We bring an article from the book dedicated to Prof. Ante Vukasović, For Better Upbringing and a More Successful Married and Family Life, on the beauty, importance and challenge of childbearing and posterity for Kučići, for Croatia and for the whole world.

"The world belongs to the young" - so runs the old folk saying. The young carry on the work of their forebears - their parents, grandparents and great-grandparents. This is a condition of human survival, a lawful process that makes possible the continuity of life, of humanity's preservation and development. Descendants mean the continuation of the life of the family, of the nation, of humankind. They build family trees, search out their roots, carry forward what has already begun, extend what is unfinished, bring about what has not yet been achieved. They join together decades, centuries and millennia. They make possible the development of human culture and civilisation. They will carry forward our work too. They will make possible the further development of the human race and its culture in the future.

Without offspring, life would be extinguished, the human race would disappear. Posterity makes possible the biological preservation of the species. Animals too have an instinct for offspring, they "produce" them and care for them. However, besides the biological drive, the human need for posterity is deliberate, rationally, ethically and religiously grounded. Man understands the role and meaning of posterity, rejoices in children, receives each of his children with the full ardour of parental love, cares for them, raises and educates them. Parental feeling has its biological roots, but also a much deeper, civilised meaning bound up with human consciousness and conscience.

People attach to their offspring their wishes and hopes, their visions and ideals, their property and family occupations. Children inherit not only their parents' property, but also their workshops, their trades. There are well-known families of teachers, merchants, blacksmiths, millers, roadmenders, musicians, jewellers and other professions that are "passed on" from parents to children. In the Middle Ages the nobility kept genealogical books, drawing up the pedigrees of their lineage.

Even today many people take an interest in their ancestors, their kin, come to know their roots, dream of the future. In this way the meaning of life is understood more deeply and fully, and one finds one's place within the family, one's village, town, society and life in general.

Parental feeling, the sense of motherhood and fatherhood, is so strong that almost all people feel the need for offspring. Even in the hardest conditions of life, parents brought children into the world and cared for them. Many families that were poor yet rich in children bear this out here in our own Kučići too. Indeed, in earlier times, when conditions were far harder, people bore more children and cared for them more than they do today.

Parental feeling and the need for offspring are so strong in some people that they feel unhappy if, for whatever reason, they cannot have children. Childless couples take various steps to make childbearing possible. Often a great deal of time, effort and material resources are spent trying to remove the causes of infertility. And if this does not succeed, other solutions are sought. Childless families adopt abandoned children or war orphans, out of a well-developed parental feeling and love for children.

Children are our joy. They ensure the continuation of life and the historical survival of the human community. Childbirth is a victory of life over death, a guarantee of the survival of the family, of our place, our homeland, our native Croatia. Thanks to childbirth, our Kučići has survived, our Croatian people, our Roman Catholic faith and Church. We must therefore constantly encourage and nurture the desire for offspring. Because of depopulation, the worrying fall in the birth rate, the losses of war, and the increased emigration brought on by wartime conditions, such a desire is especially important in Croatia today.

Children are a wealth greater than any material possession. Wealth is not achieved by fulfilling the ideal of "having", but that of "being", and it is offspring, children, who secure the ideal of "being". Their joyful laughter brings joy into the family home. There is no greater joy than knowing that our children are developing well, physically and psychologically, that they are healthy, happy, do well at their studies and behave decently. I know excellent pupils and students of mine who did not fulfil all their plans because they married, had children and are raising two, three or even more children. Sometimes we meet and talk about their studies, their exams, their finished and unfinished plans, and about questions of life, marriage, family, and the raising of their own children. Reflections on the meaning of life follow one after another. Were the ideals of their studies betrayed, or have new values, a new meaning, come to light?

What, after all, is life? Is not childbirth precisely its wellspring? Is not the care and upbringing of children also the care of life itself? Where lies the beauty and joy of living, if not in family warmth, harmony, tenderness and happiness? Young mothers, especially those who have borne several children, know the answer to these questions. They have already answered them. They have borne children, go on bearing them, and are happy to be able to devote themselves to the upbringing and happiness of their children. I also know fathers who think, feel and act in the same way. Happy are the children who have such parents.

Holy Scripture speaks of God's institution of marriage as an indispensable condition for the preservation of life through its transmission to new generations, to which marriage and married love are by their nature directed. The Book of Genesis says: "So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. And God blessed them, and God said to them, 'Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it.' "Childbirth in the service of life is God's work, in which his love for man is made manifest. And from whatever standpoint we consider it - biological, ethical or religious - childbearing is a deeply human need and function, and our positive attitude towards offspring is a human duty and obligation.

In recent times there have been many instances of a negative attitude towards childbearing. It is not uncommon to find couples who do not want children, avoid conception, use contraceptives, and if a pregnancy occurs despite this, often decide on abortion, thereby taking the life of their unborn child. There are other cases too of a negative attitude towards one's own children: neglect, abuse, abandonment, exploitation. Such phenomena are most often the consequence of extreme selfishness, psychological disturbance, moral defectiveness, emotional insensitivity and instability, dependence on alcohol or drugs, a dissolute life, surrender to passions and to an instinctive way of living. Materialism in life, an exaggerated concern for personal gain, laziness and pointless indulgence all sustain such a negative attitude towards children and childbearing. This whole philosophy comes down to the well-known phrase: "After me, the deluge." It is interesting that animals, by their biological orientation, care for their young, while some human beings neglect this. If morally corrupt people and their ideas were to prevail, the human community would find itself facing destruction. We are convinced that this will not happen.

Man is not only a biological but also a spiritual being. Besides instinct he also has his ideals; besides consciousness, he also has conscience. Offspring are an imperative of his biological survival, but also the foundation of the whole of economic, social, cultural and spiritual development. This awareness is becoming ever more present in our own community too. There are more and more young married couples who want children and are having them. The people of Kučići have always loved children, have borne them and had numerous offspring. This has sustained them even in the hardest circumstances. I would wish that today's young people keep this positive attitude of their forebears towards life and offspring.

May the birth of Christ be an encouragement to them in this.

(Zov, 3/1996)