FAMILY
The recent proposal of German Minister for the Family Ursula von der Leyen to triple the number of kindergartens has been variously received. Some German bishops have reacted critically to the announcement. Cardinal Karl Lehmann, President of the German Bishops’ Conference and Bishop of Mainz, has also commented on the Minister’s plans in the diocesan paper of 4th March: “It is undoubtedly the case today that for many families being able to count on a kindergarten for their younger children represents an important help. In many cases both spouses have to work fulltime today. We cannot ignore this reality”. Nonetheless, “genuine freedom of choice must exist, in other words parents must be able to decide whether to bring up their children at home and must, if they choose to do so, by properly supported by the State, without this decision being indirectly downplayed or even discouraged. It would be a very grave error to maintain that children can only be assisted in an optimal way under the direct tutelage of the State. It’s a short step from this to necessarily linking the role of the kindergarten with the task of providing precocious education and removing children from the family at an even earlier age and in a radical way, without the family having any say in the matter. We therefore need to remain particularly vigilant, since if the new policy for the family should find the wide support it needs, we would have to carefully and critically monitor a possible return to imprudent but far from innocuous ideologies” of the past. According to the cardinal, “the new policy for the family must be conscious of the fact that it can undoubtedly help to improve the general conditions for young married couples and young families, but that any considerable growth of the birth rate in our society does not necessarily and automatically flow from this. To this end, we need to revive and activate many values that the State cannot regulate”. In essence, despite all the institutional and financial aids, what really counts – says Lehmann – “is the attitude of parents and the encouragement of free social partners such as the Churches. To be able to obtain this integration of many points of view and values, and at the same time form an efficient network in which it is the parents themselves who naturally decide, sensibility and intelligence are needed, as well as the ability clearly to see the possibilities and limitations of any new policy for the family”.
