A Vision of Family

See Miller Donald A. O.F.M. A Critical Evaluation and Application to Various Situations in the United States of the Official Roman Catholic Position on Family Life from Vatican II Through Christifideles Laici (Ann Arbor, MI: UMI Dissertation Services, 1995), 260.

See Second Vatican Ecumenical Council, Gaudium et Spes (AAS 58: [1966]: 1025–1120), at nos. 12 and 25 (hereafter: GS). See also Kasper Walter Theology of Christian Marriage, trans. David Smith (New York: Crossroad, 1981), 26. For other interpretations of the same scriptural sources see, for example, Lisa Sowle Cahill, Between the Sexes: Foundations for a Christian Ethics of Sexuality (Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1985), 45–58; Richard J. Clifford, S.J., and Roland E. Murphy, O. Carm., “Genesis,” in The New Jerome Biblical Commentary, ed. Raymond E. Brown, S.S., et al. (Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall, 1990), 11–12; and Claus Westermann, Genesis 1–11: A Commentary, trans. John J. Scullion, S.J. (Minneapolis: Augsburg Publishing House, 1984), 155–61.

See GS, no. 25; Second Vatican Ecumenical Council, Lumen Gentium (AAS 57 [1965]: 5–71) at no. 11 (hereafter: LG); and idem, Apostolicam Actuositatem (AAS 58 [1966]: 837–64) at no. 11 (hereafter: AA).

For a discussion of psychological development see Erikson Erik , Identity: Youth and Crisis (New York: W.W. Norton, 1968). Concerning moral development see Lawrence Kohlberg, The Philosophy of Moral Development: Moral Stages and the Idea of Justice (San Francisco: Harper & Row, 1981); and Carol Gilligan, In a Different Voice (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1982; and the discussions of Walter E. Conn, Christian Conversion: A Developmental Interpretation of Autonomy and Surrender (New York: Paulist Press, 1986), especially 95–99, 216–28, and 227–28; and Gilbert Meilaender, The Theory and Practice of Virtue (Notre Dame: University of Notre Dame Press, 1984), 84–99.

See GS, nos, 25, 47 and 52. Concerning the teaching role of the family see Second Vatican Ecumenical Council, Gravissimum Educationis (AAS 58 [1966]: 728–39), especially at nos. 1–6 (Hereafter: GE).

See GS, no. 48.

See Pope Paul VI, Populorum Progressio (AAS 59 [1967]: 257–99), at no. 36 (hereafter: PP).

See Pope Paul VI, Evangelii Nuntiandi (AAS 68 [1976]: 5–76), at nos. 70–72 (hereafter: EN).

See LG, no. 11; and AA, no. 11.

See Paul Pope VI Humanae Vitae (AAS 60 [1968]: 481–503) especially at nos. 8–10 (hereafter: HV). I recognize that Pope Paul VI's discussion of human sexuality in this encyclical has drawn much criticism and much support. While a consideration of either is clearly beyond the scope of this article, I would recommend the following works: M. John Farrelly, O.S.B., “The Principle of the Family Good,” Theological Studies 31 (1970): 262–74; William E. May, Sex, Marriage and Chastity: Reflections of a Catholic Layman, Spouse and Parent (Chicago: Franciscan Herald Press, 1981), 69–93; Joseph A. Selling, “Moral Teaching, Traditional Teaching and Humanae Vitae,” Louvain Studies 7 (1978): 24–44; and Joan Timmerman, “Sex, Sacred or Profane?” in Readings in Moral Theology No. 8, Dialogue About Catholic Sexual Teaching, ed. Charles E. Curran and Richard A. McCormick, S.J. (New York/Mahwah, NJ: Paulist Press, 1993), 47–54.

See Pope John Paul II, Familiaris Consortio (AAS 74 [1982]: 81–191), at no. 17 (hereafter: FC).

See Pope John Paul II, Familiaris Consortio (AAS 74 [1982]: 81–191), nos. 17–64.

See Pope John Paul II, Familiaris Consortio (AAS 74 [1982]: 81–191), nos. 17–21.

See Pope John Paul II, Familiaris Consortio (AAS 74 [1982]: 81–191), nos. 28, 36 and 38.

See Pope John Paul II, Familiaris Consortio (AAS 74 [1982]: 81–191), no. 41 wherein the pontiff enumerates several life-giving and life-serving activities open to the family at various stages of development.

See Pope John Paul II, Familiaris Consortio (AAS 74 [1982]: 81–191) nos. 42–47.

See Pope John Paul II, Familiaris Consortio (AAS 74 [1982]: 81–191), nos. 49–63.

See Paul Pope John II Christifideles Laici (AAS81[1989]: 393–521), at no. 15(hereafter: CL).

See Paul Pope John II Laborem Exercens (AAS73[1981]: 577–647), especially at nos. 10, 16 and 19 (hereafter: LE) and idem, Sollicitudo Rei Socialis (AAS80[1988]: 513–86), especially at nos. 29–31 (hereafter: SR).

See, for example, Carnegie Task Force on Meeting the Needs of Young Children, Starting Points: Meeting the Needs of our Youngest Children (Waldorf, MD: Carnegie Corporation of New York, 1994).

For further discussion of the role of and need for ideals in life see Meilaender Gilbert “A Christian View of the Family,” in Rebuilding the Nest: A New Commitment to the American Family, ed. Blankenhorn David , Bayme Steven , and Elshtain Jean Bethke (Milwaukee: Family Service America, 1990), 133–48.

See, for example, FC, no. 72.