FAMILY DAY
February 16 is Family Day. It is observed as a statutory holiday in a number of provinces – Alberta, British Columbia, Saskatchewan, Ontario, New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island. Family Day in these provinces coincides with Louis Riel Day in Manitoba and Heritage Day in Nova Scotia. As an Ontario resident, it has been a delight to be able to take a day in the middle of the busyness of midwinter to pause and focus on family. I give a huge shout out to the powers that be and the behind-the-scenes people and processes who made this day possible.
It is important to consider in this time, however, what we understand as family. Most of us, when we think of family, default to ideas of the nuclear family with a Mom, Dad and their offspring. Yet our daily encounters show us a much richer tapestry of examples of family. Single parent households, grandparent primary care families, families formed by dads or moms among many other examples form the basis of the reality of family life in our society. That is our reality, and all families are part of a loving commitment to raise the next generation with a readiness for future living.
Our adoptions taught us volumes about the meaning of family. As parents, we raised our children with a deep respect for their birth families. In most of our kids’ circumstances, we were able to open the adoptions and raise our children knowing their birth mothers and families. What this taught us is that love truly is the core of the familial relationship. Our birth mothers loved their children dearly but didn’t necessarily have the skills to care for them. We were able to fill that gap, the rest was a true experience of profound love for our children and the families of origin.
In a sense, we fulfilled the purpose of family as found in the history of the word “family”. In the ancient world, “family” did not refer only to bloodline. It meant to be part of a household. It was an identity to claim servants, relatives, and even long-term guests. Of course, it included parents and offspring but was not limited to it. This broader sense of family is also related to the ancient Greek word themelia, meaning “foundation stone.” Our work as parents has been to be that solid foundation. Adding to the circle of family by including the birth families in no way weakened that foundation but enhanced it. We lived in the philosophy “You can never have too many people in the world who love you.”
At the core of our Christian faith is the truth that Jesus is our brother. God is parent to us all. We are brothers and sisters. We have been adopted by God into the covenant God made with the Hebrew people. St. Paul reminds us that God “…destined us for adoption as his children through Jesus Christ, according to the good pleasure of his will…” We are all of God’s household (familia in Latin) and we have Jesus as our foundation (themelia in Greek). We are loved dearly and can confidently negotiate the complexities of life with the assurances of this reality.
Stated simply, our faith teaches that no one is outside our family. It is the blood of Christ that unites each human being to another and the bond of family. Our works of service in the people who need help, justice and peace. Our service is for the members of God’s family, our brother or sister who needs us. Afterall, we are all family. We can never have too many people in the world who love us.
Michael Way Skinner is a retired Coordinator of Religion, Family Life and Equity with the York Catholic District School Board. He was a contributing author to World Religions: A Canadian Catholic Perspective, and co-authored There Must be a Pony in Here Somewhere (Novalis, 2020) with his wife, Christine Way Skinner. Michael is a public speaker and award-winning educator who is deeply committed to faith as a source for inclusion and justice.
