RESPECT LIFE MINISTRY
SAINT THERESA OF THE INFANT JESUS PARISH
RESPECT
LIFE MINISTRY
The Stagesof
Human Life
(Parents & Children)
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Stages of Human
Life
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Parents
&
Children |
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St. Theresa recalls in Story of A Soul of time spent with two little girls (relatives of the Martin's maid): "Seeing innocent souls at such close range, I understood what a misfortune it was when they were not formed in their early years, when they are soft as wax upon which one can imprint either virtue or vice." The Christian family is a domestic church. Both parents and children have life long responsibilities in the domestic church, including the care of the young, old, sick, handicapped, and poor. Issues of great importance include mutual respect; unconditional love; material and moral support; education in the faith and moral education; appropriate schooling; and appropriate discipline. "Children,
obey your parents (in the Lord) for this is right. Honor your
father and mother." Sins against the domestic church include neglect, and physical, sexual, emotional and psychological abuse. These are grave sins and affect not only the domestic church, but society as well. Fathers, do not provoke
your children to anger, but bring them up with the training and
instruction of the Lord "Whoever
causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would
be better for him to have a great millstone hung around his neck and
to be drowned in the depths of the sea" "See that you do not
despise one of these little ones, for I say to you that their angels
in heaven always look upon the face of my heavenly Father."
Parents of college students must be careful, even if their children are enrolled in Catholic universities. The Cardinal Newman Society is dedicated to the renewal of the Catholic identity in Catholic higher education and monitors the faithful implementation of Pope John Paul II's 1990 constitution Ex Corde Ecclesae "On Catholic Universities." In December 2003, the Pope addressed a conference on "Globalization and Catholic Universities." The Pope stressed that "It is clear that university centers that do not respect the Church's laws and the teaching of the Magisterium, especially in bioethics, cannot be defined as Catholic universities." Several Catholic universities and colleges have been found to promote Planned Parenthood on their web sites, and their web sites include links to pro-abortion organizations. Lifestyle.net provides more information about these schools.
Parenting can be very difficult at times. Catholic Parents OnLine provides a variety of resources that are faithful to the teachings of the Church. Marriages sometimes suffer too. Programs such as Retrouvaille can help couples refocus.
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