Words full of Hope

I really enjoyed this "balance" video (a taking stock of where we are today) from Bishop Fellay. I found his evaluation of the present moment to be freeing, and hence much more than encouraging, I would say. Take the time to watch it through to the end and I hope you will share my assessment.

In the last few days I have had several conversations with young parents, or let us say, parents of young children, who are worried about fulfilling their duty to raise their children in the practice of the faith. Depending where they are at in the world, these parents see better than an older generation and even perhaps better than their own parents (who may be less than sixty years of age) that they cannot repeat the negligence of the past; they cannot abdicate to school or parish their duty of witnessing to the faith directly for their own children. Day care, pre-school, all-day school are coming to be seen as an abdication of a parent's duties to be part of their children's growing up, especially in matters of faith. 

In the extreme, conscientious parents find their hearts somewhere between troubled and terrified, because much, if not all about religious education outside the home, is wrong: text books and teaching aids, often the whole curriculum. Even the teachers themselves are a big part of the problem or worry for parents, as they have no concept that they stand before children, yes, on behalf of the Church, but more concretely, on behalf of the "little" Church, the family. Educators and sometimes bishops and priests snub parents, oblivious to the fact that they receive their mandate from the parents or they have no mandate at all to supplement the witness to Christ, which starts at home.

We owe it to parents to hold to the Council teaching, which is Catholic teaching, that parents are the first and best teachers of their children in the ways of faith. The experiential dimension of religion, witness and testimony has to be restored to its proper locus, namely, the home. School and parish need to be put in their place; they need to return to their role of building upon faith practice which necessarily begins at home. We cannot start seriously evangelizing by disenfranchising the family. Not all families are dysfunctional. Less than perfect families can and must be sustained for their task of imparting the faith to children, as children and parents are called upon to lead each other together and first of all to Christ and to an intimate relationship with the Mother of God.

October, Rosary month, is getting away from us. I always have to smile when people reminisce about how their families were anchored in the recitation of the rosary at home. Our family never got to make the big time, when it came to modelling piety. Mom and Dad tried with us and I am sure there was lots of good will, but with eight children, oldest to youngest over a fourteen year spread, the effort was more to recount than was the actual achievement. Many an evening ended in tears of frustration.

Words full of hope should be something we can claim and rejoice over in our less than steady steps along the path to holiness. 

PROPERANTES ADVENTUM DIEI DEI