Parents’ Role in Education
By Mike Lambrecht
As we are beginning another school year, it is good to reflect upon the parents’ role in the education of their children. The Catechism of the Catholic Church tells us that, “Parents have the first responsibility for the education of their children.”1 This means that parents must have a very active and direct role in their child’s education. They must oversee their child’s education and supplement it wherever it may be found lacking. This is not simply relegated to matters of secular education but is also of paramount importance when it comes to the education of their children in the faith. This is made explicit in the rite of Baptism itself. During the rite the priest or deacon said to the parents, “You have asked to have your child baptized. In doing so you are accepting the responsibility of training him (her) in the practice of the faith. It will be you duty to bring him (her) up to keep God’s commandments as Christ taught us, by loving God and our neighbor. Do you clearly understand what you are undertaking?” The parents then responded with “we do.” This is a very solemn and serious obligation that parents assume. Unfortunately, it is also one that parents too often forget.
The Catechism, speaking on the obligations of parents, tells us, “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.”2 But what does this mean? How are we to go about completing this task which the Church places before us?
Some parents may answer these questions by proclaiming that they are doing their part by sending their children to Catholic school or by enrolling them in CCD classes. While this is important, the parental duty is not completed simply through these acts. I believe that in order to adequately accomplish their duties it becomes necessary for parents to become a living example of Christianity to their child. This calls for “a Christian education more witnessed to than taught, more occasional than systematic, more ongoing and daily than structured into periods.”3
As we know, actions speak louder than words. For example, if parents tell their children not to lie but do so constantly themselves, the child is also likely to grow up not being a person of their word. To be sure, parents who wish to teach their children to pray, to form their moral consciences, to discern their vocations in life, or to go to Mass must themselves be people of prayer, morality, discernment, and who actually attend Mass.4
Parents must seize the opportunities presented to them in daily life to nurture their children, to correct them, and to set an example by which their children can imitate them and achieve a virtuous life. After all, if parents are not leading a life of virtue, then how can we expect their children to do so?
While this may seem daunting, or even impossible, it is important to remember that parents are not alone in this undertaking. Scripture tells us, “For with God nothing will be impossible”5 and Jesus implores us, “You, therefore, must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.”6 In order to succeed at this, it is essential that parents make use of God’s grace through the sacraments.
At a minimum, parents should go to confession often and receive communion at Mass on Sundays and on holy days of obligation. This goes back to the previously stated point of setting a good example. If parents want and expect their children to grow up to be good Catholics, they must also strive to be so themselves. Furthermore, in order to aid parents in this endeavor, Saint Therese parish offers assistance in the form of the religious education program and the youth & family ministry programs which are always just a phone call or stop in away.
As a final point of encouragement, I would like to leave you with the words of St. Paul who reminds us not to despair of any task given to us by God when he said, “I can do all things in him who strengthens me.”7 So, too, can we do all things with the grace of God.
1 CCC Paragraph 2223
2 CCC Paragraph 2225
3 General Directory for Catechesis. Washington D.C.: USCC, 1998. (Paragraph 255)
4 CCC Paragraph 2226
5 Luke 1:37 (RSV-CE)
6 Matthew 1:48 (RSV-CE)
7 Philippians 4:13