THE CATECHETICAL TASK OF THE FAMILY (42)

Introduction

In the previous article, I examined the educational task of the family. I mentioned that a key task of the family is to serve life. An important way parents accomplish this is by providing education to their children. This includes religious education, which, in the Catholic Church, is commonly known as “catechesis”. As stated in earlier articles, catechesis cannot be confined to the parish; it has to take place at home as well. In this article, we will examine the family as both the agent and the context of catechesis.

The Family as the First School of Social Living 

The document Familiaris Consortio (FC) states that, “The family is the first school of those social virtues which every society needs” (FC, 37). Parents are called to create an atmosphere in the family that is filled with love and reverence for God and others in order to foster holistic personal and social development in their children.

At the same time, the family is the first and fundamental “community of love”. According to Pope Francis, the family is “the primary setting where we first learn to relate with others, to listen and share, to be patient and show respect, to help one another and live as one,” as well as “how to live alongside others who are worthy of our concern, our kindness and our affection” (Amoris Laetitia (AL), 274).

Pope Francis also stated that the family is the “first school of human values,” since “most people learn basic attitudes and values in childhood which become so deeply rooted that they remain throughout life” (AL, 274). In this regard, Apostolicam Actuositatem (AA), the Vatican II document on the laity, points out the importance of parents educating their children about God’s love for people outside the family. Parents are to teach their children, by their own example, to have concern for their neighbours (AA, 30).

The Family as the First Setting for Catechesis 

Church documents also emphasise that it is in the family that a child first learns about the Christian faith. For example, Familiaris Consortio states that the family is “the first community called to announce the Gospel to the human person during growth and to bring him or her, through a progressive education and catechesis, to full human and Christian maturity” (FC, 2).

The General Catechetical Directory (GCD) highlights the fact that in Christian families, “the first months and years are of the greatest importance for a person’s equilibrium and in a believing family they can provide the outlines of a Christian personality” (GCD, 78). From then on, states the Directory, the child “…assimilates by a sort of osmosis the behaviour patterns and attitudes of the members of its family. The consequent accumulation of experiences will provide the foundation for the life of faith which will gradually develop and find expression” (GDC, 78).

The General Directory for Catechesis (GDC) for its part points out that the family, as a context for catechesis, has the unique privilege of transmitting the Gospel by grounding it in profound human values. The family therefore, provides the first “classroom” for a child’s faith formation, “where the awakening of the sense of God, the first steps in prayer, education of the moral conscience, and formation in the Christian understanding of human love and sexuality take place” (GDC, 255).

In Amoris Laetitia, Pope Francis writes that it is in the family that faith is first handed down to the younger generation. The home is where the first catechism lessons are taught and learned. Despite current lifestyles, work demands, and the complexity of today’s world, the pope stressed that “the home must continue to be the place where we learn to appreciate the meaning and beauty of the faith, to pray, and to serve our neighbour” (AL, 287).

Parents as First Catechists 

All of this emphasises the role of parents as the primary catechists of their children. It is they who exert the principal and deepest spiritual influence on a child. According to the Directory for Catechesis (DC), “Children thus perceive and joyously live the closeness of God and of Jesus made manifest by their parents in such a way that this first Christian experience frequently leaves decisive traces which last throughout life” (DC, 226).

Parents are the first heralds of the Gospel as well. They hand on the faith to their children and educate them in it “through the witness of their daily Christian life” (AA, 11). The Directory for Catechesis states that parents, through their daily example, have the most effective capacity to transmit the beauty of the faith to their children (DC, 124).

Similarly, Catechesi Tradendae (CT) stresses that parents participate in catechising their children by showing them how to help each other grow in faith through “the witness of their Christian lives, a witness that is often without words…” It highlights the irreplaceable role of parents in catechesis by mentioning that, “There cannot be too great an effort on the part of Christian parents to prepare for this ministry by being their own children’s catechists and to carry it out with tireless zeal” (CT, 68).

According to the GDC, catechesis in the family is further deepened when parents take seriously the more methodical catechesis their children receive in the parish and help them appropriate it. It adds, “Christian parents must strive to follow and repeat, within the setting of family life, the more methodical teaching received elsewhere”. Therefore, “Family catechesis precedes, accompanies, and enriches all forms of catechesis” (GDC, 226).

Conclusion 

The responsibility to educate means that Christian parents should present to their children all the teachings necessary for the gradual maturing of their personality from a Christian and ecclesial point of view. They must show their children the profound significance to which the faith and love of Jesus Christ can lead. Furthermore, their awareness that the Lord is entrusting them with the growth of a child of God should inspire and prompt Christian parents in this task.