FUNCTIONS OF

THE FAMILY
The Family
• The family is a social institution and primary
group in society. Families vary from culture to
culture. It is defined as a group of persons united
by ties of marriage, blood, and adoption,
constituting a household, interacting and
communicating with each other in their respective
social roles of husband and wife, mother and
father, son and daughter, brother and sister, and
creating and maintaining a common culture.
• Reasons why people marry:
love, economics, emotional security, parents’
wishes, escape from loneliness, home
situations, money, companionship, protection,
adventure or common interests
• Family Structures: framework for the
performance of reciprocal roles of certain
functions to make the relationship enduring.
The structure of the family varies from culture
to culture.
• A. Nuclear – composed of a husband, wife and
their children in a union recognized by the
other members of the society.
A.1. Family of orientation – family into which
one is born and where one is reared or
socialized
A.2. Family of procreation – the family
established through marriage and consists of
husband, wife, sons and daughters.
• The Nuclear family is said to be universal social
function found in every society. It is the smallest
unit responsible for the of preservation of the
value system of the society.

• B. Extended Family – composed of two or more

nuclear families, economically and socially
related to each other. Eg. Married children living
with parents.
• Social Functions of the family: as a basic institution:
1. Regulates sexual behavior and is the unit for
reproduction. Sex expression is socially sanctioned.
It provides legitimate children with status.
2. Performs the biological maintenance. Parents fill
the roles of protector, provider, guardian of
children. E.G. responsible for the care of the aged,
physically incompetent, unemployed, and
widowed.
• 3. chief agency for socializing the child. Family
transmits the culture of the group, its patterned
ways of living and values through example, teaching
and indoctrination.
• 4. family gives its members status. A child is born
into a family which gives him/ her lineage
• 5. the family is an important mechanism for social
control. It exerts pressure on its members to make
them conform to what is considered as desirable
behavior.
• 6. The family performs economic function. It
also perform educational, recreational,
religious and political function
CHRISTIAN PERSPECTIVE OF
THE FUNCTION OF THE FAMILY
• The Church regards the family as the first and most important natural
institution.
• The family has special rights and is central to social life.
• It is the place where human life comes into being and the place where
the first interpersonal relationships develop.
• The family is the foundation of the society; all social arrangements
proceed from it.
• The CHURCH sees the family as DIVINELY INSTITUTED.
• ( CCC. 221,2207, 2226-27, )
FUNCTIONS OF THE FAMILY: CHRISTIAN
PERSPECTIVE
SINCE THE FAMILY IS CONSIDERED AS THE FOUNDATION OF
SOCIETY, IT PERFORMS SEVERAL IMPORTANT FUNCTIONS,
SUCH AS:
 1. REGULATION OF SEXUALITY. – THE CONJUGAL ACT IN
THEOLOGICAL TERM IS REALIZED IN A TRULY HUMAN WAY
ONLY IF IT IS ESSENTIAL PART OF THE LOVE BY WHICH MAN
AND WOMAN COMMIT THEMSELVES TOTALLY TO ONE
ANOTHER UNTIL DEATH.
Extramarital sexual intercourse is unacceptable, sinful.
No other forms of sexual pleasure should be allowed or accepted,
but only that which is within the genuine joy of love between
man and woman who are married.
The purpose of the conjugal act is to express the mutual
love and respect of husband and wife, and to deepen their
intimacy. Its end is to unite and procreate (Gen. 4:1-2) The
Catholic Church teaches that sex within marriage is both a
physical and a spiritual act.
• Parents have the responsibility to decide on the number of
children they can care for as they cooperate with God in this
noble task ( 1 Timothy 3:5 ).

• Parents are God’s co-creator.

• The integrity of human sexuality and the procreative, relational
and erotic dimensions, require the right context in which
sexuality can be honored.
• Conjugal act must be considered a sacred and holy act.
• Husband and wife complements one another.
•  This complementarity enables them to ‘give” themselves to
one another and to “receive” one another and to carry out
responsibilities as spouses and parents.
• This must be freely done by the man and the woman.
( JP II Theology of the Body)
• From the day they give and receive their consent in marriage,
they freely give themselves a new identity as husband and
wife, spouses.
• They commit themselves to one another throughout their entire
married life. And they must freely choose to engage in the
conjugal act.
• The marital act honors the unitive meaning of human sexuality.
• This act is their willingness to cooperate with God and be open
to procreation, welcoming life with open arms, raise the child
and educate him/her in the love of service of God and
neighbor.
• Pope Paul VI expounded in his encyclical Humanae Vitae, the
unitive and procreative dimension of marriage, when he said
“because of its intrinsic nature, the conjugal act, while uniting
husband and wife in the most intimate of bonds, also makes
them fit to bring forth new life according to the laws written in
their very nature as male and female.”
2. RESPONSIBLE PROCREATION
• While procreation is not the only purpose of marriage,
it is one of the benefits that can result from marriage.

In Genesis 1:28, procreation in marriage is perceived

as cooperation with the God of love and so must be
exercised with responsibility, prudence, and
unselfishness. (Familiaris Consortio ( No. 14)
• In begetting life, husband and wife fulfill one of the
highest dimensions of the Christian calling, which is to
become God’s co-worker and co-creator.
• Responsible cooperation with God in the order of
human sexuality cannot be reduced to the concept of
fertility. Procreation of children cannot be ignored.
• Children are a gift that God gives man and woman
united in marriage.
 FOUR IMPORTANT THINGS TO
REMEMBER :
• God has made parents responsible for the physical, emotional,
and spiritual needs of the children.
• Parents will be able to fulfill their responsibility when the
number of children in a family is reasonable and manageable.
• Parents should not reproduce carelessly, having many children
yet failing to give the care they deserve.
• Married couples must discuss and make decisions together
regarding the regulation of birth in the family.
 3. SOCIALIZATION

• The family is the original cell of social life.

• The family is the community in which, from childhood, one
can learn moral values, begin to honor God. And make good
use of freedom.
• Family life is an initiation into life in society ( CCC 2207 ).
• The family is the cradle of life and love where they are born and
grow.
• The family has a crucial role in society by being a model of love
for their children.
4. ECONOMIC COOPERATION

• Economic Cooperation is “responsible citizenship is a

virtue, and participation in political life is a moral
obligation”.
• ( Pope Francis in “The Joy of the Gospel” (220)
• James 2:15-16 says that :If a brother or a sister has
nothing to wear and has no food for the day, and one of
you says to them “Go in peace, keep warm. And eat
well,” but you do not give them the necessities of the
body, what good is it?
• We have to be reminded that there is no one who is
poor, that he has nothing to give and no one is so rich
that he cannot receive.
• Part of the responsibility of parents is to open their children’s
awareness on social concerns and eventually encourage them
to participate in charity works and political activities.
SUMMARY : THE FAMILY AS
THE FOUNDATION OF SOCIETY
• 1. The family is the most important school for our lives
• school of love
• Shape the fundamental character
• First expression of human behavior
• Place where people / things are valued
2. School of ethics and morality
- School of manners/deportment- moral norms
- Family characteristics are handed down
( service)
3. Basic structure of human existence
• Human kinship bonds are permanent element
• First universal institution of human life
• First institution of human existence
• Family is not the creator of culture. IT is the creation of
culture. Family is the expression of common human nature
• 4. Family is the model and microcosm of society.
- society is composed of citizens
- Social relationship follow the pattern of family relationships
 male/ female; leader/ follower; teacher/ student; friends/
colleagues;
 organizations based upon common purpose with partnership,
hierarchy and division of labor
 Effective family – roles, relationships and responsibilities.
• 5. family is intended to operate in accordance with natural
law
FILIPINO CONCEPT OF THE
CHILD
1. Ang ay kaligayahan
2. Anak ay biyaya ng Diyos
3. Anak ay katibayan ng kabutihan asal ng magulang
4. Anak ay katibayan ng pagmamahal
5. Kailangan magkasukat kasarian ng mga anak
6. Anak ay puhunan
7. Ang mga anak ay kailangan upang mapanatili ang mga angkan.
•Endnotes
•1. Catechism of the Catholic Church, no. 214, 1656, 2207.
•2. Vatican Council II used the expression “good of the spouses” in Gaudium et spes, no. 48
•3. Vatican Council II, Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World, Gaudium et spes, no. 26.
•4. Gaudium at Spes no. 41
•5. Council’s Decree on the Apostolate of the Laity, Apostolicam Actuositatem, no. 11.
•6. Pius XI, Encyclical Casti connubii, no. 23
•7. Vatican Council II, Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World, Gaudium et spes, no. 48
•8. Code of Canon Law, canon 1055.
•9. John Paul II, Apostolic exhortation Familiaris consortio, 14 , 25, 45.
•10. Humanae Vitae
•11. Theology of the Body no. 35
•12. Amoris Laeticia 86 and 200