Family Breakdown

I was watching Women of Grace the other night which airs on the EWTN network and is hosted by Johnnette Benkovic.  She and her guests were discussing some morally adverse issues facing young girls and parents of young girls in today’s world.  Much of the discussion was wrapped around the topic of sexualization and pornification of women, starting with little girls as young as three years old and even younger.

The show reminded me of a post I’d written a year ago about the breakdown of the family and the alarming state of decline society is sinking into as it allows and even promotes the pedophilia chic concept to take root in our culture, like a weed in an unattended garden.  Why isn’t there more being done about this blatant danger?  We scream and rage for more child protection laws and services, and yet the sexualization of children – girls and boys – that can be witnessed around the globe is disturbing and downright deplorable.

Family Breakdown

Originally posted on January 9, 2011

The family breakdown in our society is fast approaching a boiling point.  Two days ago I wrote a post that included a prayer that Pope John Paul II asked that we say for our families and families in general.  In that post I had indicated that I’d be linking back to it in the following posts which I’m currently working on (including this one) that all pertain to the family breakdown and the reason behind it.  Unfortunately, as was the case in one of my posts last month, for some strange reason there is some sort of technical glitch that is not allowing me to link to it the way I normally do, so instead I’ll just do it the “old-fashioned” way and spell out the title of the post so that you can look it up on your own.  The name of the post is Prayer of Pope John Paul II for the Family.

Although I don’t have a family of my own, I see families of my loved ones, friends, people I’m acquainted with and people I read or hear about on this disturbing downward spiral toward destruction; by that I mean that the family is falling apart.  It seems that everywhere I turn I’m hearing about this woman’s infidelity or that man’s addiction to pornography or these parents’ struggle to keep their son from going off the deep end with drug or alcohol abuse, and the list goes on.  But NEVER in my wildest dreams would I have imagined that family breakdown could be defined in such a way as parents willingly exploiting their own children!

Family Breakdown and Spiritual Attack

Those of you who have been reading my blog regularly probably already know where I’m going with this; our culture is at war.  I’m not talking about the war in the Middle East, though God knows that is bad enough.  The war I’m talking about is spiritual in nature and the battleground is everywhere we turn.  The Devil is in his end game, and he is working on overtime these days to pull souls away from God because he knows his time on earth is short.  The Saint Michael Prayer should be prayed daily by all Catholics and it should be put back in the Mass where it belongs.  This is the prayer, for those of you who may not already be familiar with it:

St. Michael the Archangel, defend us in battle.  Be our defense against the wickedness and snares of the Devil.  May God rebuke him, we humbly pray, and do thou, O Prince of the heavenly hosts, by the power of God, thrust into hell Satan, and all the evil spirits, who prowl about the world seeking the ruin of souls. Amen

There is a reason we have the Saint Michael Prayer, and the ending alone should be enough to prompt us to want to do all that we can in order to save souls.  The Devil uses the family unit as one of, if not his biggest forms of attack on humanity, and the family breakdown is the result of his success.  When he attacks the family he is striking out at God and creation; after all, that’s how we all got here.  I suppose Father John Corapi says it best when he explains:

“It should be no secret that the traditional family is the basic building block from which societies, good or bad, are built.  When the traditional family unit (man-woman/husband-wife, children) is eroded away, distorted, divided, or otherwise assaulted, society begins to be eroded away, distorted, divided, and otherwise assaulted, leading to the ultimate demise of that society.  Such is the case today.”

Child Exploitation Is a Form of Family Breakdown

The other day someone forwarded me a blog post by Elizabeth Scalia who writes under the screen name of The Anchoress on First Things.  Her post is titled Pedophila Chic; Criminal Parenting? It is a chilling article about the sexualization of little girls in Vogue Paris magazine whose parents willingly give them over to such abuse, thereby rendering them perfect targets and potential victims of pedophiles.  In her article, Elizabeth Scalia links to other articles and appalling photos of little girls dressed in high heels, heavy lipstick and the unthinkable: lesbian-style poses.  Though the content and photos in that article are disturbing to read and view, I encourage you to take a look at it because it is a perfect example of our culture’s family breakdown and the way in which the Devil manipulates the motives of the parents using their egos as his springboard.

I would like to believe that most parents would be shocked and outraged at the concept of this sick behavior.  I’d like to believe they would never fall prey to such an ego-driven boost whereby they would risk their own children’s lives for the sake of their own self-fulfillment or vicarious living out of their own pent-up passions through the manipulation of their children.  Judging from the slew of the article comments from outraged parents, I do feel a sense of relief that there are parents out there who are up in arms over this moral nightmare.  However, there are still plenty of people who either just don’t get it or are too wimpy to stand up and speak out against this deplorable act of perversity.

The Family Breakdown and the Rosary

In this time of extreme violence, loose morals and chaotic thinking, we, as Catholics, have an obligation to do more.  We can no longer just sit back and be grateful that the family breakdown all around us is somehow missing our own little corner of the world; because it isn’t.  We are everyone’s corner of the world.  Jesus never meant for us to count our individual blessings and yet be oblivious to the needs of others.  Prayer and penance and sacrifices are not options, they are obligations.  We all need to step it up a notch if we desire change and conversion and peace.

Last month, one of the readers of this blog sent me a very informative and enlightening, yet also frightening YouTube video of the warning that Our Lady of Akita gave to Sister Agnes Katsuko Sasagawa when she appeared to her near the city of Akita in 1973.  One of the most important messages in this video is to pray the Holy Rosary.  Through regular praying of the Rosary, not only will the family breakdown in our culture (hopefully, God willing) be reversed, but according to Our Lady, God’s anger will soften and potential afflictions may never happen if we persevere in prayer, penance and great sacrifices.  As Pope Pius XII said:

“The salvation of the many depends on the faithfulness of the few.”