ABSTRACT
The very fact that the family has become such an important political tool should make us suspicious. In terms of the family, it means that the covenant of inclusive friendship desacralizes inherited patterns of family to be replaced by universal bonds of kinship. The only model of relating that we can definitely see operating in the life of Jesus, as presented to us by the Gospels, is friendship. Recognizing a continuum of friendship in all our relationships demands that we take responsibility for our actions, that we learn to negotiate our friendships and the level of physical intimacy in them, and that we respect all of our friendships. Friendship is such a multicolored, multilayered relationship that it is very difficult to idolize or capture. It is an ethic that demands the best from all of us. The report even warned against the idolatry of the family and stressed the importance of friendship.
