October 8, 2014 – Excerpted from Put Out Into the Deep, Bishop DiMario’s column in The Tablet:

My dear brothers and sisters in the Lord,

The Synod on the Family that has begun in Rome gives me an opportunity to write to you regarding the long tradition of the Church for upholding the family as the basic unit of society and also as the domestic Church. Most importantly, the Church sees the family as the foundation for a civilization of love. These are the words used by Pope Paul VI, soon to be beatified at the end of the Synod on the Family.

St. John Paul II, in his encyclical “Familiaris Consortio” (Tasks of the Family), described the family as a community of persons similar to the Trinity itself. These persons serve each other and support one another and participate in the development of society and the mission of the Church. Families are important in themselves. However, families are most important to society and to the Church.

There is no better example than the Holy Family of Nazareth as a model for Christian families. This has always been the message of the Church regarding family life; look to Nazareth and to the family that nurtured the Son of God, and we will know how to live in our own families.

Read the full text of the bishop’s column on The Tablet website.