Unit 5: Family Life-Loving Relationships, Commitment and Sexuality: Exam Review

family

Family is a place where we never stop learning how to love other people. In our family, we learn about

giving, forgiving, and looking beyond ourselves to be with others in solidarity. Family, a group of persons united by the ties of marriage, blood, or adoption, constituting a single household and interacting with each other in their respective social positions, usually those of spouses, parents, children, and siblings.

love

an intense feeling of deep affection.

original cell of social life

It is the natural society in which husband and wife are called to give themselves in love and in the gift of life. Authority, stability, and a life of relationships within the family constitute the foundations for freedom, security, and fraternity within society. The family is the community in which, from childhood, one can learn moral values, begin to honor God, and make good use of freedom. Family life is an initiation into life in society.

God and Jesus

God creates human beings out of love and calls them to love one another. Jesus reveals perfect love through total self-gift and teaches that love is the foundation of all moral life.

Friendship

As we develop from childhood to adulthood, we form friendships. These friendships form who we are throughout the human stages. As we build relationships based on the Gospel values, we build true friendships.

marriage

bond between two people

cohabitation

living together at least for 12 consecutive months

sexuality

is ordered to the conjugal love of man and woman. In marriage the physical intimacy of the spouses becomes a sign and pledge of spiritual communion. Marriage bonds between baptized persons are sanctified by the sacrament.

chastity

calls us to be in control of our mind and body in order to achieve sincere relationships with others

child as a gift

A child is not something owed to one, but is a gift. The "supreme gift of marriage" is a human person. A child may not be considered a piece of property, an idea to which an alleged "right to a child" would lead. In this area, only the child possesses genuine rights: the right "to be the fruit of the specific act of the conjugal love of his parents," and "the right to be respected as a person from the moment of his conception.

Pope John Paul II

promoted that "human persons are willed by God; they are imprinted with God's image"

Pope Benedict XVI

beatified Blessed Chiara Badano

Blessed Chiara Badano

a faithful, Catholic, Italian woman who is considered blessed by the Catholic Church for the miracle of saving a boy from meningitis.

Regardless of the family, what are all families called to do?

Christian families, whatever their condition, are called to keep growing and maturing and to bear much fruit.

What is the relationship between the sacraments and life stages?

In turn, the Christian family is grafted into the mystery of the Church to such a degree as to become a sharer, in its own way, in the saving mission proper to the Church: by virtue of the sacrament, Christian married couples and parents "in their state and way of life have their own special gift among the People of God." For this reason they not only receive the love of Christ and become a saved community, but they are also called upon to communicate Christ's love to their brethren, thus becoming a saving community. In this way, while the Christian family is a fruit and sign of the supernatural fecundity of the Church, it stands also as a symbol, witness and participant of the Church's motherhood.

How do you grow in a culture of life and love to build the kingdom of heaven?

We have to begin by helping our children live out the mission that was entrusted to them at their baptism: becoming collaborators with God at the beginning of this millennium, even becoming saints and apostles - not with their own strength, but by counting on the power of the Risen One, offered through prayer, the Word of God and the sacraments.

According to Jesus, what is the greatest commandment?

'you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength.' The second is this, 'You shall love your neighbour as yourself.'

What are key elements of a healthy friendship?

1. A good friend knows your secrets - they are trustworthy

2. A good friend never abandons you - never leaves you standing alone

3. A good friend always defends you - recognizes your honesty and supports it

4. A good friend doesn't offer you "smoke and mirrors" - gives true friendship

5. A good friend always gives you strong support

What are the different kinds of love? Which, according to St. Paul, is the highest form of love?

companionship, sexual love, family love, friendship, charity, self-love, romantic love, love of nature, love of god

highest form: agape

What are the key elements of a healthy family?

open communication, affirmation, trust, a sense of tradition, shared leisure time, a sense of right and wrong, a sense of responsibility, a shared religious vision

According to Pope Benedict XVI, what is the domestic church?

In 2010, Pope Benedict XVI explained that "family is the little church where we learn meaning of life". A healthy Christian family contributes to a loving and just society.

What are the four (4) tasks of the family Pope John Paul II identified in his apostolic exhortation, Familiaris Consortio (1981)?

1) forming a community of persons;

2) serving life;

3) participating in the development of society;

4) sharing in the life and mission of the Church.

How do parent and/or families help human and spiritual formation?

It helps when families are united by a common set of religious beliefs and values about the 'meaning of life'.

What is the role of parents in the education of children?

The fecundity of conjugal love cannot be reduced solely to the procreation of children, but must extend to their moral education and their spiritual formation. "The role of parents in education is of such importance that it is almost impossible to provide an adequate substitute." The right and the duty of parents to educate their children are primordial and inalienable.

Related to their children's vocations, what are parents called to do?

Family ties are important but not absolute. Just as the child grows to maturity and human and spiritual autonomy, so his unique vocation which comes from God asserts itself more clearly and forcefully. Parents should respect this call and encourage their children to follow it. They must be convinced that the first vocation of the Christian is to follow Jesus: "He who loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; and he who loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me."

What is the biggest challenge to the family?

technology/secular society

What is necessary for a married couple to have a healthy relationship and family? Any virtues?

A particular aspect of this responsibility concerns the regulation of procreation. For just reasons, spouses may wish to space the births of their children. It is their duty to make certain that their desire is not motivated by selfishness but is in conformity with the generosity appropriate to responsible parenthood. Moreover, they should conform their behavior to the objective criteria of morality: When it is a question of harmonizing married love with the responsible transmission of life, the morality of the behavior does not depend on sincere intention and evaluation of motives alone; but it must be determined by objective criteria, criteria drawn from the nature of the person and his acts criteria that respect the total meaning of mutual self-giving and human procreation in the context of true love; this is possible only if the virtue of married chastity is practiced with sincerity of heart

What are the benefits of marriage compared to cohabitation (common-law)?

a marriage has the best chance for long-term success when the couple have gone together at least two (2) years before marriage, and the poorest chance when they have gone together for less than six (6) months.

People have the mistaken belief that if they live with someone before they get married they can avoid the mistake of marrying someone with whom they are not compatible.

Research studies concluded that living together does not improve the chances of selecting a compatible mate.

Couples who had not lived together in a "trial marriage" had higher marriage adjustment scores one year after marriage than those who had cohabitated before they married.

Marital communication and overall marital satisfaction were higher for couples that did NOT live together until after they married.

According to the Church, sexual intercourse is reserved only for this type of relationship?

marriage

From a Christian perspective, what is the gift of sexuality and how should it be treated?

The Church teaches that sexual intercourse has a purpose; and that outside marriage it is contrary to its purpose. According to the Catechism of the Catholic Church, "conjugal love ... aims at a deeply personal unity, a unity that, beyond union in one flesh, leads to forming one heart and soul", since the marriage bond is to be a sign of the love between God and humanity.

What are examples of sexuality that is distorted?

rape, lust, pornography, selling through sex

What is the Christian perspective of sex, children, contraception, abortion and Natural Family Planning?

According to the Catholic Church, sexual relations are reserved for marriage since the purpose of sexual intercourse is two-fold: 1. God designed unity between spouses of the opposite sex; and 2. a natural openness to new life (procreation).

The Catholic Church is opposed to the use of any contraception since they are unnatural ways of regulating childbirth. The Church promotes Natural Family Planning.

Remember, God demands that every sexual act be within marriage and open to procreation. Contraception unnaturally attempts to stop that possibility.