Family

The foundation of Italy is not its constitution but La Famiglia. Growing up Italian even when all of our relatives were far away in Italy while we were new immigrants in the United States, we never felt alone. As a child I always always felt safe and protected in the refuge of our home with my Papa and Mamma and five siblings.  The unification of Italy after the decline of the Roman Empire occurred after many centuries of exterior as well as interior invasions of the Italian boot. Perhaps this is why Italians are so self-sufficient and hopeful. They had to fend for themselves from the decline of the Roman Empire to 1870 when Italy was finally united. This social and political movement was called the Risorgimento meaning Resurgence that unified all of the regions of Italy into one single state of the Kingdom of Italy. The Italian film, Il Gattopardo made in 1963 helped me to understand the positive and negative effects that the unification of Italy had on Italian society. Throughout Italy’s tumultuous centuries of changing conditions, the only unchanging fundamental institution inevitably became the family. 

My parents taught me to always defend, honor and respect the family. I learned to love and respect the family because my parents loved and respected us so much.  My Italian parents throughout my childhood and also into womanhood always treated me as a precious human being with great worth, dignity and whose needs were of paramount importance to them. I felt like a Regina ( Queen) and infact, they called me La Regina Dorina because my Papa had a little poetic verse put on a cake which he brought to the hospital when I was born which read, “E nata la Regina, la chiameremo Dorina." From that moment on I always felt immensely loved. It seemed like the world stopped for my parents when we children were in their midst. It was truly self-sacrificing love that emanated from an imitation of God’s triune love, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit and from an imitation of the triune love in the Holy Family of Jesus, Mary and Joseph. From divine to human, all these models affected how our Mamma and Papa loved us, educated us and respected us. And now as a parent and grandparent I try to continue to educate, respect and love my children and my grandchildren in the same way.

It saddens and frightens me how the basic unit of society which is the family is being weakened, devalued and even mocked. To think that a woman who is helping to destroy the sacredness of human life, the family and marriage between a man and a woman is now running for President of the United States. It should not surprise me since our country helped to elect an African-American President who in just two terms of office has decimated the nucleus of society which is the family that traditionally consisted of Father, Mother and children. After 43 years of sacramental marriage, my husband and I know that mankind's purpose on this earth is to love unconditionally in relationship as God does and that through marriage and the family we can fulfill this inherent need in the most sublime way.

I had the privilege and honor of being in the birthing room of one of my daughter's first child's entrance into this beautiful world with her beloved husband. I witnessed the most beautiful miracle....the miracle of LIFE! I will cherish this memory forever! It is with deep gratitude to Joseph's parents for letting me be a part of this most blessed event. People are searching for fool-proof evidence of God in this world. Well, my response to that would be to say that all you have to do is witness the beauty, wonder and awe of seeing new life enter this world. No words can fully describe what I saw, thought and felt in my heart, mind and soul!