LIFE AND FAMILY
“A better balanced family policy aimed at the well-being of the child”: that’s the request made by the German Catholic Church to the German political world. The request was formulated at the end of the bishops’ spring plenary assembly, held in Reute last week. In their final statement, issued at a press conference chaired by Cardinal Karl Lehmann at Mainz, the German bishops warn against provisions aimed at increasing offers of state assistance to infancy by using funds allocated to other services in support of the family. “Parents must be able to choose freely whether to renounce their own professional career in order to bring up their own children at home or avail themselves of the service of kindergartens”, declared Lehmann. “A policy for the family that is geared to the future – explained the cardinal – can never be limited to adjusting family life to the requisites of the professional world. Priority must be given to the well-being of the child, and not to the needs of the labour market. Families cannot be forced, either openly or subliminally, to accept a single model of assistance to childhood. The service of those who dedicate themselves to their children by staying at home is not adequately recognized”. Calling the plans to fund increased provision of kindergartens to the detriment of other family policy services “intolerable” and “not serious”, Lehmann listed some basic requests of the Church, including recognition that the periods dedicated to bringing up children at home should count in calculating pension rights: “Social security provision privileges families composed of husband and wife who both pursue professional careers and who have no children: they are eligible for a far higher state pension that parents who pay in lesser contributions due to the periods they dedicate to bringing up their children or to their limited professional activity”.
