Abstract

ACEVEDO QUIROZ, Luis Hernando. The concept of Family today. Franciscanum [online]. 2011, vol.53, n.156, pp.149-170. ISSN 0120-1468.

Firstly, the article makes a historical tour along the manner of how the concept of family has been evolving, since the oldest times in the principal cultures that are known. It is true that the first type of family that existed was the matriarchal and, because of causes and well identified circumstances, it became a patriarchal family. At the same time, it has been proved that the primitive or domestic religion of peoples was the one that truly constituted the family institution, marriage and the parental authority. In a second moment, when referring to the diverse and current modalities of the concept of family, it is alluded to the cohabitation or de facto relationships and homosexual relationships, which, according to the doctrine of the Church, can't be accepted because they aggress against the natural institution of marriage, which is a positive Divine right. In the third part of the article, the ecclesiastic Magisterium about marriage and the Sacred Family is invoked, according to the Scripture and Jean Paul the second's teaching. The investigative analysis of the topic concludes with some considerations about hoe the family pastoral from the part of the Church should be in order to be able to solve the crisis of the family nowadays and so, be able to rescue the true identity of the family as a "life sanctuary and unifying element of the society".

Keywords : Family; marriage; magisterium; tradition; family pastoral.

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