Destroying the Traditional Family

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The family, the most basic community, is the foundation of all other societies. It is the state of the family, therefore, that serves as the measure for the success or failure of any society.

But what is success for society? The Catechism of the Catholic Church teaches it is "the sum total of social conditions which allow people, either as groups or as individuals, to reach their fulfillment more fully and more easily" (§1906).

This fulfillment is synonymous with human flourishing, which is the end goal of any true psychology. However, modern psychology desires not objective human flourishing, but, rather, subjective self-affirmation disguised as "well-being."

Unfortunately, even most Catholic attempts at psychology end up compromising, due to the overwhelming secular culture and godless State.

Sigmund Freud, the most infamous father of modern psychology, did much to destroy individual morality, and, consequently, his ideas have undermined the family.

Freud reduced man to a beast; that is, he believed human beings to be driven solely by instinct (specifically, sexual urges). Normalizing the concupiscence of man, Freud taught the exact opposite of traditional Western morality.

Freud surely misunderstood the nature of man and the natural world, so it comes as no surprise that he was confused about God as well — believing His very existence to be an illusion of the mind. 

The rotten fruits of Freud's perverted and godless thoughts are no more clearly seen than in his 1935 letter to a desperate mother who was turning to him for help regarding her son's same-sex attraction. Freud advised the mother that, "homosexuality is assuredly no advantage, but it is nothing to be ashamed of, no vice, no degradation."

The identity of the mental health system is almost perfectly represented in that last line; that is, the mental health system does not recognize sin, and thus, immoral and unnatural behavior is "nothing to be ashamed of," according to modern psychology.

"With few exceptions," Fr. John Hardon explains, "modern psychologists consider any effort to 'control' the sex impulses as repressive."

The first two editions of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual labeled homosexuality as a mental illness and pathologic behavior, but herein lies the problem: Calling a degenerate act that somebody chooses to do a "mental illness" indicates that there is no moral responsibility. 

This is just determinism, a belief that one's circumstances override his freewill. No longer is man responsible for his own actions, but, rather, his label as "mentally ill" gives him the pass to be a homosexual, an alcoholic, overweight, etc.

Granted, there are very real intellectual disabilities and physiological ills that can cause uncontrolled behaviors — but the mental health system's emphatically deterministic philosophy categorizes virtually all behaviors as uncontrolled.

This is why the mental health system labels the atrocities of abortion, homosexuality and transgenderism as normal.

This soulless system says that human beings can't master their sexual urges, so contraception and abortion are "necessary." People are born gay — we're told — so homosexuality and gay "marriage" must be normalized. Some people are even somehow created the "wrong" sex, so they need to be able to "transition."

The reason the mental health system affirms these acts is that it rejects the ability of man to freely choose the good against his fallen nature and inclinations.

So when Freud acknowledges that homosexuality is "no advantage," but then counsels his patient that "it is nothing to be ashamed of," he is insinuating that there is no choice in the act and that one is predetermined to do these things, for whatever reason.

This is the foundation of the ridiculous "born this way" philosophy.

Today, the American Psychological Association and the American Psychiatric Association not only affirm two of the four sins that cry to Heaven for vengeance, but actively and aggressively promote them.

Western morality, which was built on the Catholic worldview, sees man as a rational creature with the ability to intellectually assent to truth and volitionally choose the good. Although truth is often hard to find and goodness even harder to practice, becoming more fully human depends on this pursuit.

Because truth and goodness are antithetical to the modern mental health system, so too are legitimate definitions and distinctions.

According to this corrupt system, "traditional masculinity is psychologically harmful ... [because it] is an ever-shifting territory."

This attempted destruction of maleness (and femaleness) is the natural result of viewing the human person as a soulless being — and, consequently, it's an assault on the traditional family.

Modern psychology seeks to achieve the breakdown of masculinity and femininity by breaking down the father. According to the American Psychological Association, a father is "no longer always the traditional married breadwinner and disciplinarian in the family."

Father Brian Mullady, O.P., spells out the traditional family in his book Christian Social Order:

"The role of the father is more one of intellectual affirmation. ... The role of the mother is more one of emotional tenderness. ... [The husband] must be the spiritual head of the family, [and the wife] is the spiritual heart of the family."

Because man is designed by God to be active as a leader and protector, in marriage, his masculinity is found in acting in accord with this reality. On the other hand, women are designed by God to follow in obedience and submission (in all things not sinful), as they are to be passive and receptive. This, of course, is heightened in marriage, for the wife finds her femininity in acting in accord with her God-given nature. Both masculinity in men and femininity in women are brought forth in marriage through the knowledge of their own bodies, for even man and woman's genetic makeup points directly to these truths.

In society, if these roles in marriage are ignored, the family will be disordered and the children will be scandalized. If the husband is not the head of the wife (Ephesians 5:23), and the wife is not domestic and submissive (Titus 2:5), then the foundation of the family, and therefore of society as a whole, will be built on sand.

Of course, there are situations that make this proper familial order impossible, but those are extraordinary circumstances and are by no means the ideal.

Father Mullady points out this ideological threat to the family by writing, "In both the liberal state and the totalitarian state, such a natural relationship is not respected."

The mental health system, fully subservient to the secular State, promotes every single legal attack on the family, namely:

• Contraception
• Divorce
• Abortion
• Gay "marriage"
• Genital mutilation

These evils, like all, have their roots in pride and self-love, over and above God and His order. Unless man accepts God's objective order and chooses to live in accord with it, he cannot have the peace and freedom he's looking for.

Go Premium and watch the fourth episode of Church Militant's brand new series Mental Health: Catholic Perspective to learn more.

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