Don't you love Hosea?

Who’s Hosea, you might ask? His wasn’t just any one of the books of prophecy of the Old Testament. It has a special message and significance for family people. Hosea was a prophet of the northern kingdom of Israel before its destruction in 721BC. Like all the prophets his task and calling from God was to read the signs of the times and speak to the people, warning them of the destruction that would befall them if they, their religious and political leaders continued in their contrary ways. What is so special about Hosea is that his own story became the message, a story of faithfulness and faithlessness. God sent him to marry a woman described as a harlot, and to remain faithful to her in spite of her adultery. That is how God saw the actions of his people, Israel. The faithful husband would lead her into the desert, speak to her heart and woo her back and even restore her to her rightful place in the home. Then addressing Israel’s guilt and punishment Hosea speaks the words of God, “It is love that I desire, not sacrifice, and knowledge of God, rather than holocausts.” Hosea 6: 6 (Friday of 3rd week of Lent)

How can those very meaningful words be applied this Lent firstly to the members of our families, particularly to spouses? Many spiritual writers agree that our relationship with God is not separate from our relationship with other people, so loving and knowing God is done through the experience of our intimate relationships. Feminists might have a problem with the wife being the harlot, as how often is it not the husband who is unfaithful? There is no real problem with turning the tables as God is also not essentially male. The issue is faithfulness, not only on the level of adultery but also in the way we treat one another, speak to one another and even the ways we think about one another. True love is also an attitude, a commitment to honour the other and it means consciously putting the interests of the other before our own, not just acting out meaningless rituals. Hosea no doubt didn’t find it any easier than we do and we love him for giving us the image and the example.

Whatever your views on its merits, this time of the war in Iraq is extremely difficult for families on all sides. And although Iraq is most prominent in the news war is ravaging other countries right across the globe too. Fear has been described as the opposite of love and there is much to fear in the present conflicts. As we go into the final weeks of Lent you are invited to pray together that in all relationships and context fear will not destroy the ability to love, to be faithful to commitments and that the love experienced in families will be the source of ultimate reconciliation and peace. Are we not all members of the human family after all? Peace is more than a tranquillity of order. It is also the balance of right relationships. The Easter may God grant you this peace together with the joy of the risen Lord.

Toni Rowland

FAMILY NEWS

REPORTS.

SACBC FAMILY LIFE DESK

At the 2000 National Pastoral Forum one of the top three priorities for the local Church was discerned to be strengthening family life. Over the last few months there have been meetings and discussions about the need to have a Family Life Desk at SA Catholic Bishops’ Conference level to give this priority the attention it requires. I, Toni, shall be taking up this part-time position in the near future and shall do my best to assist the different dioceses and network with existing movements and organisations. I am also looking forward to hearing from others especially in outlying dioceses of South Africa. How can we together build up and strengthen family lives at home? I look forward to hearing your ideas.

FERMASA CONFERENCE. 15-16 March. Natural Family Planning is not only for dyed-in-the-wool Catholics but is also a free choice by couples of other faiths and much to the delight of the FERMASA team, now to be taught and offered as an option in National Health clinics. Speakers at this conference spoke on the scientific research into the methods and others demonstrated or spoke on their own experiences and practice. The Fertility Mastery Association put together a very good conference. What came to light again for me was that more promotion of the methods is required as very many Catholics are totally ignorant about it. See notice below about JHB information talk. Visit FERMASA website.

MAKING MARRIAGE MORE. The liturgical readings from weeks 21 – 27 (24th August - 5th October) in this year of Mark lend themselves to a focus on marriage. The local Church, dioceses, parishes, movements and schools are being asked to take this opportunity to bring the Cinderella Sacrament out into the limelight. Issues that could be addressed in parish life or education programmes are traditional marriages and those not married in Church, co-habiting, divorce and annulments, marriage preparation, its stages, remote, proximate and immediate, its effectiveness, the need for marriage enrichment and spirituality, helping hurting marriages. Marriage and AIDS. Contact us for more details, to become involved and for resource materials.

MARFAM NEWS.

CURRENT PUBLICATIONS

Marriage and Family Living quarterly magazine No 2 for April – June is now available. Extracts will be published on the website including a reflection on Natural Family Planning.

Man in the Picture, our 2003 Lenten reflection booklet is still available and can in part be downloaded from our website. This is a story loosely based on the Stations of the Cross.

Stations of the Cross for Families are available in English, Zulu and Sotho. Linking faith with life in these simple stations In accordance with accepted catechetical practice

2003 Family Liturgical Calendar – Stable Families - Stable Society – Stable Environment.

FORTHCOMING JOHANNESBURG EVENTS

NFP talk, Wednesday 14th May.

Widowed retreat Sunday 1st June.

PFM Workshop on theme of Single Parents and their needs. Saturday 10th May

SNIPPETS.

Religious Education or Religion Education.

That is not pure hairsplitting but the difference in the new policy for education in state schools that is being debated and finalised. It would be interesting to hear how this is dealt with in other countries.

In the previous political era South Africa was considered a Christian country and Religious Education featured on the curriculum of all schools, mostly in the form of Bible Education from a general Christian perspective. Catholic schools or other denominational schools had the freedom to teach in terms of their own religion. But for many years already the question had arisen in Catholic schools, what about children of other faiths? On average more than half of the learners in Catholic schools in South Africa belong to other faiths, including those who are not Christian at all, but Muslim, Hindu or Jewish. There is also a growing school of thought that catechesis is not the function of the school, but of the family and the parish. This was contested hotly by many parents who believed they were sending their children to a Catholic school to be taught their Catholic faith.

The RE curriculum presently in use in Catholic schools has been developed to allow personal spiritual growth and sufficient information on other faiths, and this is a model that is being promoted on behalf of the SA bishops by the Catholic Institute of Education (CIE) for use in all schools. Others feel differently or more strongly. Anyone wanting to know more about the policy negotiations can visit the Christian View website www.christianview.org or contact the CIE in Johannesburg 011 433 1888.

REDUCING POPULATIONS

What kind of family forms will exist in 2005, or 2050? Statistical projections have recently concluded that population growth has slowed and projected figures need to be readjusted. IN 2050 the world population is projected to be 8.9 billion and not 9.3 billion as previous predicted. This is because of declining birth rates in most developed countries and a growing number of developing ones. HIV/AIDS will take its toll and 278 million people will have died by 2050. Outright population reductions are predicted for Botswana, Lesotho, South African Swaziland.

Figures from Zenit. For more detailed info on this whole question visit the UNFPA site.

Same sex parents can adopt children, according to the new ruling from the SA Constitutional Court which ruled in favour of two female partners being legally entitled to adopt.

A serious sociological book.

The Religion, Culture and Family Project,

The University of Chicago Divinity School,

1025 East 58th Street, Chicago, IL 60637
http://divinity.uchicago.edu/family/
email: <Family-project@uchicago.edu>

What does modernization have to do with marriage? Does modernization hurt or help marriage? And what does marriage have to do with modernization? Would we have modernization had not a particular form of family and marriage pattern developed first? If the processes of modernization at least in some ways damage the institution of marriage, is there anything to do about it?

These are the questions investigated in a new book by Don Browning, director of the Religion, Culture, and Family Project.(RCF) The book is titled Marriage and Modernization: How Globalization Threatens Marriage and What to Do about It. The book argues that modernization and globalization, in spite of their
promise for more wealth and health for many people, are also threats to the institution of marriage. Just as these forces seem to be dividing the world between rich and poor, haves and have nots, they also are separating the world into the married and unmarried, i.e., families that are relatively cohesive and those that are disrupted with measurably negative consequences. Recent research is showing that marital disruption itself contributes to poverty for women and children throughout the world. The growing gap between the rich and poor is due to unequal economic opportunities and unequal distribution of wealth. But other factors contribute to poverty as well; it also is caused by marital and family disruption. The forces of modernization and globalization contribute to these marital strains. The cure for this situation does not mean protecting marriage and family at any cost; it entails reforming and reconstructing these institutions while also nurturing a wide range of other social supports and transformations. World marriage revival and reform require a complex cultural work.
A subthesis of the book deals with one of the central signs of family disruption, i.e., the widespread drift of large numbers of fathers away from involvement with their offspring. This contributes to what some have
called the feminization of the family and the feminization of poverty. Around the world, family care is more and more in the hands of women. Increasingly, this has led to the deepened poverty of mothers and their
children. The forces of globalization and modernization contribute to these trends. The social sciences show that these forces create weaker natural commitments to offspring on the part of men and fathers.
A central argument is that the marriage and family symbolisms of Christianity, Judaism,and Islam have functioned to compensate for tentative male commitment to infants and small children. It follows that the demise of the power of religion will work to further undermine male involvement with their progeny. This suggests that a new and reconstructed religious voice must be part of the mix of the cultural work needed to revive and reform marriage.

ON A LIGHTER NOTE

What do children have to say to God about all this? From Messages to God.

Dear God, we love you and could you please hide us in a safe place. This world is full of dirty tricks. (aged 13)

Dear God, please help my pereants, they are going through a hard time with money and all we want is more. (11)

Dear God, please help the people of South Africa understand, that beggars aren't choosers! (12)