Bishop Gervas Rozario: problems facing family life are Churches’ greatest challenge
Rajshahi (AsiaNews) - The problems facing family life are Churches' greatest challenge. It was the case in the past, it is still the case today and will be the case in the future. Thus it has prompted the Bishop of Rajshahi, Msgr. Gervas Rozario, to pen a pastoral letter entitled "proclaiming the Gospel in Christian families".
"The family - says the bishop - is the fundamental unit of society and the Church. It is the principal center of human society and of the Church, thus challenging the family means challenging the Church." God, he adds, has a plan for the family and every Christian family is a "domestic Church", thus every family has the responsibility to be holy, catholic and missionary. This is the vocation of every family, in the name of God.
Bishop Gervas Rozario, who is
also chairman of the Episcopal Commission for Social Communications, shows how "
the challenges for families are
gradually increasing", indicating problems present in the past
in the diocese such as poverty, alcohol
abuse, arguments between husband and wife and now coupled with additional problems, such as an anti-Christian culture, the use of artificial methods of birth control and abortion, marriage and
easy divorce, the absence of a parent for reasons of work, the lack of proper communication between
family members, the negative influence
of the media, and so on. Moreover the problem of many young Christians
who reject or are indifferent towards
religion and that's why many of
them marry non-Christians and give up their faith.
The solution of these problems that
challenge family life, in his view,
lies in children's education, so that they can understand their problems
and find a the solution. Every family
should be "a family for the family". This is why the Gospel must be proclaimed in the Christian family. "Dialogue,
forgiveness, justice and concord can
bring peace to the family." Priests, nuns, religious and catechists should
regularly visit families to advise them on this.
The bishop speaks of a lack of understanding about marriage and
family formation. Parents fail to educate young people to marriage and
family life and the
impact on younger generations is
negative. Many young people "live
together" without marriage and
break the traditions of the Church
and of society, and young Christians marry non-Christians, creating problems in the
family and in society. We propose
courses of preparation for marriage,
but many young people do not participate.
Due to the lack of knowledge of proper family
life many new marriages end in divorce and separation".
The bishop claims that there are tensions between those who live together without
being married. "We should always be ready
to offer our pastoral service to make
a really Catholic family. Sometimes they
face tensions from the local community for having broken the. But we must welcome
those who want to come back and offer them confession so
that they can begin a new life in
the Catholic community.
"Educating children is an important responsibility for the parents,"
said the bishop. "So we
should properly form our children." He also said that good
counsel is an essential tool for
the peace of the family, therefore, priests and nuns should give priority to the family, providing
more time for family counselling.
Husband and wife should
spend more time together to ensure a responsible use of social media and should listen carefully to their children and then give
them a good education.
The family says the
bishop, is a small democracy. If
the family members gather together
in daily prayer and try to get to know one another, they can express their opinions and
points of view and also make plans for the future. This meeting of sharing
can help remove misunderstandings
and foster peace and fraternity in the
family. This encourages a responsible family and this family
will be a vital part of the
church and the parish.
Bishop Gervas Rozario
concludes with the advice of travelling together as a family.
It will help family members to spend quality time
together. "Each guardian should watch over all family members, where he/she
goes and what he/she does, give them priority and take care of children and the
elderly in particualr".
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