The Primary Duty of Parents.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXX, Issue 15, 10 April 1902, Page 6

The Primary Duty of Parents.

In a recent issue the Are MaricTh*d. the following remarks on a Mibjpct which is of vital importance to Catholic parents in this Colony .-—There can le no question that one of the greatest responsibilities as&urned by Catholics who enter the holy state of Matrimony is the religious training of the children with whom it may please Almighty God to bless them Unfortunately, too, there is little doubt the responsibility is one which many incur thoughtlessly, and which in consequence they are inclined to minimise, if not practically to shirk altogether.

True, when the dawn of reason first breaks upon the childish mind, Catholic mothers, as a rule, are faithful in sowing the seeds of elementary religious truths in the hearts of their little ones. The children are taught to make the sign of the cross, to recite short prayors ; to epeafc and think with reverence of God the Father, our Diviue Lord, and the Blessed Virgin ; to distinguish the broad lines of right and wrong. Once the child has grown old enough to be sent to school, however, too many parents apparently think that the responsibility of his religious education is bhifted from their shoulders to those of his teachers or of tha parish priest. This is a radical mistake. Home-training ia

The Theory and Practice of Christian Doctrine can not be superseded by the instruction of even the most conscientious teachers or even the most zealous priests. The lesson imparted by a pious and loving mother makes a more lasting and more vivid impression than can be given by any other human agency whatever. Even where the boys and girls attend parochial schools, in which the catechism forms one of the rpgular text bocks, the fireside instru tion cannot safely be dispensed with. Much less can it be neglected in the case of the thousands of our Catholic children who perforce attend the public echo* li in which religion is tabooed. To imagine that the reHgious training of such children is sufficiently provided for by their attendance at the weekly Sundayschool is to cherish a fallacy that is patently absurd. It is questionable whether tho Sunday-school session can ever do the negative work of quite neutralising the baneful influence of the non-Catholic atmosphere to which the children are habitually exposed ; it certainly can not do much more.

The only parents who may hope to have rid themselves, in a very large measure, of their personal responsibility for the effective religious training of their sons and daughters, are they who have confided the education of those sons and daughters to Catholic colleges ard convents. The authorities of such institutions really assume parental obligations towards those committed to their charge, i.mi hence rein ye the fathers and mothers to a great extent of one of ihe r mo^t essential duties to their offspring. The overwhelming majority of Cath< lies in 1 bis country, however, are precluded by ciicumsta..ces from sending their children to college or convent, fo their personal accountability for the Catholic training of those children can not be shirked. Children who frequent the public schools manifestly

Need Peculiar Attention. The supernatural being totally excluded from their minds during school-hours, it becomes imperative that, at home, God and the soul, grace a^d prayer, the Holy (Sacrifice and the sacraments, the Blessed Virgin and the penance and good works, sin ard death and jwdgme' t, should be the subjects of frequent conversation Family prayer, the Rosary in common, for inst>nce, can in such cases pcarcely be considered a negligible act ; and no pains should be spared in forming the?e children to other devotional practices. It U elementary that their parents are strictly bound in conscience to see that tbey both attend the Sunday-school with exemplary regularity and prepare the Sunday-school lesson with due diligence. To secure either ttm adequate preparation or this regular attendance will commonly entail tho exercise of the paternal authority ; and Catholic fath sra who

Neglect to Enforce their Authority on such points are sinfully imprudent. Growing boj s who have made iheir First Communion are especially in need in this matter of a firmness of discipline which comes with best grace, and probably too with best effect, from the head of the family. Too often, unfortunately, the head of the family finds himself sadly handicapped in such conjunctures by his own indifference in religious matters. How many Catholic children there are whose observation of home life has probably engendered some such resolve a? was formed by the precocious little fellow who inquired : * Mother, when shall I be old enough to leave off saying my prayers 1 ' The mother stared in amazement. 'Why, never, of course, Johnnie.' 'Oh,' said Johnnie, coolly, ' when I'm grown up I don't mean to say any prayers ! Father never does I ' God help all such fathers ! They are laying up for themselves unfailing stores of future bitterness. At best, the Catholic child who attends a godless school is sadly handicapped in the matter of attaining a genuinely useful education ; and his parents, not lees but even more than his pastor, are obliged to supply the lamentable deficiency of his schoolroom training. They ur questionably owe to the youthful soul whose charge Gad his confided to their cir*. not only tho example of an upright and devout Catholic life, but the Christian instruction without which his eternal salvation will surely be compromised.