Can large families serve the poor?

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Stacen40

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So I understand and am faithful to the idea that marriage should be open to life and my husband and I do practice NFP. Previously I thought I wanted a large family because the idea sounded nice and what you were supposed to do. We had our first child this past April and I loved and still love every moment of it. But now, understanding Catholic Social Teaching and how I have always felt a draw to serve the poor, I wonder how possible that would be with a large family. If I feel called to serve the poor is it okay to limit my family size maybe to 2 children? Now that I’ve asked that question, I’ll also say that I know God’s plan, despite what I think it is, is the best one, so if by chance we have more children than we planned I would consider it maybe God’s way of telling me something.

So if anyone has any light to shed on this topic please let me know. Thanks!
 
I don’t see why you wanting to serve the poor would have to limit the amount of children you have. Do you think there’s not enough resources for everyone? You have to remember our God is a Timeless God he lives outside of our temporal reality. I’m sure in His Infinite Wisdom he would know how many resources all the humans on the world would need in the amount of time that He gives us on this world.

Just because you have a big family doesn’t mean you can’t sacrifice your time to the poor. Get your husband and soon your sons who are over the age of 18 to join the Knights of Columbus. Donate excess food that your kids won’t eat to food pantries. Have you and your daughters make a knitting/sewing Circle where you make clothes for the poor. You don’t have to limit yourself just because somebody else has less than you.
 
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There are many ways to serve the poor. Your family can volunteer at a soup kitchen, you can go visit people in nursing homes, you can pray for a mission in a poor part of the world, you can make rosaries to send to a poor parish
 
People can make a lot of money and say they’re going to do so and so or such and such but most of the time the immense majority of it goes into a big house, a big retirement fund, cars, a college education at an exorbitantly expensive private university for their kids, pets, vacations, and treatments, and at the end of the consumption and at the end of their life they haven’t really made the world a tangibly better place in any discernible fashion. They leave behind a massive carbon footprint, children who probably couldn’t care less about the faith of their parents, or no children at all. It’s completely 100% possible to do good through money but it’s not easy or even necessarily very likely given the tendencies of human nature. The vast majority of corporal good we do is through whatever services we provide while we’re alive.

If you have a family you’re almost guaranteed to be contributing.
 
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We have a large family and we serve the poor. In fact the more kids we have the more people there are to serve the poor it is our job as human beings.
 
Stacen40 said:
But now, understanding Catholic Social Teaching and how I have always felt a draw to serve the poor, I wonder how possible that would be with a large family.
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Of course it is. These are not mutually exclusive endeavors.

And, since you chose the vocation of marriage, first and foremost you must discern your family vocation with your spouse, not internet strangers.
Stacen40 said:
If I feel called to serve the poor is it okay to limit my family size maybe to 2 children?
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A) It’s not about you. You are in a marriage vocation, and therefore not an “I” but rather a “we”.

B) No one here can tell you it’s “ok” or “not ok”. This is something you discern with your spouse, and under spiritual direction.
 
OP. You have the rest of your life to raise your children, meet grandchildren and hopefully great grandchildren in the future. At the same time you and your spose and children have the possibility and opportunity to serve the poor either by helping in person or with monetary funds. It is not an either/or question but a both/and. Over the years it will change depending upon family situation as well as work or caring for elderly parents/relatives.

One simple thing your family can do today, is to invite a family/elderly/newly arrived from the parish to dinner. Your parish priest/deacon/sister knows who might need a meal but also company.
 
God provided you with the knowledge of what you can and can not do financially. For all we know @Stacen40 might be working a minimum wage job in a region that has a high cost of living.

See also:
CarmeliteKnight said:
Am I ready to give everything to my wife and kids?
Am I ready to give up things that takes away time from my wife and kids (like vidya games)?
Am I ready to have sleepless nights taking care of a baby?
Am I ready to pay more in insurance, day care fees, and taxes when I get married?
Am I ready to lead my wife in kids, not only in prayer, but through this journey called life?
Will I cave into sin and give up when times get rough between my wife and I (and trust me, there will be rough times)?
Am I financially stable enough to raise kids?
Will I be able to afford a mortgage to get a bigger house if we start having lots of kids?
Will I be able to abstain from sex if I can’t afford to have lots of kids?
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Notice the financial statements in that quote.
 
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Of course they do. By raising Catholic children, there is another generation of tax payers, the opportunity to be good catholics in an increasingly crazy world where by example they will lead others into the Christian ideal.

IN having a large family, the kids may not have everything they want, as their parents they will everything they NEED. As a parent of a large household that goes for you too. At the end of the day real TREASURE is biological. Apparently, my 2 grandfathers were with our family enjoying sitting in the outdoors and were overheard in saying…not bad for 2 old blokes eh, they were proud of their progeny and the grandkids etc.how sweet was that.
 
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