Last summer I met Thomas Massero SJ who teaches moral theology  in Boston College.  His students said that, at the time, he was impatiently waiting for the publication of Pope Benedict's encyclical Caritas in Veritate so that he could share its insights at summer school.

Fr Massero writes regularly for America magazine.  In a recent edition he shared his new year's resolution.  They struck me as very doable, if not for the whole year, then at least for Lent.  It is an activity a family could creatively do together.  He writes:

My pledge is a dual resolution. In the course of these 12 months, I promise to do a better job remembering two categories of people who tend to fall off my radar screen far too often for comfort.

"Hon, will you do Peter tonight?" Chris asked as she looked over at me, while on her way to the laundry room with dirty clothes. "Peter, give mummy a kiss."

It was not really a question. This I understood. Peter, our youngest of six, was just five and "doing Peter," meant getting his room cleaned up and him off to bed. Usually I looked forward to this time, but tonight everything felt too burdensome. It wasn't from any one thing in particular; just the cumulative effect of being a family. As I headed for Peter's room, I wished for my own bed.

What can a parend do to foster their child voction to the priesthood or religious life? Ten ideas are offered here by the Armagh Diocesan Vocations Commission. They also offer the ideas for priests, school teachers and parishioners, so there is something here for everyone.

Families are a central part of the ecosystem supporting the survival of humankind. Most would say that they are a basic cell or an organ that serves the sustaining of human life. The family plays important roles from the beginning to the end of life and at many stages along the way. No one questions this as a general principle. John Paul II says that through the family passes the future of both church and society.