I. The Family in God's Plan
The nature
of the family
2201
The conjugal community is established upon the consent of the spouses. Marriage
and the family are ordered to the good of the spouses and to the procreation
and education of children. the love of the spouses and the begetting of
children create among members of the same family personal relationships and
primordial responsibilities.
2202
A man and a woman united in marriage, together with their children, form a
family. This institution is prior to any recognition by public authority, which
has an obligation to recognize it. It should be considered the normal reference
point by which the different forms of family relationship are to be evaluated.
2203
In creating man and woman, God instituted the human family and endowed it with
its fundamental constitution. Its members are persons equal in dignity. For the
common good of its members and of society, the family necessarily has manifold
responsibilities, rights, and duties.
The
Christian family
2204
"The Christian family constitutes a specific revelation and realization of
ecclesial communion, and for this reason it can and should be called a domestic
church."9 It is a community of faith, hope, and charity; it
assumes singular importance in the Church, as is evident in the New
Testament.10
2205
The Christian family is a communion of persons, a sign and image of the
communion of the Father and the Son in the Holy Spirit. In the procreation and
education of children it reflects the Father's work of creation. It is called
to partake of the prayer and sacrifice of Christ. Daily prayer and the reading
of the Word of God strengthen it in charity. the Christian family has an
evangelizing and missionary task.
2206
The relationships within the family bring an affinity of feelings, affections
and interests, arising above all from the members' respect for one another. the
family is a privileged community called to achieve a "sharing of thought
and common deliberation by the spouses as well as their eager cooperation as
parents in the children's upbringing."11
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