Przemiany cywilizacyjne rodziny w nauczaniu wielkopostnym biskupów polskich (1979-2005)
Civilizational Transformations of a Family in Lent Teaching of Polish Bishops (1979-2005)

Summary/Abstract: A marriage and a family are a significant aspect of bishops’ teaching contained in their Lent letters. Their time character (1979-2005) deeply sets them in the teaching of John Paul II, especially in a very important apostolic exhortation: Familiaris consortio. This teaching strongly stresses the need for a marriage and a family to exist in today’s world. A marriage is presented as a covenant between a woman and a man sanctified by the sacramental matrimony. Behind the visible sign of the sacrament there is an unseen grace which is provided by God. A family, which is also given the sacramental bond, shares in this grace of the sacrament of marriage. Prayer, conversations, purity of heart and the Eucharist make them experience this grace specifically in their everyday life. Bishops not only express a positive message about a marriage and a family but they also reveal threats brought by different trends of the contemporary culture. This culture tries to narrow the real understanding of a marriage and a family to relationships exclusively secular, such as: a common-law marriage, a man and a woman living together before getting married or even creating new categories of marriages opposing Biblical teaching, e.g. same-sex relationships. Analyzing Lent letters and discerning some statements concerning a marriage and a family indicate that this message is still relevant and despite the years passing it has not lost its value.

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