Bishop Blair: "Think Parent"

Toledo Bishop Leonard P. Blair writes in the August issue of The Catholic Chronicle:

"Think Parent"

Written by Leonard P. Blair, Bishop of Toledo
Friday, 01 August 2008

... At one point I was asked what we as a church should be doing to minister to our young people. My immediate response was simply this: The most fundamental thing we can do for our young people is to support their parents! Today, more than ever, the church needs to educate and help parents in their God-given responsibility to raise their children.

Youth programs in the diocese and parishes are extremely important. Catholic schools and after-school religious education are essential. However, as the church has always taught, as studies show and as common sense dictates, parents are the single greatest influence on their children...

The Catechism of the Catholic Church teaches that "the right and the duty of parents to educate their children are primordial and inalienable." (no. 2221)

***
The "primordial and inalienable" rights of parents are being undermined by a society that increasingly demeans and diminishes their role. Government, too, is more and more coercing a redefinition of the very meaning of parents contrary to the divine institution of marriage between one man and one woman.

***
Parenthood is not created or defined by the state, but by God. It is biological parents — not schools, government, child advocates or even churches — who have a divinely conferred and graced responsibility to raise their children. There is certainly an important place for step-parents, adoptive parents, foster parents or others who have been given legal custody of a child for compelling reasons. These "parent figures," however, do not take away from the fundamental reality of biological parents.

Last year, on Sept. 14, I joined a number of other religious leaders in northwestern Ohio in signing a covenant concerning parents. We committed ourselves ìto developing ways and means of honoring and supporting parents in their sacred role as we declare the year 2009 the "Year of the Parent." ...

[Read the whole thing]

(emphasis added)

My Comments:
I know I say it over and over again, but I am so thankful for our Bishop who uses his monthly column in the Diocesan newspaper to catechize the faithful, encourage and promote the family, and communicate timeless Catholic truths.


Previous Pro Ecclesia posts on this subject:
Bishop Blair: "The Church Militant"

Bishop Blair Composed Holy Spirit Novena

Bishop Blair: "Reflecting on Pope Benedict and the Seeds of Hope"

Bishop Blair: "Come Holy Spirit"

Bishop Blair: "Truly Grave Moral Reasons" and "Serious Moral Soul-Searching" Before "Could Be Morally Permissible" to Vote for Pro-Abortion Candidate

Bishop Blair: "Lent 2008: ‘Lord, Teach Us to Pray’ "

Bishop Blair: "The World is Not Enough"

Bishop Blair: "Peace on Earth, in Communities, Homes"

Bishop Blair Urges Toledo-Area Catholics to Reject Domestic-Partner Registry

Bishop Blair: "Listening to Our Mother"

"How a Shepherd Speaks"

Bishop Blair: "A Dialogue of Truth and Love"

Bishop Blair: "Upholding the Bond of Love" (Part 3)

Bishop Blair: "Upholding the Bond of Love" (Part 2)

Bishop Blair: "Upholding the Bond of Love"

Bishop Blair: "The Gospel of Life Revisited"

Bishop Blair: "Building Your House on a Rock"

Meeting the Bishop - After Action Report

Bishop Blair Teaches: "And With Your Spirit"

Bishop Blair: "What God Joins Together"