Family Life in Christ
God ordained the Christian family to have a specific design - a
man and a woman united in marriage, together with their
children. The family is called the domestic church because it is
a community of faith, hope and charity. Within the family, we
first learn to respect the sanctity of life from conception to
natural death. This means welcoming children into the marriage
through birth or adoption but also learning to show reverence
for the life of others such as the elderly, the infirm, the
poor, the disabled, and the imprisoned.
Every member of the Christian family has a God-ordained
function. Though equal in the sight of God, men and women have
entirely different responsibilities. As stated so clearly in the
Catechism: