Parents play essential role in teaching faith to children

Article 153 - Catechism of the Catholic Church Series

Paragraphs 2221-2246

Our discussion of the Fourth Commandment to “honor your father and your mother...” (Exodus 20:12 & Deuteronomy 5:16) continues with a review of its relationship to the duties of parents, and then the duties of civil authorities and citizens, as well as, the political community and the Church.

The Baptismal ritual states that parents are “the first teachers of their child in the ways of faith.” This is echoed in the words of the Catechism: “parents have the first responsibility for the education of their children” (ccc 2223). The Catechism expands on this explaining: “the role of parents in education is of such importance that it is almost impossible to provide an adequate substitute” (ccc 2221). As such, “education in the faith by the parents should begin in the child’s earliest years” (ccc 2226).

To say it another way, “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” (ccc 2225). Parents also have the “grave responsibility to give good example to their children” (ccc 2223).

Quoting from the Second Vatican Council, we are told: “Parents have the mission of teaching their children to pray and to discover their vocation as children of God” (ccc 2226). And, children can help their parents grow in virtue and greater love of God. As members of a family, children should even “be generous and tireless in forgiving one another for offenses, quarrels, injustices, and neglect” (ccc 2227).

As children grow, parents continue their responsibility of providing for their “physical and spiritual needs” (ccc 2228). For example, parents have “the duty of choosing schools that will best help them in their task as Christian educators” (ccc 2229).

Later, as children grow into adulthood, the role of parents changes. For instance, the Catechism counsels, “parents should be careful not to exert pressure on [them] either in the choice of a profession or in that of a spouse” (ccc 2230). This is not to say that a mom or dad should not offer encouragement to their sons and daughters regarding a vocation that they may see developing in their child. Nor is it inappropriate to offer the same advice regarding a potential spouse. The point is that a parent ought not force or badger a child into selecting a way of life or a spouse that their child is not naturally drawn to. However, “some [children may choose to] 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. [In this way,] they can contribute greatly to the good of the human family” (ccc 2231).

Regarding civil authorities, the Catechism tells us that “no one can command or establish what is contrary to the dignity of persons and the natural law” (ccc 2235). In other words,  “political authorities are obliged to respect the fundamental rights of the human person. They [are to] dispense justice humanely by respecting the rights of everyone, especially of families and the disadvantaged” (ccc 2237). Why? Because “political rights are meant to be exercised for the common good of the nation and the human community” (ccc 2237). Assuming that those who serve as civil authorities are legitimate civil servants with noble intentions, then “those subject to authority should regard [them] as representatives of God, who has made them stewards of his gifts” (ccc 2238).

Relying on the words of St. Paul’s First Letter to Timothy (2:2) to offer prayers and thanksgiving for kings and all who exercise authority, “that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life, godly and respectful in every way,” the Catechism teaches: “Submission to authority and co-responsibility for the common good make it morally obligatory to pay taxes, to exercise the right to vote, and to defend one’s country” (ccc 2240).

On the other hand, just as children have the right to oppose parents who seek to inflict evil upon them, so citizens are “obliged in conscience not to follow the directives of civil authorities when they are contrary to the demands of the moral order, to the fundamental rights of persons or the teachings of the Gospel” (ccc 2242).

Quoting from the Second Vatican Council, the Catechism explains: “When citizens are under the oppression of a public authority which oversteps its competence, they should still not refuse to give or to do what is objectively demanded of them by the common good; but it is legitimate for them to defend their own rights and those of their fellow citizens against the abuse of this authority within the limits of the natural law and the Law of the Gospel” (Gaudium et Spes, 74 § 5). Under certain conditions, though, “armed resistance to oppression by political authority” can be a legitimate way to defend one’s rights against a person or political regime that abuses political authority (ccc 2243).

Finally, the Catechism teaches us that it is a part of the Church’s mission “to pass moral judgments even in matters related to politics, whenever fundamental rights or the salvation of souls requires it ... [though] the only means she may use are those which are in accord with the Gospel and the welfare of all people according to the diversity of times and circumstances” (ccc 2246).

Our overview of the Fourth Commandment helps us not only understand the Church’s perspective in terms of honoring our parents, but how that Commandment extends to civil authorities, as well. The word “legitimate” is paramount in describing one’s authority whenever the teaching on this Commandment is extended to those beyond our dear parents. Why? Because “citizens are obliged in conscience not to follow the directives of civil authorities when they are contrary to the demands of the moral order. ‘We must obey God rather than men’ (Acts 5:29)” (ccc 2256). Further, “Without the light the Gospel sheds on God and humanity, societies easily become totalitarian” (ccc 2257), and cease following God’s light.

Father Hillier serves as Director of the Diocesan Office of the Pontifical Missions, the Office for Persons with disabilities, and Censor Librorum