Save our families

The Ministry for Family and Life of the Archdiocese of Manila has produced seven DVDs on the “Subtle Attacks Against the Family, Explained.” Given by experts in their respective fields, they present values which are written into human nature itself — not based on any particular religion, but on the natural rights of every human being.

They cover seven subjects:

1. Demography

2. The New Age Spirituality

3. Sex Education

4. The Truth and Meaning of Human Sexuality

5. Violence and Pornography in the Mass Media

6. The Gospel of Life

7. Marriage and Family in God’s Plan

The videos were inspired by a Pastoral Letter written by His Eminence Jaime L. Cardinal Sin, when he was Archbishop of Manila. In that letter Cardinal Sin said, among other things:

“The Philippine Constitution specifies in Article II, Section 12, one of the functions of the State: ‘The State recognizes the sanctity of family life and shall protect and strengthen the family as a basic autonomous social institution. It shall equally protect the life of the mother and the life of the unborn from conception. The natural and primary right and duty of parents in the rearing of the youth for civic efficiency and the development of moral character shall receive the support of the Government.’

“The family is the basic unit of society. If the Filipino family is destroyed, Philippine society will collapse.

“Today, there are certain sectors of society that wish to redefine the concept of a ‘family’ to include — with equal legal status as the traditional family of father, mother and children — same sex unions with or without adopted children, single parenthood, multiple partnership, and adoption of animals. They accept as variations, within any family structure, adultery, divorce, incestuous sex, pre-marital sex and even other forms of partners of sex for the sole purpose of achieving pleasure.

“We cannot but condemn abortion, or killing the baby in the mother’s womb. This is murder.

“At conception, the moment when the father’s sperm meets the mother’s egg cell, a new life is formed. . . . When the ovum is fertilized by the sperm, it starts to nourish itself, it starts to grow as any living being, and the chromosomes that combined in the fertilized ovum are the chromosomes that are uniquely found in human beings - not in any other living being.

“In abortion, the weak defenseless child is murdered by those who are supposed to love and care for the child most — the parents and the doctors!

“Responsible parenthood is exercised, either by the deliberate and generous decision to raise a numerous family, or by the decision, made for grave motives and with due respect for the moral law, to avoid for the time being, or even for an indeterminate period, a new birth.

“To think that the Church simply wants the couples to have as many children as they physically can is incorrect. The Church only teaches that the methods used to avoid pregnancy should always respect the moral law.

“Avoiding pregnancy by abstaining from sex when the woman is fertile is morally acceptable. Abstinence, which may reach a week or so, could be a source of personal struggle. But this struggle builds up character and trust, and assures the couple that their love is not merely based on sexual pleasure, but on total self giving.

“In sex education, at a very early age, even in pre-school, sex is presented simply as a means of obtaining pleasure. This results in promiscuity, the use of contraceptives, sexually transmitted diseases and pregnancy, along with physical and psychological traumas.

“Parental authority is undermined. The guides are no longer the parents but their peers and their teachers. . . . . . The Church is firmly apposed to any form of sex education dissociated from moral principles.

“The real problem of the world today is not overpopulation. . . . It is under population. 71 countries are offering incentives to couples to have more children. . . . And the problem is not lack of food. Americans, Europeans and Australians are dumping food into the sea, to increase prices. Our problem is distribution! Too few have too much, and too many have too little.

“The condom corrupts and weakens people . . . . Chastity forms and strengthens them. The condom destroys families and individuals. . . . Chastity builds them up. The condom spreads promiscuity, and thus sexually transmitted diseases and AIDS . . . Chastity battles them. We can stop AIDS here and now through the S.O.S. method: ‘Sex only with spouse!’

“Please pray that the culture of love and life will truly overcome the anti-culture of Death.”

If you want copies of the seven DVDs, please contact: Ministry for Family and Life; 2nd floor, Layforce building; San Carlos Pastoral Formation Complex; Edsa, Guadalupe, Makati City; Telephone: 890-0368; Telefax: 8960584; E-mail: [email protected].