372 IT IS ALMOST IMPOSSIBLE TO PROVIDE AN ADEQUATE SUBSTITUTE FOR A PARENT

YOUCAT Lesson 372

YOUCAT the catechism for Catholic youth

372  How do parents respect their children?

God entrusted children to parents so that they might be steady, righteous examples for those children, that they might love and respect them and do everything possible so that their children can develop physically and spiritually.  [2221-2231]

“Roots and wings.”  William and Rose Bragg viewing Lake Huron and the Mackinac suspension bridge from the south end of the bridge.  This family trip around Lake Michigan included scenic areas, a ferry boat ride to Mackinac Island, visits with aunts Eunice and Rose Bayer, and a store full of sea shells. ….. 372

“Children ought to receive two things from their parents: roots and wings.”  Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749-1832)

Children are a gift from God and not the property of the parents.  Before they are their parents’ children, they are God’s children.  The primary duty of parents is to present to their children the Good News and to communicate the Christian faith to them.  374

“And they were bringing children to him, that he might touch them; and the disciples rebuked them.  But when Jesus saw it he was indignant, and said to them, ‘Let the children come to me, do not hinder them; for to such belongs the kingdom of God.’”  Mark 10:13-14

“The fascination of children lies in this: that with each of them all things are remade, and the universe is put again upon its trial.”  G. K. Chesterton (1874-1936)

[2221-2231]

The duties of parents

2221 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." (Gravissimum Educationis 3 3)²⁹ The right and the duty of parents to educate their children are primordial and inalienable.  (Compare Familiaris Consortio 36.)³⁰ –Catechism of the Catholic Church, Second Edition

2222 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. –CCC

2223 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." (Centesimus Annis 36 § 2.)³¹ 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: –CCC

He who loves his son will not spare the rod. . . . He who disciplines his son will profit by him. (Sirach 30:1-2.)³²–CCC

Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord. (Ephesians 6:4.)³³–CCC

2224 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. –CCC

2225 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. (Lumen Gentium 11 § 2.)³⁴ 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. –CCC

2226 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. (Compare Lumen Gentium 11.)³⁵ 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. –CCC

2227 Children in turn contribute to the growth in holiness of their parents. (Compare. Gaudium et Spes 48 § 4)³⁶ 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. (Compare Matthew 18:21-22; Luke 17:4.)³⁷–CCC

2228 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. –CCC

2229 As those first responsible for the education of their children, parents have the right to choose a school for them which corresponds to their own convictions. This right is fundamental. As far as possible parents have the duty of choosing schools that will best help them in their task as Christian educators. (Compare Gravissimum Educationis 6.)³⁸ Public authorities have the duty of guaranteeing this parental right and of ensuring the concrete conditions for its exercise. –CCC

2230 When they become adults, children have the right and duty to choose their profession and state of life. They should assume their new responsibilities within a trusting relationship with their parents, willingly asking and receiving their advice and counsel. Parents should be careful not to exert pressure on their children either in the choice of a profession or in that of a spouse. This necessary restraint does not prevent them - quite the contrary from giving their children judicious advice, particularly when they are planning to start a family. –CCC

2231 Some forgo marriage in order to care for their parents or brothers and sisters, to give themselves more completely to a profession, or to serve other honorable ends. They can contribute greatly to the good of the human family. –CCC