'Selfishness' in family today

Press, Volume CXIII, Issue 33235, 26 May 1973, Page 8

'Selfishness' in family today

There was a sense today that the "nuclear family” was in trouble, the Rev. J. Curnow, chaplain to the New Zealand Christian Family Movement, told members of the Roman Catholic Church and the National Council of Churches at a national working committee on marriage and the family. When family security, respectability, and the desire to insulate the family from the world became dominant, then the family was destined to become a selfish unit, untouched by the needs and sufferings of others and incapable of sharing itself with the wider community, Father Curnow said. Families needed to consider seriously commitment to and within a group — the community way of life, Father Curnow said.

This could involve sharing possessions. “At present, some groups are looking into this whole area of developing community — going beyond sharing ideas and concerns to look at life styles, new community forms of living, shared prayer and even possessions,” he said. “Groups are going away for week-ends to work through some of these ideas, and to experience a deeper community. “There is a sense today that the old form of the nuclear family is in trouble. There are signs that something is wrong, even though it is not at all clear what it is, and how it will be remedied. "The hopeful signs are the search for a more sharing experience of community,” Father Curnow said.