September 20, 2004
Educating Children: Whose Responsibility is it?
I think there is some confusion about whose responsibility it is to teach children about God. This is a big subject, since parents must be aware of who is ultimately responsible for their children’s Christian education:
CCC 2221-2228. The fecundity of conjugal love cannot be reduced solely to the procreation of children, but must extend to their moral education and their spiritual formation. "The role of parents in education is of such importance that it is almost impossible to provide an adequate substitute." The right and the duty of parents to educate their children are primordial and inalienable.Parents must regard their children as children of God and respect them as human persons. Showing themselves obedient to the will of the Father in heaven, they educate their children to fulfill God's law.
Parents have the first responsibility for the education of their children. They bear witness to this responsibility first by creating a home where tenderness, forgiveness, respect, fidelity, and disinterested service are the rule. The home is well suited for education in the virtues. This requires an apprenticeship in self-denial, sound judgment, and self-mastery - the preconditions of all true freedom. Parents should teach their children to subordinate the "material and instinctual dimensions to interior and spiritual ones." Parents have a grave responsibility to give good example to their children. By knowing how to acknowledge their own failings to their children, parents will be better able to guide and correct them:
He who loves his son will not spare the rod.... He who disciplines his son will profit by him.
Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.The home is the natural environment for initiating a human being into solidarity and communal responsibilities. Parents should teach children to avoid the compromising and degrading influences which threaten human societies.
Through the grace of the sacrament of marriage, parents receive the responsibility and privilege of evangelizing their children. Parents should initiate their children at an early age into the mysteries of the faith of which they are the "first heralds" for their children. They should associate them from their tenderest years with the life of the Church. A wholesome family life can foster interior dispositions that are a genuine preparation for a living faith and remain a support for it throughout one's life.
Education in the faith by the parents should begin in the child's earliest years. This already happens when family members help one another to grow in faith by the witness of a Christian life in keeping with the Gospel. Family catechesis precedes, accompanies, and enriches other forms of instruction in the faith. Parents have the mission of teaching their children to pray and to discover their vocation as children of God. The parish is the Eucharistic community and the heart of the liturgical life of Christian families; it is a privileged place for the catechesis of children and parents.
Children in turn contribute to the growth in holiness of their parents. Each and everyone should be generous and tireless in forgiving one another for offenses, quarrels, injustices, and neglect. Mutual affection suggests this, the charity of Christ demands it.
Parents' respect and affection are expressed by the care and attention they devote to bringing up their young children and providing for their physical and spiritual needs. As the children grow up, the same respect and devotion lead parents to educate them in the right use of their reason and freedom.
As parents, it is our job to educate and inform our children about God. We cannot simply send our kids to Sunday School or Mass and hope they learn it. We have the responsibility to ensure our kids learn their faith and are able to share it with others. This is not the Church’s responsibility. I think the Catechism makes it clear that it should not be the Church’s responsibility – the family is the place where a child looks to learn from his/her birth.
Having said that, I think it’s important to note that at some point in your life, as you become an adult, the responsibility shifts to you. You cannot continue suggesting that others are at fault for your ignorance: personal responsibility comes into play as you get older. Can you go out and learn the truth for yourself? Absolutely. And you must, whether your parents were good or bad instructors of the Christian faith.
God bless,
Jay
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Jay,
I do not disagree that parents have the initial responsibility to teach their children about God and who He is and to give them morals and help to develope a conscience and to teach them by good example and to disipline them... Sorry to say a lot of parents in 2004 aren't doing their job.
It sounds like you are saying that the Catecism let's the church off the hook on teaching its parishenners about God.. Maybe I not understanding your article ?
Yes , the parents have the primary responsibility
but the church should take SOME responsibility..?
Most parents aren't Theologians or college educated and some may have very little education. I believe Most, not all, parents who are Catholics/ Christians do the best they can with the knowledge and ability they have to raise their children to know God and to be aware of Him and to be Good citizens ...
It sounds like you would blame parents for their ignorance and for not knowing the bible. When in fact during the late fifties and early sixties the RCC discouraged the common folk from reading the bible. People at that time only knew what
they were told from the pulpet and from their
catecism and of course from their parents.
I know Protestants that grew up during that
same period who where taught to read and study the bible because that is what their church taught them.
Isn't the primary purpose of the church to Teach God's Word and to Spread His Good News...?
Also shouldn't they correct any misconceptions a
person may have about God and about the church?
The litergy of the Catholic Church in the 50's & 60' Was NOT in English and NOT the same liturgy that the mass of today is ..
I recently spoke to a priest who is the principal of a Large Catholic High school in the Chicago area and He admitted that the church dropped the ball regarding not encouraging bible study and reading the bible. The reason he gave was because of the reformation the church didn't
want Catholics reading the bible becaude it might
confuse them and cause problems. This is a fact
Jay that can not be dennied.
The bible studies and bible readings are a recent
phenominon in the Catholic Church. I don't know how long you have been converted to Catholosim
Jay but the church discouraged Catholics from reading and discussing the bible out of fear.
during the time my of my Grand Parents, parents
and during my time.
It's great to write an article and point the finger at parents and say if Kids don't know everything they should know about God it is their parents fault..
If the main focus of the church isn't to Teach kids and parents about Christ and who HE is and what HE did and who God is and to be an example of Christ and of God's Love for us then what is it there for ?? If it does NOT or is unable do that it is failing in it's primary mission.
The church should be the example of God's Love
and represent Him in Truth. I look forward to
your opinion .
Maybe it coinsidence but I have noticed that your
articles lately seem to be addressing subjects and themes I have posted ... Thanks for reading my posts.
Your Brother in Christ,
Clem
Posted by: Clem at September 20, 2004 03:49 PM
