The family should never be reduced to simply mean a household of people living under the same roof, Gozo Bishop Mario Grech said, warning that the family’s identity was relentlessly being blurred.

The family should be addressed as an institution

“A family is built on a relationship between man and woman, based on the permanent bond of marriage... to procreate, raise and educate children,” he said in a pastoral letter, co-signed by chancellorSalv Debrincat.

Although this definition of the family seemed to be Catholic, the truth was founded on reason, he said.

Mgr Grech’s message sparked a debate on Facebook, where many questioned whether all those who were the product of single parent families, were really not families at all.

Others pointed out that family meanta close, loving relationship between anumber of individuals, based on mutual trust and respect.

This seemed to be exactly what Mgr Grech targeted in his pastoral letter where he pointed out that these days there was more focus on protecting an individual’s rights instead of family rights.

“In this social context, the family should be addressed as an institution. Families should be at the forefront to ensure the country’s laws defend the rights and role of the family,” he stressed.

While nobody spoke directly against the family, Mgr Grech said, a lot was being implemented in practice that threatened it, such as last year’s introduction of divorce.

In the changing face of the family there were those who separated compassion from truth and – under the pretext of sympathy – surrendered fundamental values.

The family expected its main recognition from the state and no other relationship could be compared with this. He acknowledged that political and economic entities, as well as the media, gave the family label to every experience where those who loved each other chose to live together.

“This is nothing but blindness. Those who live together are not a family, and while they have every right for the state to respecttheir individual rights, it is also the state’s duty to recognise the family for what it is and develop policies in favour of the family,” he said.

“The family is the sanctuary where human life is conceived and fostered.”

Mgr Grech said respecting human dignity did not just involve banning abortion or euthanasia, but also ensuring that methods of procreation did not jeopardise human life.

Mgr Grech said young couples were delaying getting married and starting a family because of finances, precarious work, and pressures of buying a home, among others.

He questioned if the state could step in to encourage and help families have more children to address the island’s low birth rate.

It was important to reflect on howexisting measures could be strengthenedto help young couples, not through charity,but through the creation of family-friendly conditions.

“There has to be a balance... we have to succeed to else we will be moving closer to a situation where man and the family live for work, instead of work serving the family.”

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