A Warning

+ Cardinal George Pell, Archbishop of Sydney
19 Feb 2012

Sometimes when good parents warn their children against dangers they might point to a great uncle, who was a bad alcoholic or a gambler who bet away his house.  They might also point out cousins whose lives have been permanently damaged through the aftermaths of drug use; schizophrenia, depression, an inability to work.

Are there any countries, at least somewhat like Australia, who can be held up as an example of what not to do?  The answer is "yes".  Russia today is a disaster, a warning to us all.

In the late 1980s Russia had 800,000 more births than deaths each year.  Since 1992 catastrophe has followed, because 12.5 million more Russians have been buried than born; three funerals for every two births.  The population has shrunk in this time from 148.6 to 141.9 million people.

In 2009 life expectancy at birth was lower than in 1961.  The birth rate has improved slightly but is still only ¾ of what is needed for replacement.

Neither does fewer children mean that they are better cared for.  Russian education is mediocre with reading scores near the bottom of OECD rankings.

Primary school enrolment ratios have slipped a bit, while the number of abandoned children has increased dramatically.  One child in 70 is now in a children's home and some estimate the growing number of homeless children is even greater.

These children's statistics indicate the spiritual and physical collapse of many adults.  Family life is chaotic even by our standards but the smaller number of children, often through multiple abortions to the same woman, is only one part of the picture.

Russia has experienced an explosion of cardio-vascular disease, three times higher than Western Europe's.  Death rates from violence compare with those of war-torn countries in Africa.  Rampant alcoholism is one cause, high rates of smoking in another.

The divorce rate of 56 for every 100 marriages is worse than in Soviet times.  Single mothers receive little state support and are much worse off than those in the West.

Russian society passed a critical point where a slide towards social disarray became an avalanche.  While we are light years away, we are moving steadily in the same direction in some areas.

Low marriage rates, extramarital births, increasing venereal disease, family turmoil exacerbated through alcohol, drugs, pornography and gambling are not making our situation better especially among the poor, unemployed and underemployed.