The dominance of the nuclear family in the United States began about the time World War II ended. Many returning soldiers and sailors married and moved with their families into university housing to take advantage of the GI education bill.

Others moved to find jobs, leaving parents behind in small towns and inner city neighborhoods. Suburbs gained dominance, a haven of the nuclear family. Senior citizens were often absent from those first suburbs.

As baby boomers aged, older suburbs grayed as well. The children grew up and moved, some to different suburbs with townhouses and smaller lots. Who has time to mow a lawn these days? Others rediscovered the city.

We whittle down the nuclear family to the single going it alone or with a partner. Children? Perhaps, but children are expensive to raise, not to mention the time and energy they take.

Singles and those in loose partnerships have changed the landscape. The nuclear family, conqueror of the extended family, is now conquered by the solitaires.

Somewhere, we lost community, too. The solitaires may have their own groups, their friendships. They can change when they feel it necessary, not bind themselves, they say, to dead marriages or associations that have lost purpose.

Community had its drawbacks. Those who didn’t fit were too often ostracized. Some groups were dysfunctional, wounding their members.

Yet we lack adequate replacement for covenanted community, for dedicated care to meet physical and spiritual needs. A task for our age is the healing and rebuilding of community.