The Ultimate Guide to Parenting

“The future of the world and of the Church passes through the family.” ¹

With the decline of the American family including a decrease in the number of children living with both parents, the increase in single parent households, a decrease in the number of moms who stay home with their children and the decline in the birth rate overall, the future of the world and society is in jeopardy. “The ultimate reason for these mentalities is the absence in people’s hearts of God, whose love alone is stronger than all the world’s fears and can conquer them.” ²

Living the Theology of the Body

For many years theologians have been studying Pope St. John Paul II’s Theology of the Body. There is a plethora of books, articles and study programs to explain these profoundly beautiful teachings in a way that the anyone can understand. One does not have to look hard to find people whose lives have been dramatically changed by these scriptural reflections. Nonetheless, the teaching remains relatively unknown to adult Catholics and furthermore most adult Catholics do not have any idea what it means to live out the Theology of the Body concepts within their family.

While he was in the midst of delivering the Theology the Body at his weekly papal Wednesday audiences, Pope St. John Paul II summoned a Synod on the family. A direct result of that Synod was the document Familiaris Consortio. This apostolic exhortation discusses the issues facing the family, the church’s response to these issues, and the mission we are called to in order to become the families God is calling us to be. In many ways, Familiaris Consortio provides a how-to manual on living the teachings of the Theology of the Body. Many people have a shared belief that “no one ever gives parents a guidebook.” However, this promulgation outlines four tasks of the family that can be used in exactly that way. Although this document was written in the 1980s, John Paul II prophetically puts his finger right on the issues facing us today and gives us relevant tasks as well as joyful hope for the future of our families.

We Need Jesus!

Pope St. John Paul II calls the family a “true shrine of life and love” in his Prayer for Families.  Remember, Jesus calls Himself, “the Way, the Truth and the Life” (John 14:6 ). What’s more, we know that “God is Love” (1 John 4:16).  If our families are to be true shrines (holy places) of life and love (Jesus), we need Jesus in our homes and in our hearts!  John Paul II reemphasizes the simple foundation of what we are called to do as individuals in order to become what we are called to be as families when he clarifies “only by the acceptance of the gospel are the hopes that man legitimately places in marriage and in the family capable of being fulfilled.”³  First, we as individuals must accept the Gospel. Moreover, we must form a relationship with God as unique, unrepeatable persons.

Self-Mastery: Necessary for Success

John Paul II elucidates “a conflict between two loves: the love of God to the point of disregarding self, and the love of self to the point of disregarding God.” ⁴ We must nurture the virtue of self-mastery so that we are able to love God to the point of disregarding ourselves. We cannot be holy (set apart) from the world if we allow ourselves to be taken up by all the worldly priorities the culture puts in front of us. John Paul II advises we must go “back to the beginning” ⁵ — a nod to his Theology of the Body anthology — and understand ourselves as human persons created in the image and likeness of God to be gift. Only then, can we understand the distortions which have occurred since the fall, hardening our hearts and causing us to live for ourselves instead of for others. Consequently, we must place ourselves daily and deliberately on the path to holiness. 

He Gives Us All We Need!

God gives us the grace to be who we are created to be. “The Spirit which the Lord pours forth gives a new heart and renders man and woman capable of loving one another as Christ has loved us.” ⁶ We do this by opening ourselves to the Holy Spirit, by allowing the Lord to give us His heart. If we accept the Gospel, love the Lord more than ourselves, and live our lives as gift, we have hope for the future of our families. When we look at Familiaris Consortio 17, we can see the path laid out for our families. Our sainted Holy Father gives us these four tasks:

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

In the coming months, we will journey together through Familiaris Consortio and focus on each of these aforementioned tasks to open up the treasure that we can refer to as our ‘Guide to Parenting!’

Written by, Kathleen Cory,
Sales & Implementation Specialist — South

(Article 1 in a series of 5 articles leading up to our fall ’25 banquet themed, Family as the School of Love.)

¹ John Paul II, Address to the Confederation of Family Advisory Bureaus of Christian Inspiration 
(Nov. 29, 1980), 3- 4: Insegnamenti III, 2 (1980), 1453-1454 as quoted in Familiaris Consortio 75
² Familiaris Consortio 30
³ Familiaris Consortio 3
⁴ Familiaris Consortio 6
⁵ Familiaris Consortio 13
⁶ Ibid