second son, he said: "I have seen with great joy the marks you left on your journey You made the most important marks: friendship, kindness, understanding, generosity. Continue to make such marks as you succeed me as head of our family."

The story reminds us that we need witnesses capable of seeing farther than others because their life is so much broader. A witness is someone who first lives the life he proposes to others.

It also emphasizes family leadership. The family is the primary cell of society; we often refer to it as “the domestic church.” It is in it that children learn the human and Christians values and virtues which enable them to have a constructive and peaceful coexistence. It is in the family that they learn solidarity between the generations, respect for rules, forgiveness and to welcome others. The family is “the first school” in which we are trained in justice and peace.

In his New Year’s Message for Peace, Pope Benedict observes that: “We are living in a world where families, and life itself, are constantly threatened and not infrequently fragmented. Working conditions which are often incompatible with family responsibilities, worries about the future, the frenetic pace of life, the need to move frequently to ensure an adequate livelihood, to say nothing of mere survival – all this makes it hard to ensure that children receive one of the most precious of treasures: the presence of their parents. This presence makes it possible to share more deeply in the journey of life and thus to pass on experiences and convictions gained with the passing of the years, experiences and convictions which can only be communicated by spending time together. I would urge parents not to grow disheartened! May they encourage children by the example of their lives to put their hope before all else in God, the one source of authentic justice and peace.”

Today, more than ever, we need to be encouraged and sustained as we strive to live out our Baptismal call and to create an authentic culture of life and family. We all know that the family is called to be the leaven of transformation for a world so desperately in need of the Good News. The family is not only a pillar of the New Evangelization to which we are called, but also the "main objective" of the New Evangelization.

This is exactly why the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops decided, at our Plenary assembly last October, to make the family a major focus of our future pastoral efforts. The CCCB, working in collaboration with the Catholic Organization for Life and Family (COLF), has developed a National Pastoral Initiative for Life and the Family. In preparation for the launching of this plan in 2013, a number of activities have been designed for implementation during 2012.

I strongly encourage each parish or pastoral unit in the Diocese to host a series of three workshops — sometime during the coming year — focusing on the content of the COLF publications and their workshop guides:

(1) World Peace: a family recipe!
Teaching our children to love Jesus, to recognize Him in each person they meet and especially in victims of injustice means gently awakening their thirst for justice and solidarity towards all humans, who are their brothers and sisters in God.

(2) Families, did you know? Love is calling your children!
In God’s great plan - a plan of love and unity - each person has a role to play. That person and no other, at a precise moment in the history of humanity, will be able to fulfill this role by answering “yes” to God’s call ... Christ will call every single one of our children to a very personal vocation. Their answer will depend to a great extent on the openness of heart acquired in the family.

(3) Work + Love = Holiness!
It is within families, among other places, that children, teenagers, and young adults learn about the meaning of life; it is within families that they also understand the importance and meaning of work ... Christians know that the main ingredient that gives any labour its value .... is the love with which it is performed.

If we are to be effective, we must work together and in a concerted way. Please be assured that you will have my full support as well as the support of the Catholic Organization for Life and Family (www.colf.ca) as we move forward with this plan.

If we seize the opportunity which this Initiative represents, there is no doubt that, with the grace of God, the Catholic Church in Canada will soon have a new generation of young families, living out the Christian vocation as effective agents of the New Evangelization!

✠ F. B. Henry
Bishop of Calgary.