27 October 2025

There was an interview with Donald Tusk, Prime Minister of Poland,  in the Sunday Times. He had some salutary things to say about the threat from Russia, the influx of immigrants and the damage done to Europe by Brexit.

Woven into this political analysis was the vexed question of aging European nations and the dramatic drop in the birth rate which will have devastating consequences in the future. He argued that it wasn’t a social issue but a cultural one.  He had gleaned this from conversations with young people and especially young women.

‘It’s not housing. It’s not money. It’s that they don’t like this way of life, the obligations, the responsibilities.’ he said about the disinclination to have children. ‘It’s much easier for the younger generation to live without this responsibility, because if you have kids, you have to be much more responsible.’

There are important issues here. The first is the preservation of the human race and our natural desire to continue the race and preserve all that is beautiful and true about our humanity. The second is the continuity of family life and the joy of celebrating new life whilst the life of parents and grandparents ebbs away.

The third is the privilege of being able to create life like the Creator God and take responsibility for nurturing a baby through childhood and into adulthood. It not only provides enormous insight into what our own parents have achieved but also the complexities of life, human nature and decision-making.

Above all, there is the spiritual transformation which takes place when a person becomes a parent. Perhaps it is simply that you have to grow up and take life more seriously. But there’s more! Parenthood is the vocation of God whose only Son revealed the love which lives for others and freely invests in a world which they may never see.