Where is the family going?

“Marriage and family have always been an object of particular attention for the Church in Ukraine” and “especially today the concern for its development, dignity and value are among the most important aspects of the Church’s pastoral activity”, says Lidia Protsiv, head of the Commission for the Family of the Ukrainian Greek-Catholic Church, coordinator of a survey on the question. New models? “Over the last decade – points out Protsiv – there have been many changes in Ukraine. Family relations, as society as a whole, have undergone major transformations. Analyzing the current state of the family, many negative aspects, but also positive aspects and grounds for hope, can be observed”. According to the expert, one of the reasons for the family’s weakness is linked to the lack of understanding for, or even the repudiation of, the meaning of Christian marriage. Moreover “the conception of marriage as the union between two persons of different sex with the aim of the reciprocal gift of love and with a view to the birth and bringing up of children is being gradually abandoned, and definitions of new family models are being introduced: incomplete (single-parent families, in most cases the mother), civil or homosexual”. Divorces and low birth rate. “Cohabitations between man and woman without official registration of the union and without any public recognition of reciprocal obligations”, and the number of illegitimate children, are in progressive increase among the young, observes Protsiv. “93% of cohabiting women – she underlines – consider themselves married, while 78% of their partners think they are unmarried”. “The new Ukrainian Code of the Family legally recognizes such unions – says Protsiv – but their brief duration negatively impacts on the children born to them”. A further challenge is the change of the traditional roles within the family. “The growth of the professional and economic independence of women leads to overburdening, reduces the number of children and the possibilities of bringing them up properly, and increases the number of divorces”. In spite of the increase in the birth rate – “510,000 in 2008, a record since Ulkraine won her independence – the demographic situation in the country has not been stabilized”.Emigration, family violence, surrogate maternity. Ukraine is distinguished by the high rate of emigration of its population. According to the National Academy of Sciences, Ukrainian emigrants now number 4.5 million (2 million to Russia, half a million to Italy, Poland and the USA, 250,000 to Spain, 150,000 to the Czech Republic and 75,000 to Greece and Portugal), 65% of them women. Violence within the family is widespread: its female victims outnumber those of road accidents. The “contraceptive mentality of society”, says Protsiv, has grave consequences”. She warns: “The growth of the use of contraceptive methods and abortions could become the cause of prolonged infertility among women, creating a potential vicious circle: contraception-abortions-artificial insemination”. A slightly more positive situation exists in terms of abortions: “the collaboration of state structures with the religious and civil organizations has reduced them to a fifth of their former figure”. They have fallen from the one million in 1999 to 200,000 in 2008, but the number still remains high in comparison with other developed countries. According to the official figures, “in Ukraine one couple out of five is infertile; that’s why artificial insemination is ever more widespread” and in the country, “in contrast to EU member states, surrogate maternity is legal”. It’s a practice conducted, together with artificial insemination, in 22 clinics. “The development of these techniques – comments Protsiv – has led to a situation in which the freezing and conservation of embryos for possible implants or for research are approved by everyone”.Signs of hope. Yet, in this situation, points out the expert, “the traditional family is a good deal stronger that people imagine. Between the ages of 30 and 50, 7 couples out of eight are married” and many still believe in the value of fidelity. The Ukrainian Church’s commitment to the family ministry springs from this reality: “our activity – says Protsiv – must become more coordinated, visible and dynamic”. The protection of life (from conception to natural death), the education of children and adolescents in family life (education in love); preparation for marriage (particular occasion to bring back the young to the Church); the creation of family councils at the parish and diaconal level; counselling and care for young marriages; support for parents suffering from spiritual or material crisis; and the creation of a community of families: these are the focal points on which the Church is concentrating her activity. “The Church was and remains a privileged place for the pastoral care of families” and “the national and cultural rebirth of Ukraine” can spring from it, maintains Protsiv. She recalls in this regard the “Testament” of Cardinal Josyp Slipyj: “Defend the true Christian family that is being lost; renew it as the fire that can never be quenched”.