A Family
Manifesto - How to Read Familiaris Consortio
by Joseph
Atkinson - February 3, 2011
Pope
John Paul II was a brave man. Speaking the truth in unstable and unfriendly
countries, standing boldly against the popular demise of morality, traveling
furiously even when weakened by sickness – no one could deny his courage.
But
the pope did more than just model strength for us: He called us to it. His
apostolic exhortation, Familiaris Consortio (On the Role of the Christian
Family in the Modern World [1981]), was such a call. This papal document sets
out the seemingly impossible mission facing every married couple and every
family in the world today: It alerts us to the fact that "the family is
the object of numerous forces that seek to destroy it or in some way to deform
it" and then reveals strategies for overcoming them. It shows a dying
society the root of its problems and offers a renewed vision of human life,
marriage, and family that will bring healing to a wounded humanity.
Given
its urgent call to action, its sense of impending danger, and the fact that the
pope himself called it a summa of the Church's teaching on the family, it's
strange that this document has remained largely neglected since its publication
30 years ago. Why this reaction?
The
answer lies in the fact that the teaching of Familiaris Consortio is
incompatible with the secular belief system that has deeply affected our
culture. The pope showed that there are two incompatible visions of reality. In
presenting a biblical vision of man, he challenged the presuppositions of all
secular rationalists (whether in society or in the Church) about the nature of
man and woman, marriage and the family. In proclaiming "the plan of God
for marriage and the family," the pope called us all to a fundamental
conversion, to the "acceptance of the Gospel." Implied in this call
is a conversion from the secular to the biblical view of reality. In this way,
Familiaris Consortio stands out in the modern intellectual landscape as a sign
of contradiction. While such signs are rarely welcomed, they are, nonetheless,
a source of hope.
The Real Danger
Familiaris
Consortio gives us a plan of action. First, it identifies the real and present
danger: "At the present time, [there are] ideas and solutions which are
very appealing, but which obscure in varying degrees the truth and the dignity
of the human person… These views are often supported by the powerful and
pervasive organization of the means of social communication, which subtly
endanger freedom and the capacity for objective judgment. Many are already
aware of this danger to the human person."
To respond
to these ideologies, the pope constructed what is known as a "theological
anthropology" – a view of the human person that respects his dignity by
respecting his specific created nature. In the early Church, the very nature of
salvation was threatened by the Christological heresies: A misunderstanding of
Christ's nature led inevitably to a misunderstanding of the nature of
salvation. The Church fought vigorously against those early enemies of the
truth. Today, the heresies that have arisen are not Christological but
anthropological. Now, the very nature of man and our fundamental relationships
with one another, as well as with God, are severely threatened. The pope's
construction of a theological anthropology was his answer to the modern
heresies. Secular ideologies have systematically imposed their vision of
reality on society. That vision has included a faulty egalitarianism, a
reduction of all sexual differentiation to mere biology, and an understanding
of the body and sexual relationships as merely instrumental. In this view, life
is devoid of any metaphysical dimension (see the pope's Letter to Families
[1994]).
In
contrast to these destructive "heresies," Familiaris Consortio's
vision of human nature is based on the revelational witness of Scripture and
grounded in the theology of creation. Like the Lord Himself, it takes us
"back to the beginning" (cf. Matthew 19:1-6). This alone can overcome
the false views dominating our society; the enemy must be revealed and a
response formulated.
The Enemy Exposed
At
the heart of the flawed secular view of reality lies a false notion of freedom.
This faulty view leads inexorably to a disintegrative and destructive
understanding of the person. Speaking about abortion, divorce, contraception,
and other depersonalizing practices, John Paul II astutely revealed their root
cause: "At the root of these negative phenomena there frequently lies a
corruption of the idea and the experience of freedom, conceived not as a
capacity for realizing the truth of God's plan for marriage and the family, but
as an autonomous power of self-affirmation, often against others, for one's own
selfish well-being."
This
distinction is difficult for the secular mind to grasp. As with every age, ours
has been seduced by the First Temptation, the temptation to reject creaturely
obedience to God and replace it with the lordship of "self." While
this grab for power may initially feel liberating, it ends in the isolation of
self-captivity. Familiaris Consortio exposes the truth about the autonomous,
self-referential individual. In rejecting his dependent relationship with God,
man becomes depersonalized and destructive. Only by a fundamental reorientation
toward the Creator and the acceptance of the structure, meaning, and purpose of
human nature as it is divinely revealed can man discover his true self. For
this reason, Familiaris Consortio begins with a fundamental call to conversion
and states that "the Church is deeply convinced that only by the
acceptance of the gospel are the hopes that man legitimately places in marriage
and in the family capable of being fulfilled." But a sophisticated modern
society finds the simplicity and humility required for such a conversion
difficult to accept.
Image and Likeness
Every
good battle plan has a strategy. Familiaris Consortio is no different, but
unlike the elaborate designs drawn by generals past, its power lies in its
fundamental simplicity. The apostolic exhortation shows that the answer to the
modern crisis lies in recovering the theology of creation as a vital part of
any anthropological discourse. The fundamental reorientation toward the Creator
requires our acceptance of creaturely status. Only in this way can the vertical
dimension to human existence be rediscovered.
Of
course, in a society that worships "self," it's extremely difficult
to recall people to this saner view of reality – the view that we're not the
creators of our own nature. Nevertheless, Familiaris Consortio unabashedly
proclaims that only in his relationship to God can man (and hence marriage and
family) ever come into fullness of being: "Willed by God in the very act
of creation, marriage and the family are interiorly ordained to fulfillment in
Christ, and have need of His graces in order to be healed from the wounds of sin
and restored to their 'beginning,' that is, to full understanding and the full
realization of God's plan."
Human
nature, marriage, and family are not social constructs subject to manipulation
for the advancement of specific agendas. Rather, they're formed and informed by
God's loving plan and interiorly oriented toward Christ. We're called to be
faithful to this will – not to any political expediency.
In
calling us to battle, the pope isn't leaving us unarmed. Familiaris Consortio
provides tools that effectively defeat the destructive hold that secularism has
on the modern mind. The document's implicit critique of rationalism is fully
developed in Letter to Families. There the pope shows that at the heart of
modern rationalism lies its rejection of the metaphysical dimension.
"Modern rationalism does not tolerate mystery… Rationalism provides a
radically different way of looking at creation and the meaning of human
existence… What is left except the mere temporal dimension of life?"
In
the destructive framework of secularist thought, human nature and human acts
have only temporary, utilitarian value. Meaning, if attached to any particular
phenomenon, is only subjective. Inevitably, in the area of sexuality, the
"other" is quickly reduced to a mere object, and the dignity of the
human person is lost. The deeper dimensions of the human person, the marital
covenant, and the family are incomprehensible to those who think this way. The
modern world, having lost the capacity to reject the self-centered secularist
framework, has also lost the language of love. Familiaris Consortio counters
this by insisting on our essential identity as creatures made in the image of
God:
God
created man in His own image and likeness… God is love and in Himself He lives
a mystery of personal loving communion. Creating the human race in His own
image and continually keeping it in being, God inscribed in the humanity of man
and woman the vocation, and thus the capacity and responsibility, of love and
communion. Love is therefore the fundamental and innate vocation of every human
being.
Man
is free only insofar as he is faithful to his created nature. Ultimately, he
can only know love to the extent that he realizes his relationship to God. The
pope showed that at the heart of human nature itself is the vocation to
personal love and communion, which is a reflection of, and participates in, the
life of the Trinity. This is possible precisely and only because man is made in
God's image. Because of this, human relationships possess a meaning far beyond
mere biology. Indeed, "the love of husband and wife is a unique
participation in the mystery of life and of the love of God himself."
Interpreting Reality
Part
of our mission in today's world is to recover the sense that there's a profound
symbolic dimension to the human person. The prevailing ethos is all against
this. As Henri de Lubac noted in Sources of Revelation (1968), "If we said
that our age repudiated… every kind of symbolism, we would still be stopping at
appearances. What it does, rather, is to institute an anti-symbolism." In
contrast, Familiaris Consortio articulates a profound hermeneutic of reality –
one that allows for the intersecting of the physical and the spiritual. This
hermeneutic is essential if the nature of human relationships is to be
correctly understood. In reflecting on the meaning of the spousal covenant,
Familiaris Consortio states: "Their belonging to each other is the real
representation, by means of the sacramental sign, of the very relationship of
Christ with the Church… the permanent reminder to the Church of what happened
on the Cross."
This
transcendent dimension to human life has been virtually eradicated by the
dominance of scientific rationalism, according to which whatever is not
replicable in a laboratory is not real. But human nature, relationships, and
actions can never properly be understood as only biological phenomena. They
carry meaning far beyond their physical or temporal dimensions. All human
reality (and its valuation) is tied to what the pope called the inscribed
"vocation to love," which is, in turn, linked to the divine nature
and reflective of it. All of this depends on man's status as imago dei (the
image of God), which John Paul II considered "the most profound truth of
man."
This
is incomprehensible to the secular mind. True to its own flawed logic, this
view has provided for the development and acceptance of an increasingly
depersonalized vision of human sexuality, one that includes contraception, in
vitro fertilization, abortion, same-sex unions, embryonic stem cell research,
and the like.
Body-Persons
To
counter this perversion of the human person, Familiaris Consortio confronts the
dualistic tendency of our age by "going back to the beginning" and
grounding our thinking in the original creative act. The anthropology the pope
developed protects the essential dignity of the body and the human person:
"In this way sexuality is respected and promoted in its truly and fully
human dimension and is never 'used' as an 'object' that, by breaking the
personal unity of soul and body, strikes at God's creation itself at the level
of the deepest interaction of nature and person."
At
issue is the value of the human body and its actions. Precisely because they
have transcendent meaning, neither our gender nor our sexual relationships are
without consequence. "Sexuality… is by no means something purely
biological, but concerns the innermost being of the human person as such."
This
is diametrically opposed to secularism's valuation of the human person and his
actions. Love worthy of its name must involve the totality of the person. As
Familiaris Consortio states, "Conjugal love involves a totality… It aims
at a deeply personal unity, the unity that, beyond union of one flesh, leads to
forming one heart and soul; it demands indissolubility and faithfulness in
definitive mutual giving; and it is open to fertility."
The
nature of love, the nature of the human person, and the nature of marriage
require the total engagement of our human nature and an openness to life. By
reiterating these truths, Familiaris Consortio not only explicitly endorses
Humanae Vitae, but also provides a cogent theological and psychological defense
of it. John Paul II reminded us that the teachings of Humanae Vitae provide the
way to engage our sexuality in a fully human manner. "When couples, by
means of recourse to contraception, separate these two meanings that God the
Creator has inscribed in the being of man and woman… they act as 'arbiters' of
the divine plan and they 'manipulate' and degrade human sexuality – and with it
themselves and their married partner – by altering its value of 'total'
self-giving."
Sadly,
it's precisely this cogent defense of the teaching of Humanae Vitae that makes
Familiaris Consortio such a hard sell in a secular environment.
Male and Female
A
second hard sell was the pope's rejection of modern reductionist ideas about
gender. Society wants to force a sexless humanity (and the ubiquitous generic
"person") upon us. In contrast, Familiaris Consortio develops the
idea of incarnational reality – that is, the belief that the physical can be
expressive of a spiritual reality and that these two realities are intrinsically
bound to each other. In particular, the body can never be separated from the
person. The body itself is expressive of the person and bodily acts affect the
person at the most profound level of his being. Secularism's rejection of this
connection has left many wounded in their bodies and in their souls. "As
an incarnate spirit, that is a soul which expresses itself in a body and a body
informed by an immortal spirit, man is called to love in his unified totality.
Love includes the human body, and the body is made a sharer in spiritual
love."
Fundamental
to created human nature is gender; maleness and femaleness are not arbitrary
but essential to identity. Any reductionism on this point perverts our
conception of the person. As Eric Mascal wrote in Man, Woman, and Priesthood
(1978): "We have come to look upon sex in far too superficial a way, as if
there were a kind of undifferentiated human nature… Humanity is, so to speak,
essentially binary; it exists only in the two modes of masculinity and femininity,
and we can only understand it by studying them."
This
led the pope to encourage the genuine advancement of both men and women, but
never in a reductionist manner. A proper anthropology allows for, values, and
protects the similarity and distinctiveness of each gender. He wrote, "In
creating the human race 'male and female,' God gives man and woman an equal
personal dignity, endowing them with the inalienable rights and
responsibilities proper to the human person." But this never collapses
into a homogenous interchangeability. Only by respecting the uniqueness and
irreducibility of maleness and femaleness can we secure the positive and rich
dynamic that is at the heart of gender. "All of this does not mean for
women a renunciation of their femininity or an imitation of the male role, but
the fullness of true feminine humanity which should be expressed in their
activity."
This
is the great disease of the modern world: the rejection of the truly feminine.
An adequate anthropology would prevent this. Similarly, the nature of maleness
is unique, and the pope hinted at what this means: "In revealing and in
reliving on earth the very fatherhood of God, a man is called upon to ensure
the harmonious and united development of all the members of the family."
To lose the language of differentiation is to lose the language of love.
Familiaris Consortio reveals that sexuality and acts proper to it are never
only biological but are revelatory of both the human person and God's
relationship with man: "Sexuality… concerns the innermost being of the
human person as such… Their bond of love becomes the image and the symbol of
the covenant which unites God and his people." To nullify the value of the
human body and its gendered specificity is not only to reject reality but also
to diminish the way in which God's salvific will is communicated to us.
Screwtape himself could not have found a better means of attack.
Family: The Ecclesial Community
The
attack isn't only on the individual but on the context that brings the
individual into integrated wholeness; it's an attack on the family, which is
the most basic and essential of human communities. The family must figure
prominently in any authentic anthropology because man is never an isolated
individual. As the pope stated: "The future of humanity passes by way of
the family." The attack against the family logically proceeds from
modernity's embrace of radical individualism, which pits the individual against
any communitarian dimension of the person. Familiaris Consortio overcomes these
destructive forces by discovering the original purpose and structure of the
family. It urges "the rediscovery of the ecclesial mission proper to the
family."
Just
as the incarnate soul can discover its purpose and meaning only in its
relationship to God, so the communitarian aspect of man, embodied in the
family, is only intelligible by its relationship to God's will. "The
family finds in the plan of God the Creator and Redeemer not only its identity,
what it is, but also its mission… Family become what you are. Accordingly, the
family must go back to the 'beginning' of God's creative act, if it is to
attain self-knowledge and self-realization in accordance with the inner truth
not only of what it is but also of what it does in history."
The
modern attacks against the family will succeed if the transcendent nature of
the family is not fully grasped. If the spiritual dimension of reality is
rejected, and if, like the body, the family is merely instrumentalized, then it
can and will be distorted and destroyed. But for Familiaris Consortio, this is
a falsification of the nature of family. According to the pope, the true
interior structure of the family is found in its relationship to the body of
Christ, the Church. "The Christian family constitutes a specific
revelation and realization of the ecclesial communion, and for this reason too
it can and should be called 'the domestic Church.'… But it is through the Cross
that the family can attain the fullness of its being and the perfection of its
love."
The
family cannot be understood as a social phenomenon subject to manipulation; to
understand it thus is to distort its nature. The true purpose of the family
lies in its relationship to the Cross and the salvation that was bought there.
Indeed, "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." Attacks against the person, whether in terms of the
body, gender, or his corporate reality (in the family), are ultimately attacks
on the divine plan.
We've
been given a mission. Sadly, the secular mind (whether in society or in the
Christian community) disregards it because it doesn't fit with the values of
the age. The late pope's insistence on the authentic value of the body, gender,
and family as constituted by God is unacceptable to this mindset. That's why
the first call in this apostolic exhortation is to conversion. Familiaris
Consortio confronts us with one of the key spiritual struggles of modern times
and asks what vision of reality will win out.
So,
the question remains: Will we become what we truly are – families created to
reflect and participate in the very love of God Himself? And will we love one
another totally with a covenantal love, faithful until death, respectful of our
fecundity, icons of Christ's own self-sacrificial love?
A
difficult mission indeed, but for the grace of God.
This article originally appeared
in the December 2001 issue of Crisis Magazine.