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4.3.2 How can the Southist Family Become a Sanctuary of Life
Today?

In the multi-religious context of India, the mission of the Christian
family is based on the values derived from their Christian faith. The strength
of the Indian Christian family is found in values like reverence for life,
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hospitality, respect for elders, and caring for the young. If the Christian
family in India, particularly the Knānāya family, is to be a true Sanctuary of
Life in the contemporary context, it needs continuous renewal that touches
not only the hearts of individuals, but the values of the family traditions and
culture and the structures of society. The family customs particular to
Knānāya community are an invitation to a responsibility, a Knānāya
responsibility. It is also a special expression of what the CBCI pointed out
as the positive values and responsibilities of the joint family structure in
India: “Close family ties, respect for elders, notable dependence on the
eldest male member of the family, and sharing of wealth and land are its
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characteristic features”. Those responsibilities are to be carried out
adequately in the modern society. The following ideas highlight how the
missions or responsibilities of the family as a Sanctuary of Life can be
carried out in the present context.

4.3.2.1 Transmit Life Responsibly

In conformity to the magisterium of the Church, the Southist
tradition emphasizes that children are to be born within marriage. At the
same time parents should take into account various other factors of family
and society at large in begetting their children. India’s population growth is
high, and political and social awareness highlights the need to control it.
The well-known sociologists, P. D. Devanandan and M. M. Thomas, who
have analysed the family situation and population growth in India, express
this idea by saying: “We are faced with the urgent and gigantic problem of
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controlling the growth of India’s population”. Because of this, various

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Cf. ABRAHAM M.S., BIJU, The Emerging Identity and Mission of the Christian Family
as Domestic Church in the Indian Context, Excerpta ex Dissertatione ad Doctoratum,
Academica Alfonsiana, Romae, 2006, p.68.
75 CATHOLIC BISHOPS CONFERENCE OF INDIA, CBCI Communication to the Synod of
Bishops 1980 on its theme “The Role of the Christian Family in the Modern World”,
Ranchi, 17-25 October, 1979, in DONALD H. R. DE SOUZA (ed.), Final Statements of the
General Body Meetings of the Catholic Bishop Conference of India 1966-2002, New Delhi,
2002, p. 58.
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DEVANANDAN, P. D. and M. M., THOMAS (eds.), The Changing Pattern Of The
Family In India, Christian Institute for the Study of Religion and Society, Bangalore, 2007,
p. 198.

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