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Definition of the Family
The family is so basic in the history of humanity and at the same time so culturally diverse that a definition of it is difficult to give. The essence of the family is love between partners who care for each other and for children. Throughout the centuries people have expressed this socially and culturally in different ways, just as the legal definition and the protection of the family differs from country to country.

The family has its natural basis in the lasting partnership and living together of man and woman, in their care for the physical, social, spiritual and emotional development of their children and in the transfer between generations. This natural family was and is in all societies and ages for the vast majority of men and women the ultimate way of living together. Parallel to this there have always been alternative and substitute ways of living together, out of necessity (e.g. adoption or in case there are no natural parents) or based on free choice. If these alternatives have the same quality of love, upbringing and intergenerational transfer as the natural family, then they also belong to the category which we call ‘the family’.

In summary, the family has the following functions.

• Satisfying the longings of the human heart to give and receive love;
• Taking care of the full physical, social, spiritual, and emotional development of the children;
• Sharing a home which functions as the centre of the social, formative, economic and spiritual life;
• Developing strong bonds between generations to carry on a life which has a transcendent meaning;
• Supporting individuals and households of which the circumstances do not correspond with this ideal.

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