Speaking to the Roman Curia on December 21 Pope Benedict said: “The family is still strong and vibrant today. But there is no denying the crisis that threatens it to its foundations – especially in the western world.

“The challenges are man­ifold. First of all there is the question of the human capacity to make a commitment or to avoid commitment. Man’s refusal to make any commitment – which is becoming increasingly widespread as a result of a false understanding of freedom and self-realisation as well as the desire to escape suffering – means that man remains closed in on himself and keeps his ‘I’ ultimately for himself, without really rising above it.

“When commitment is repudiated, the key figures of human existence vanish: father, mother, child – essential elements of the experience of being human are lost.”

Strong families make for healthy societies

In an interview published on De­cem­ber 21, Vincenzo Paglia, president of the Pontifical Council for the Family said: “When the Book of Genesis says, ‘It’s not good for the man to be alone’, it’s not a superficial or cultural affirmation. It’s speaking about the essence of the human person and the need for a family written in the heart of every person.”

Mgr Paglia added that the Church’s teaching about marriage as a sacrament between one man and one woman committed to each other for life and open to having children coincides with the truth taught by human nature itself.

He said the Church’s promotion and defence the traditional family as good for society and the world should be considered as “the first roadblock” against the “dictatorship of individualism”. This is so, added Mgr Paglia, because the family emphasises the “we”, not the “I”.

US priest to succeed Mgr Charles Scicluna

Fr Robert Oliver from the Boston Archdiocese, will succeed Mgr Charles Scicluna as Promoter of Justice at the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, the Vatican’s prosecutor in clerical sex abuse cases.

The appointment was met with criticism by some groups representing sex abuse victims, as Fr Oliver was the advisor of Cardinal Bernard Law, who was forced to resign as Archbishop of Boston because of revelations that he had covered up evidence of sexual abuse. But it was pointed out that there is no evidence Fr Oliver had advised him to cover up the abuse. On the contrary, he helped draft the new sex abuse policies that the archdiocese adopted in 2003, after Cardinal Law’s departure.

University’s outreach to LGBT students

A pastoral plan aimed at the support and holistic development of gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgendered students has been adopted by the Catholic University of Notre Dame in the US. The plan allows for the creation of a recognised student organisation designed to provide peer-to-peer support, direct service opportunities, and friendship for gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgendered and questioning students as well as their heterosexual allies.

Syrian Christians fear for the future

According to Associated Press reports, Christians who remain in Syria are fearful for their future as the ranks of Syrian rebels are becoming dominated by Islamists. This fear is on top of the other dangers faced by all Syrians, that is, the violence perpetrated by government troops.

(Compiled by Fr Joe Borg)

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