Friday, November 16, 2012
Bishops and birth rates. In 2005, His Beatitude
Ilia II, Orthodox Patriarch of All Georgia, became aware that the birth rate in
his post-Soviet nation of George was in a downward spiral.
Patriarch Ilia began to preach about "large
families" as one of the key elements of Christian civilization. To put it
simply, the birth rate and the "faith rate" tend to mirror one another. Look at
nations that have rejected the Church and you'll see that these have the lowest
birth rates. Perfidy and despair go hand in hand.
In 2008, not only did he preach big families,
but the Patriarch promised to personally stand as Godfather for all babies born
into Georgian homes with more than two children.
His initiative was widely successful and has
since increased the birth rate by 25 percent! Meanwhile, the
number of abortions in the nation of Georgia decreased by 50
percent!
The President of George commended the Patriarch
saying, "We should be thankful to the Patriarch for continually remind the
Georgian people that we should multiply."
My goodness, what a wonderful model for the
Western bishops. Can you imagine if bishops all over Europe, America, and Latin
America began to preach big families, and then personally stood as Godfathers so
as to provide encouragement and hope to married couples who fear more than three
children? What a difference it would make.
Patriarch Ilia...Axios! Axios indeed.
PS: The Patriarch has over 11,000
godchildren!
HT: I found this story in the Catholic
Newspaper provided by the laudable Transalpine Redemptorists (Sons of the Most Holy Redeemer). I
highly recommend it. $40 for an annual subscription.
Transalpine Redemptorists
OLGS Seminary
7880 W. Denton Rd
Denton NE, 68339
No comments:
Post a Comment