Families

How often today are children born out of wedlock? In America it is fourty percent. That is a staggering number, but it is not the highest. In some countries it as much as sixty percent. Interestingly, Japan has a rate of just above two percent! There may be factors involved that are beyond the simple cohabitation rates, but it tells us something about a society when it takes the concept of wedlock (the word is very important) so lightly.

How many men are willing to get a woman pregnant out of wedlock and then run off and leave her, but are never willing to marry a woman who is pregnant with a child that is not his own? I once heard about a man who did this. In fact, the woman had been raped but would not (in spite of encouragements to do so) kill the child. He met her; the two fell in love and got married. He raised that child, and the subsequent children they had, as if he was the biological father to all of them with no differences. How many of us would be willing to do that?

There is another man who married a woman who was expecting a child of whom he was not the biological father. He was concerned at first, and maybe even a bit afraid, but in the end he chose to stay with her. Her name was Mary, his name was Joseph, and their child was named Jesus. The Holy Family was not typical in many ways. God chose for both Mary and Joseph to endure trials so that they could better raise Jesus and prepare Him for His trials. Now, until God reveals more to the Church about St. Joseph, we need to be cautious in what we claim about him, but devotion to him (especially to "Joseph terror of demons" -- my personal favorite) is growing and that is a good thing.

In this day and age of attacks on the christian family, we need someone who knows the details of family life (especially family life with challenges) to call upon for help. There may very well be some better times ahead for Catholics who wish to be faithful to God's call on families, but we cannot put our hopes in the "times ahead" but in God and the means He gives us to find faithfulness. Let us call upon our Lord Jesus and St. Joseph to protect families; both those that are intact and those that are broken.