Nota Bene makes the following comment in a much longer post.

This situation reminds me of some thoughts that I had last summer following the tragic death of Martin Burnham. He and his wife had been evangelical missionaries in the Philippines and then been held prisoner for close to, if not more than a year. All the while their children were in America under the care of relatives.

I accept that all Christians are called upon to participate in some way in the mission of the Church. However, I think that this work of evangelization should be done in the context of their first vocation, to be husband and wife, father and mother. Now in saying this I am not excluding the possibility that spouses and even entire families might be able to work to proclaim the Gospel in a foreign land. Emphasis mine


I find this very interesting because it has been a long time observation of mine about contemporary Catholic culture. The fact that being a parent is considered one's first vocation and also about the relative lack of the missionary mindset among Catholics.

Protestants have a very long and venerable missionary tradition, where families have gone to every corner of the globe to preach the gospel. I think that because of the Catholic hierarchy and the fact that they were pretty much responsible for "everything" up until Vatican, when more responsibilities were given to lay folk, contemporary Catholic culture has no missionary mindset to speak of. Lay Catholics have tended to leave that sort of thing to the hierarchy or religious orders, while Protestants see it as their individual responsibilities to carry out the missionary mandate of Christ.

Also, the focus on family as first vocation is interesting. It is the feeling of many Catholics, especially conservative, that family is one's primary vocation. Protestants, not that they are not concerned about family, see God's work as primary and family has to be secondary a la Luke where XT says leave mother, father, brother, etc.(note that Jesus specifically mentions wife, family and children).

I happen to be more sympathetic to the Protestant view due to my Protestant background. I have discussed this with Catholics who note that care for one's family is vocation, so how can one have a vocation that does not include this idea? I never argue with this point of view because which ever view point you have is assumption laden and tends to be based on one's background and preferences.

I do think the focus on family first in Catholic circles comes from the fact that there is nothing in the Church for lay people to do besides family and parish. Most spiritual responsibilities lie in the hands of the hierarchy or religious, numerous statements to the contrary notwithstanding. On the other hand, many Protestants see themselves as primary and essential in the most essential work of Christ's commission.

Another interesting point is that there are many accounts in the early church, when the faithful were being killed for not denying XT, of children being used to tempt mothers to deny XT. The idea was that they would appeal to the mother's love for her child and point out the consequences of death, abandoning the child. But the mothers would accept death rather than deny XT and often their children followed suit.

My thinking is that when it is all said and done, on judgment day, individuals, not families will stand before God.