W(h)ither the Extended Family? | National Catholic Reporter

W(h)ither the Extended Family? | National Catholic Reporter by MSW.  MGB: I believe the Church already serves as extended family, although the daycare is not free - nor is Catholic education at the surviving parish schools (the ones where the Sisters get paid - the others are gone).  As for childrearing, I gained much in the way of knowledge by hanging out at my sister's house and watching my brother-in-law burp my newphew/Godson. The secret is to hit hard.  Three of us moved here, one lived with my now-deceased mother and the other is the family doctor, living with his husband in Dallas.  My soon-to-be-ex-wife's siblings are equally solid, especially when kids are concerned - although people do move away and then they come back.  They give or loan money that is sometimes paid back - just like when me and my family lived with my uncle and grandmother when the defense industry tanked as Viet Nam was winding down.  Of course, in our families we have had gay weddings (with some kind of priest), self-marriages in Pennsylvania and probably more than our share of divorces (thanks to my mother in law).  It is not support for the extended family we need from the Synod - and I am not sure that baptizing our choices is really what we care about.  If they just realize that we are the ones who care about these issues and have the most at stake, not them, it will be progress. Indeed, all we want from them is humility.