Fortunate Families

Fortunate Families addresses the experience of Catholic parents who love their gay sons and lesbian daughters. The book had its genesis in a descriptive survey of over 200 such parents. It integrates results from the survey, church documents and stories so readers can access what they need most. Some readers will search for accurate information about Catholic teaching, others may connect with the lived experience of other Catholic parents. Still others will find examples of ministerial advocacy and support within the Catholic Church. Fortunate Families has all this and more. Conventional wisdom emphasizes the stories of parents who react to the news that their child is gay in verbally or physically abusive ways. These stories are told so often they take on an aura of normalcy. But there are other stories - of parents who struggle against the pressures of society and church to find and believe in the goodness of their gay child. It is critically important for parents to hear the stories of others who walked the same road before them-who have come through the experience closer to their gay or lesbian child, and who are willing to work to make the church more welcoming. Equally important is the opportunity for pastoral ministers to hear the voices of these parents and understand the need for outreach and pastoral care for gay and lesbian Catholics and their families. Fortunate Families will help prepare pastoral ministers help families come out of their isolation, work through their confusion and pain, and celebrate how fortunate they actually are.

The author has spoken with countless Catholics who are passionate about LGBTQ ministry but feel stymied by a lack of resources. Fr. Martin’s book, Building a Bridge, is a helpful conversation starter, but what does community and pastoral care look like in the real world? How do ministers navigate the complexities of church teaching and institutions? Sometimes, the history of these relationships is hard to recount. The church’s mistreatment of LGBTQ Catholics is heartbreaking. Nevertheless, this painful history opens up to hope for the future. LGBTQ Catholics and their allies are tenacious. Decades of ministry provide a vision for what is possible in communities committed to justice and mercy. This book will amplify their stories to inspire LGBTQ people and allies today.

First published in 1979, this fourth part of Principles of Political Economyapplies the tools of economic analysis to the distribution of income and property. Professor Meade considers the problems of making interpersonal comparisons of welfare and of distinguishing between the efficiency and distributional aspects of changes in social welfare. He analyses the possible criteria for redistribution as between rich and poor members of the same generation, as between present and future generations, and – in the context of demographic policies – as between the born and the unborn. Special attention is given to the social factors (such as assortative mating, differential fertility, and laws and customs relating to the inheritance of property) in explaining the persistence of economic inequalities, and to the various forms of economic policy which may be devised for the reduction of such inequalities. An extensive mathematical model of the dynamics of social welfare in a second-best economy is appended.

In this accessible and engagingly written book, Vanessa May invites readers into the rich world of thought, research and study of the highly diverse phenomenon of families and family life. The book explores what is and has been understood by ‘family’ in different sociocultural contexts and how family life intersects with social spheres such as the state, the labour market and the economy. Alongside broad social developments such as (post)colonialism and austerity and their connections with changing family patterns, the book engages interdisciplinary work on time, embodiment and materiality in order to offer a multidimensional perspective on the day-to-day lives of families. Drawing from research in the Global North and the Global South, the text carefully considers how people approach the study of families and thus offers insight into the shape of mainstream family studies today. The book offers a timely intervention into current debates within family studies and suggests avenues of investigation that deserve further attention, and will be an invaluable resource to students and scholars alike.

Unlike other family textbooks that mostly emphasize conflicts and problems, this book also features the joys and pleasures of family living and its mutually nourishing qualities. Its perspective reflects polls, surveys, and student essays indicating that most people value their families. Families everywhere provide love, support, and sustenance to their members, but they do so in many different arrangements.Understanding the wide variety of families historically and across cultures gives the student a better basis for understanding how families change and a better grasp of more controversial changes such as the gradual acceptance by Westerners of same-sex marriage and child-rearing by single people. Liazos offers two poignant chapters not found in other texts. Family Living (Chapter Six) focuses on the social value of caregiving and family meals. Kin and Community (Chapter Seven) focuses on relationships among kin and the larger community.

This collection by leading scholars discusses race, gender and class stressing their effects on American families.