56. What is the relationship between marriage and society?

Through marriage new citizens are born, cared for and prepared to participate in society and to take responsibility for its future. At the same time, society serves the family, helping spouses to fulfill their duties.

57. Why is marriage the most important institution for any society?

Marriage is the most important institution for any society because the progress of a society depends on the quality of its youth and the quality of the youth depends on the stability and strength of the marriages inside of which they are born and educated. Furthermore, only through the family can society adequately care for its most needy members: children, the old, the sick, the handicapped, the poor etc.

58. What attitude should the state and higher institutions have towards the family?

The state and higher institutions should not interfere in the internal life of the family, depriving it of its freedoms and functions, but rather should support it in case of need and help to co-ordinate its activities with the activities of the rest of society, always with a view to the good of all.

59. What attitude should spouses have towards society?

Spouses have a responsibility to participate in society in order to help bring about the social conditions which allow all persons to reach their fulfillment more fully and more easily. This participation is achieved first of all by living out their role as spouses, being faithful to each other and forming an intimate community of life in which they care for and educate their children.

60. What social initiatives can spouses promote?

Married couples can get together to form groups and institutions that support families in need and make it easier for spouses to be faithful to each other and to educate their children.

61. What attitude should spouses have towards political policy?

Spouses should be the first to see to it that the laws and institutions of the state maintain and positively promote the rights and duties of families.

62. What are some of the conditions that social policy should guarantee to families?

Social policy should ensure especially:

1. The freedom to establish a family, have children, and bring them up in keeping with the family's own moral and religious convictions.

2. The protection of the stability of the marriage bond and the respect for the intimacy of family life.

3. The right to physical security, education, to work, to dignified housing, to private property, to rest and recreation.

4. Assistance to care for the young, the old, the sick, the handicapped, and the poor.

5. Freedom to form associations with other families to help each other and improve society.

6. A high standard of public morality which fosters family togetherness and opposes destructive influences such as drugs, alcoholism, pornography, violence, etc.

63. Can a population policy replace the decisions of the spouses regarding the number of children they should have?

The state has no right to set limits on the number of children that spouses could have. The state ought to guarantee the freedom of the spouses to decide this freely and responsibly.

64. What are the benefits to society when marriages are stable, united and fruitful?

When marriages are stable, united and fruitful, society benefits in several ways:

1. The youth that are raised in stable and healthy homes will be equipped with the social qualities and values necessary to be protagonists of positive social change and renewal.

2. It can adequately care for its most needy members such as children, the old, the sick, the handicapped and the poor.

3. Broken homes in general is a cause of delinquency. When marriages are stable and united, delinquency is sharply reduced.