Why Teaching Our Children Faith Is Important

The world we live in is full of problems. Most of them are things we have little power to change. There is one particular area where the things we do as parents today can make a huge difference in the future. The Church is not immune to the attitudes and values of our society. In fact, I would not be entirely wrong if I said that a breakdown in values within the Church has led to the state our society is in today. When social justice took a front stage in the Church, many people felt that things were headed in the right direction as Christians worked towards fairness and accountability in society. I am not saying that we do not have a responsibility in that area, but something very important was lost in the process. What was lost was an emphasis on Jesus, on a relationship with Him as the foundation on which we can build a better society. Teaching became more focused on social responsibility than relationship with the Lord Jesus. Two generations have grown up not learning the most important tenets of the faith. We cannot allow another generation to pass before we change what we do. The current generation can be the one who swings the pendulum back. They will not be that generation unless we, their parents, teach them faithfully. They need us to pray with them and for them. They need us to learn and teach them the scriptures. They need us to instruct them on why we do the things we do. Social responsibility needs to be anchored in a vibrant faith which has Jesus Christ at its center. The current generation of young people want badly to do something significant. We have to show them their value; we have to show them the power of a life lived by faith, the power of grace to transform people. The only way this is going to happen is for parents to take the lead. We must learn what we missed learning and share it with our children. We cannot depend upon catechism classes or weekly mass to teach them. We have to do that within our homes, the domestic church. While many parishes are beginning to offer adult catechism and Bible Study classes to cradle Catholics, there remains a burden on us to complete our knowledge of the faith. We cannot afford to leave education in our faith to others. The time has come for us to live as responsible Christians, faithful Christians. Prayer needs to be an unmistakable part of our family lives. We need to tell our children the stories of the Bible and the stories of the saints. Most of all, we must set an example by the way in which we live and the priorities we set. The generation we are raising can change things, but they won't unless we show them how.