We are exceptionally pleased to have our author Kevin Schemenauer discuss his book The Family as Basic Social Unit on our blog. Kevin Schemenauer is associate professor of systematic theology at Saint Meinrad Seminary and School of Theology, St. Meinrad, IN.
Q: You make an interesting connection between the family and Catholic social teaching! Can you talk a little bit about how you began to think about this connection and some of the research you built your work upon?
A: I first became interested in the connection while I was teaching Catholic social ethics to undergraduate students. I found that many of the students electing to take an upper-level Catholic social ethics course were dating someone or thought often about family relationships. When I presented family examples and applications of Catholic social principles, the students seemed engaged. As I reflected more on those applications, I realized that I did not always live what I taught. I challenged students to see that work has meaning beyond money and efficiency but then became frustrated when my young children wanted to help sweep the floor because they were slowing me down. I encouraged students to be creative in peacemaking but then too quickly resorted to threats or force when my children did not do what I wanted. As I applied Catholic social teaching in my family interactions, I began to realize that Catholic social teaching had wisdom to offer to family life. Then, when I discovered the tendency in the United States to define the family as a private, isolated unit, and therefore overlook the social character of family interactions, I realized that clarification and application of the family’s social character was vital, and so I started working on the book.
Q: Building on that a little bit, you talk about how family commitments can help one engage in broader social service. Was that something that you’d been thinking about or did it come out of your writing and research?
A: When the project began, I wanted to demonstrate that the family is itself a social community and that Catholic social principles have application to everyday family life. I quickly realized, however, that one needs to account for the social interdependence of the family. Otherwise, in a cultural context that tends to define family as a private, isolated unit, one risks implying that a family is a complete and perfect social community. Moreover, magisterial teaching in the late twentieth and early twentieth century repeatedly highlights that families have responsibilities to care for the poor. I wondered about the relationship between family commitments and this responsibility to social service. As I explored this relationship, I discovered that those who are involved in social service often find motivation from family relationships or family history. One person starts a camp serving people with special needs because his mother had a physical handicap. Another person volunteers at a drug rehab facility because her brother struggled with an addiction. I began to realize that some forms of social service were more fitting and connected to family life, whereas other forms of social service reflected a rare and unique calling.
Q: What was the most interesting or surprising thing you came across in your research for this book?
A: The affirmation that the family is a basic social unit is often affirmed and rarely understood.
Q: What’s the big picture takeaway you’d love a reader to walk away from your book with?
A: My hope is that readers grow in their understanding of the family’s social roles and responsibilities and learn to hold together the internally social character of family life with the socially interdependence of families with other social communities. I hope that this book will help readers to live more fully the relationships they have with family members, to live more graciously and generously their family’s social interdependence with others, and to guide others to do the same.