Pope Francis in Evangelii Gaudium refers to the family crisis viewed from the cultural standpoint. “The family is experiencing a profound cultural crisis”, it says, because just as the bonds of all communities and social bonds are getting fragmented so too the family bonds are getting more easily broken.This sort of the weakening of bonds in the family is particularly serious, says EG, “because the family is the fundamental cell of society, where we learn to live with others despite our differences and to belong to one another; it is also the place where parents pass on the faith to their children”(# 66a). Of the two reasons given here one is secular and the other is religious. The secular reason for contending that family is fundamental cell of society is this: it is only in the family that “we learn to live with others despite our differences and to belong to one another”. The religious dimension of considering family as the fundamental cell is this: it is only in family that “parents pass on the faith to their children”.

Moreover, EG brings up another aspect of cultural crisis that family is facing today: “Marriage now tends to be viewed as a form of mere emotional satisfaction that can be constructed in any way or modified at will. But the indispensable contribution of marriage to society transcends the feelings and momentary needs of the couple” (# 66b). Corroborating it with the teachings of the French bishops, it states that family is not born “of loving sentiment, ephemeral by definition, but from the depth of the obligation assumed by the spouses who accept to enter a total communion of life” (#66c).

On the whole, then, there are five key points in EG’s concern for the cultural crisis of family: 1) Family is fundamental cell of society. (2) Family is the place where we learn to live with differences and to belong to one another. (3) It is there that transmission of faith takes place effectively to children. (4)Marriage bond transcends the feeling level. (5) It is based on mutual obligation to enter a total communion of life.

With reference to each of the five points given by the Holy Father in EG, we can see corresponding consideration by our father of the nation also.

1) As regards the idea that family is fundamental cell of society, Gandhi has said: “Marriage in Hinduism is one of the four ashramas. In fact the other three are based on it. The duty… is therefore not to look down upon marriage but to give it its due place and make of it the sacrament (Bose 278-79).

2) With regard to the second point mentioned above, Gandhi’s married life itself stands as a good illustration. From his experiences of long married life he realized “The wife is not the husband’s bond slave, but his companion and his helpmate and an equal partner in all his joys and sorrows as free as the husband to choose her path” (Auto, I : IV).

3) If Gandhi could attain spiritual heights later in his life, it was because most of the elements of spiritual attainment were actually sworn in him at home during his early childhood. He clearly acknowledged that his mother was deeply religious, though occasionally superstitious, and had strong will-power. Similarly Gandhi also recognized that his father was “truthful, brave and generous,” and he had that kind of religious culture of making frequent visits to temples and listening to religious discourses (Auto, I:X).

4) As regards the transcendent element of marriage Gandhi has this to say: “The ideal that marriage aims at is that of spiritual union through the physical. The human love that it incarnates is intended to serve as a stepping stone to divine or universal love” (Bose, 273).

5) The mutual obligation assumed by spouses for total communion of life is actually what we Christians call the covenantal relationship. Gandhi highlights this dimension by going to the root of the matter. His idea was that the marriage partners must be constantly vigilant to choose the upward movement in their family life rather than yielding to the downward movements and breaking the covenantal relationship.

With useful tips, given by a family man who turned spiritually a great soul, it may be easy for us today to meet the cultural crisis of the family that the Holy Father is asking us to take note of.