Families have always been the bedrock of the Christian church. Unfortunately, over the last fifty-five years, families and marriage have come under relentless assault from an ever-growing secular society. Nearly all agree, the two major issues confronting the Church today are abortion and the destruction of the family. They are the primary issues; nevertheless, we rarely hear them discussed in churches. Abortion destroys the life of a human being created in the image of Almighty God. It also destroys the potential family. The product of the parents’ physical union is extinguished. Sadly, God’s greatest gift to us is our life; yet millions upon millions of Americans chose to spurn that precious gift and cast their offspring into the garbage heap.
No one doubts that the family has been under a cultural assault for more than a few decades. There are many sociological explanations, but what seems to be a major—no, the major problem, is the lack of Jesus Christ in many of today’s families. As government programs are created that work to replace fathers, and the institution of marriage is refined; its importance is minimized. Consequently, we now see millions of children raised in fatherless households. The Church considers marriage to be a holy Sacrament; nevertheless, hundreds of thousands of Catholics who do get married now ignore the sacramentality of the institution, Often, they are married by a layman or woman holding an internet license. God no longer dwells at the center of their union.
In the modern families, less and less people have a relationship with or even knowledge of Jesus Christ, and it shows. We see that many Gen Xers and Millenniums have left the Church, and Boomers or older generations are not doing much about it. The Church must ask itself whether we really believe Jesus’ words and whether we really love these people? We know what Christ teaches about eternal life. Unfortunately, many seem to ignore those commandments, within their own extended families.
We are in a time when Catholic children and grandchildren are not hearing of the love of Jesus Christ. They follow an empty, godless, secular culture, and we see the results. We see a drop in Church attendance and an increase of the Nones – those with no religion. Sadly, we also see a commensurate increase in depression, in drug addiction and in suicide with young adults and teenagers.
All the studies and surveys show us what we know. Solid families, who attend Church, with Jesus at their center, experience these type tragedies at a much lower rate. Bringing Jesus to our families, friends, and acquaintances, not only brings eternal salvation, it brings better earthly lives. Jesus gives us a Great Commission because He loves us; nevertheless, we see the deleterious effect when we, as a parish or Church, do not step up to the plate to answer. It is a critical commission and a most serious call. We need to really ask ourselves whether we do love our friends and family if we are not sharing the Gospel with them.
As a Church we must reach these lost generations and share the possibly of a real relationship with Almighty God with them. We want to reach out to those generations who are not totally committed to their faith, and to their children’s faith. We need to reach them for their individual salvation and for the survival of our Church in this post-Christian and increasingly anti-Christian world.