Building The Civilization of Love One Life at a Time

by Vince Sacksteder

“The future is in your hearts and in your hands. God is entrusting to you the task, at once difficult and uplifting, of working with Him in the building of the civilization of love.”
– Pope St. John Paul II

Spreading the Culture of Death seems to be as easy as growing dandelions, while building the Civilization of Love seems to be as tough as growing prize roses. Going the easy way, however, yields very bitter fruit, and taking the more challenging path brings fulfillment of all our best hearts’ desires.

Recent U.S. demographic data reveal profound changes affecting American families. The United States has a total fertility rate of approximately 1.6 births per woman, significantly below the replacement level of 2.1 births per woman required to sustain the population from one generation to the next. According to the 2020 U.S. Census, fewer than 28% of U.S. households consist of married couples raising their own minor children. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (2020) reports that approximately 4 in 10 children are born to unmarried parents. In addition, research from the Institute for Family Studies indicates that by their senior year of high school, only about half of American children will have been continuously raised by their married biological parents.

These trends point to a growing instability in family life that has significant consequences for children, communities, and the future of our nation.

What Is Contributing to These Trends?

Many factors have contributed to the weakening of marriage and family life, including sexual relationships outside of marriage, cohabitation, divorce, widespread contraceptive use, abortion, and the increasing separation of procreation from marriage through certain artificial reproductive technologies.

In response to these challenges, we are called to build a Civilization of Love—a culture rooted in authentic love, respect for the dignity of every human person, faithful marriage, and openness to the gift of life.

The first step is to embrace and promote chastity according to one’s state in life. While this mission is demanding, it is also deeply rewarding and entirely achievable. Experience has shown that young people are eager to hear a positive vision of love that reserves sexual intimacy for marriage. Likewise, many married couples have discovered that Natural Family Planning strengthens their relationships while respecting both the unitive and procreative dimensions of marriage.

What Can We Do?

We propose seven practical strategies for building the Civilization of Love:

Prayer–Lifting our hearts and minds to God to receive His clarity of thought about what needs to be done and His strength to do it.
Premarital Chastity – Preparing young people for authentic love and lifelong marriage.
Fertility Appreciation – Understanding fertility as a healthy and beautiful gift rather than a problem to be suppressed.
Openness to Children – Welcoming every child as a priceless gift from God.
Marital Faithfulness – Strengthening lifelong, faithful, and life-giving marriages.
Natural Family Planning – Promoting methods that respect human dignity, foster communication between spouses, and cooperate with God’s design for marriage.
Respect for the Body– recognizing the theological vision of the human person, sexuality, marriage, and the meaning of the body in God’s plan.

Each of these strategies is a powerful instrument for transforming lives, strengthening families, and renewing our culture.By working together, we can replace the Culture of Death with a Civilization of Love—one family, one marriage, and one life at a time.

Your support makes this mission possible. Every contribution helps educate young people, strengthen marriages, promote Natural Family Planning, and provide hope to vulnerable families seeking to build a future rooted in faith, love, and life. Together, we can help countless families flourish and make a lasting difference for generations to come.

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