A quote from Pastor Rick Warren, who shared the stage with Cardinal Sean O’Malley at the World Meeting of Families a week ago. He commented on how the family is threatened in today’s society, and what our responsibility is in that regard.

“In today’s society, materialism is idolized, immorality is glamorized, truth is minimized, sin is normalized, divorce is rationalized, and abortion is legalized. In TV and movies, crime is legitimized, drug use is minimized, comedy is vulgarized, and sex is trivialized. In movies, the Bible is fictionalized, churches are satirized, God is marginalized, and Christians are demonized. The elderly are dehumanized, the sick are euthanized, the poor are victimized, the mentally ill are ostracized, immigrants are stigmatized, and children are tranquilized.

In families around the world, our manners are uncivilized, speech is vulgarized, faith is secularized, and everything is commercialized. Christians are often disorganized and demoralized, and their faith is compartmentalized, and witness compromised.

So what do we need? We need to revitalize our worship, minimize our differences, mobilize our members, and evangelize the lost, and we need to re-energize our families.”