CORPUS CHRISTI, TX (Catholic Online) - The Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church has a sort of social manifesto for the family within it.  A manifesto is a public declaration that contains the primary principles or intentions of some group.  Our Declaration of Independence may be said to be our country's manifesto. 

The family manifesto found in the Compendium revolves around the notions of the "social subjectivity" and the "social priority" of the family.  It also states that the family as a natural institution has certain "family rights."  It enjoins upon societies too often structured around false notions of individualism to re-think their basic premises, and to modify their economic, political, legal, and cultural institutions to accommodate the family better so that it may flourish, and not merely subsist.

The concept of "social subjectivity" steers us in between two social errors: radical individualism or atomism, on the one hand, and socialism or collectivism, on the other.  In the former error, only the individual matters; the group does not matter.  This sort of thinking is found in most modern, liberal Western democracies. In the latter error, only the group matters; the individual does not matter. 

This sort of thinking is found in Islamist or communist countries.  The notion of "social subjectivism" intends to place responsibilities on individuals and recognize their intrinsic dignity, but at the same time stress that whatever we do affects others.  We necessarily exercise our subjectivity within society, hence the notion of "social subjectivity."

The notion of "social subjectivity" is a notion that includes not only individuals, but also families.  Hence families are not separate cells unlinked with other families.  There are, in fact "demonstrations of solidarity and sharing among families themselves," which ought to extend out into "various forms of participation in social and political life." (Compendium, No. 246) 

The notion "social subjectivity" understands that "people must not be considered only as individuals, but also in relation to the family nucleus to which they belong, the specific values and needs of which must be taken into due account." (Compendium, No. 254)

The concept of the "social priority" of the family is one where civil society recognizes the "priority and 'antecedence' of the family."  In other words, as a natural society, the family comes first; the family precedes the State.  The family ought to be a focus of all civil society, and civil society "should never fail in its fundamental task of respecting and fostering the family." (Compendium, No. 252) 

Therefore, economic, social, political, legal, juridical, and cultural realms will focus on the family and recognize the priority of the family.  This will call for a shifting of values in societies which have--for generations--structured their institutions with an eye toward individualism.

The notion of the "social priority" of the family means that the family ought to be understood to have preeminent rights to social recognition.  The State and all society must recognize the family, must protect, appreciate, and promote the family.  But the "family" here is to be understood as being the "natural society founded on marriage" between one man and one woman.

There ought to be no confusion between the family and those forms of cohabitation which mock it.  The family, "understood correctly"--that is to say, as nature and God would have it, and not the family understood however one may like--is what is to receive social priority and whose antecedent rights are to be protected.  This is not true for "all other forms of cohabitation which, by their very nature, deserve neither the name nor the status of family." (Compendium, No. 253)

The Church calls upon families to take an active, protagonistic role in forming society itself, in inculcating society and politics with its values.  "Far from being only objects of political action," the Compendium states, "families can and must become active subjects."  The Church asks families to unite, to work toward seeing that "the laws and institutions of the State not only do not offend but support and positively defend the rights and duties of the family." (Compendium, No. 247)

In short, we have plenty of PACs--Political Action Committees.  It's time we had some FACs--Family Action Committees.

The Compendium issues forth a cri-de-coeur, a cry from the heart, that there be a "family politics," one that is transformative of civil society, including its economic, social, juridical, and cultural aspects, so that civil society serves the family's needs.  ...