The Importance of Motherhood

by CAPP-USA

What is Motherhood?

Motherhood is, of course, biological. But it is also relational and spiritual. In fact, it goes even deeper: To be a mother is to exhibit the “genius of women”. (Pope St. John Paul II, 10)

Motherhood is Essential

“God himself needed a Mother: how much more so do we!” (Pope Francis)

The Church recognizes and praises mothers in “nurseries, schools, universities, social service agencies, parishes, associations and movements” who “exhibit a kind of affective, cultural and spiritual motherhood which has inestimable value for the development of individuals and the future of society.” (Pope St. John Paul II, 9)

Motherhood is crucial to our future, indispensable to humanity. “You have sheltered human beings within yourselves in a unique experience of joy and travail.” (Pope St. John Paul II, 2)

Motherhood is necessary not only for the propagation of humanity, but because the “human family is built upon mothers.”…“A world that looks to the future without a mother’s gaze is shortsighted.” (Pope Francis)

“A world in which maternal tenderness is dismissed as mere sentiment may be rich materially, but poor where the future is concerned.” (Pope Francis)

“Mothers are the strongest antidote to the spread of self-centered individualism.” (Pope Francis)

Motherhood is of such importance that (while women have the same right to work as men) “society must be structured in such a way that wives and mothers are not in practice compelled to work outside the home, and that their families can live and prosper in a dignified way even when they themselves devote their full time to their own family.” (Pope St. John Paul II, 23)

Motherhood is Under Attack

“Honor thy father and thy mother”. (Exodus 20:12)

Today, in America and beyond, motherhood is not being honored. “We need only think of how the gift of motherhood is often penalized rather than rewarded, even though humanity owes its very survival to this gift.” (Pope St. John Paul II, 4)

“[D]espite being highly lauded from a symbolic point of view” (Pope Francis), motherhood is attacked through contraception, abortion, homosexuality, transgenderism, and the stripping of parental rights and influences over their children. 

“[M]any forms of degrading discrimination still persist today in a great part of our society that affect and seriously harm particular categories of women [e.g.]…separated or divorced women, and unmarried mothers.” (Pope St. John Paul II, 24)

“Certainly, much remains to be done to prevent discrimination against those who have chosen to be wives and mothers. [T]here is an urgent need to achieve real equality in every area: equal pay for equal work, protection for working mothers, fairness in career advancements, equality of spouses with regard to family rights”. (Pope St. John Paul II, 4)

“Perhaps mothers, ready to sacrifice so much for their children and often for others as well, ought to be listened to more.” (Pope Francis)

Mary is the Model for All Mothers

“God believes in mankind, because its first and preeminent member is his own Mother.” (Pope Francis)

Mary is the “greatest of women”. (Pope St. John Paul II, 4)

Mary is the model for all mothers and all people. She, more than anyone else, emphasizes the importance of mothers and motherhood.

“The mystery of her divine motherhood that we celebrate contains in superabundant measure the gift of grace that all human motherhood bears within it”. (Pope Benedict XVI)

“Faith is a bond with God that engages the whole person; to be preserved, it needs the Mother of God.” (Pope Francis)

And Mary is also “the mother and model of the Church” (Pope Benedict XVI) She is “the center of the life of the Church is the Mother of Jesus.” (Pope Francis)

Bottom Line

“How much dispersion and solitude there is all around us! We need to entrust ourselves to our Mother. Let us allow her to embrace our lives.” (Pope Francis)