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The activity of grace and conversion can never be
reduced to a demographic chart. We should never underestimate the grace of
office and of the sacrament for any individual. However, the use of
demographics can be of service to a modern culture, which has lost sight of the
principles that guide family life.
There are those who accept the faith and those who
are approaching it. It is necessary to utilize the sciences where possible in
order to help those who are not convinced by faith alone. It may instill at
least a pragmatic confidence in the wisdom of the Church until faith takes form.
Experience is a valuable resource and an objective
measure of experience can help bring credibility. This helps to overcome the
effects that individual problem situations have on our outlook. For example,
problematic relationships tend to stand our in our minds and thus we are likely
to more vividly remember the couple who are cohabiting and not practicing their
faith more then those who are faithful. Our general impression will tend
towards the negative relationships more than the positive. Another problem is
that the sharp criticism of individuals within a group tends to color our
impressions of the group in question. Surveys and evaluations have shown that
the disposition of the couples and our effectiveness is oftentimes better than
we may feel yet presenters will remember the one or two negative criticisms over
the “60-70” evaluations that were positive.
Consider the major dynamic of Church attendance
and its effect upon family life and consider that only two thirds of the people
getting married in the Catholic Church are attending mass each Sunday and you
have an important intervention and objective for pastoral care. On the negative
side, the presence of cohabitation, pre-marital sexual activity and
contraception during the marriage are the major contributors to marital and
family difficulties and divorce. This also helps us to direct our attention on
a lifetime continuum of pastoral care for the family.
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