Tuesday, September 13, 2016

Amoris Laetitia - Par. 44



44.   The lack of dignified or affordable housing often leads to the postponement of formal relationships.  It should be kept in mind that “the family has the right to decent housing, fitting for family life and commensurate to the number of the members, in a physical environment that provides the basic services for the life of the family and the community”.23 Families and homes go together. This makes us see how important it is to insist on the rights of the family and not only those of individuals.  The family is a good which society cannot do without, and it ought to be protected.24 “The Church has always held it part of her mission to promote marriage and the family and to defend them against those who attack them”,25 especially today, when they are given scarce attention in political agendas. Families have the right to “to be able to count on an adequate family policy on the part of public authorities in the juridical, economic, social and fiscal domains”.26  At times families suffer terribly when, faced with the illness of a loved one, they lack access to adequate health care, or struggle to find dignified employment. “Economic constraints prohibit a family’s access to education, cultural activities and involvement in the life of society. In many ways, the present-day economic situation is keeping people from participating in society. Families, in particular, suffer from problems related to work, where young people have few possibilities and job offers are very selective and insecure. Workdays are long and oftentimes made more burdensome by extended periods away from home.  This situation does not help family members to gather together or parents to be with their children in such a way as to nurture their relationships each day”.27

23   Pontifical Council for the Family,  Charter of  the Rights of the Family (22 October 1983), Art. 11.
24   Cf. Relatio Finalis 2015, 11-12.
25   Pontifical Council for the Family,  Charter of  the Rights of the Family (22 October 1983), Introduction.
26   Ibid., 9.
27   Relatio Finalis 2015, 14.



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