Feast of the Holy Family: A Different Take on "Family"

 

by Fr. Cas Paulsen CMM

I have a different take on the meaning of "family". Here in South Africa, 60% of the families are single parent households. Children, more and more, find little or no love at home and run away. I think a new way of defining family is "where one is loved and accepted unconditionally, whether it is with fellow run-aways or druggies, under the bridge or around a fire in the field, or in a shared doorway. No questions asked, just, yes, come on in and join us. Here, we can share my blanket."

What do you think? Very few families today have the same experience as many of us have had. We pray for all of them and pray that they grow up learning how to transfer that unconditional love and acceptance to their new relationships as they grow older. And we pray God to bless those who try to bring some love into their lives.   What do you think?

- Fr. Cas Paulsen CMM.

Fr. Cas, born and ordained in the USA, has been a Marianhill missionary in South Africa since the late 1960s. 

Laudato Si’ Day 6 - #51 The Ethics of International Relations

What does the Pope mean by “ecological debt”?

51. Inequity affects not only individuals but entire countries; it compels us to consider an ethics of international relations. A true “ecological debt” exists, particularly between the global north and south, connected to commercial imbalances with effects on the environment, and the disproportionate use of natural resources by certain countries over long periods of time.