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GENERAL CONCLUSION

This study has been an attempt to highlight both the ecclesial
character of the Christian family and its identity as the Sanctuary of Life and
the missions implied in this identity. Its aim has been to analyse the moral
traditions of the families in the Archdiocese of Kottayam in the light of the
magisterium of the universal Church, especially that of Pope John Paul II. It
has been the intention of this study to find in these traditions living
reflections of the teachings of the Church on family as a community of
persons and a Sanctuary of Life and Love.

The Second Vatican Council provided a theological basis to this
expression and began to describe Christian family as Domestic Church.
Basing its understanding in the New Testament, it affirmed the ecclesial
nature of the Christian family. Coincident with pre-conciliar teaching, it
called the family minusculae ecclesiae (mini-churches). The Council
affirmed the Christian family as a living expression of Christ’s Church and
an image of the Holy Trinity. Parents are first to communicate faith to their
children, and so, in this Domestic Church, parents are challenged to be
examples for their children in word and deed, encouraging them in their
vocation in life. The Christian family has the same mission as that of the
Church, namely the prophetic, priestly and kingly mission, and, through this
Biblically-rooted mission, the Christian family participates in the building
up of the Church. This mission is a call to be the domestic sanctuary of the
1
Church.
The richness of the Church’s magisterium in relation to the ecclesial
character of the Christian family and its identity as a Sanctuary of Life was
further developed during the pontificate of Pope John Paul II. In his
teaching, a continuation and deepening of the teaching of the Second
Vatican Council is found. Besides the Biblically-based triad of mission,
there is another way of approaching the Christian family’s place in the
Church. According to Familiaris Consortio, in particular, Christian families
have four different missions to fulfil. First of all, there is the mission which
is actualized through true conjugal love. In this mission, two persons, a man
and a woman, will know, understand and give themselves to each other.
Second, there is the mission towards life, since from the beginning of
creation conjugal love has been open to new life. Third, there is the
educational mission of the parents through their life with their children in

1
Cf. SACROSANCTUM CONCILIUM OECUMENICUM VATICANUM II, Decretum de
apostolatu laicorum Apostolicam Actuositatem, no.11, 18 Novembris, 1965, in AAS 58,
1966, pp. 837-864

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