Dear Readers,

Certainly the year 2015 will go down in history as the year which delivered a major assault on the family. Earlier in the year, 2015 saw the adoption of “gay marriage” as a constitutional right in many “civilized” nations, on the dubious basis of non-discrimination. At the close of 2015, we saw within the Church cardinal fighting cardinal over the sanctity of marriage.

The 2015 Synod of bishops looked at the practical problems of the family in our times and tried to offer human solutions. Its solutions begin with a naturalistic and materialistic approach, abandoning the God-given higher view of man, and end with the destruction of man. In the past, the Church had always begun with the higher view of man, in order to lift him up to his dignity as a child of God.

In addition to an analysis and refutation of the highly polemical issues of the past synod, we must in all necessity return to the pure source of the Church’s teaching on marriage and family challenges. This issue of The Angelus will give us an interesting insight into the preparatory conciliar schema which, unfortunately, was not adopted at Vatican II. You will also find within this issue the call of Archbishop Lefebvre for a crusade which urged the young adults of 40 years ago to form Catholic families, open to life and open to God and vocations, as they had always been in previous times in the Church.

History and personal experience, examples drawn from the Holy Family, the position of the family unit within society: such are some of the pieces of the puzzle—or rather the mosaic—which compose this present issue.

The aim of these pieces is to give all readers a more coherent understanding of what God had in mind when he created our first parents, and how, by raising their children, married couples can achieve that Christian perfection of intimate union with God. No marriage is perfect, and no family will ever be the carbon copy of the Holy Family of Nazareth. But God can never lead us into evil and, by our being faithful to His word, along with our bearing the inevitable tears and crosses, we will receive the blessings and joys He grants to those faithful to His law.

It has been said that this age is not made for the weak, but for souls who are ready to make the sacrifices necessary for bringing order to their lives, for bringing God into their families, and for raising dedicated children to serve Him best. May this magazine help guide parents and all educators to the long-lasting pillars of Christian family life.

Fr. Jürgen Wegner

Publisher