Being astute in Catholic leadership is vital for parents nowadays. The need also presents significant challenges when it comes to perusing, discerning and choosing what is intellectually healthy and of redeeming value for children.
Decisions must be made about books to read, entertainment to view, smartphone usage and access, internet quantity and quality, and so forth. In part, this is the reason I remind parents when presiding at baptism preparation classes and at baptisms that they are the first and primary teachers of their children. Yes indeed, the onus is on mom and dad to rally the troops as they grow in the faith, to give the right direction — preemptively and in here-and-now moments — as each situation presents itself.
Recently, a friend of mine from our men’s small group stood as a voice for truth and ethics at a public forum. It was as much a rally as a forum about the issue of an overabundance of specific library materials and references available for children — targeting an age just a few years ahead of the infants and toddlers I would soon be baptizing. The forum was about books, e-books — so called “educational materials” — that are available in our public libraries and that promote a gender ideology that smacks against Catholic teaching. Attendees included Catholic comrades and others of faith and reason who teach, believe and practice within their own families God’s design “… male and female he created them” (Gn 1:27) when it comes to the question of gender and the natural order of things. My colleagues were greatly outnumbered.
Nonetheless, the event provided an interesting and fruitful discussion the next morning at our weekly small group gathering. It was a relevant time to pray about the controversial issue, where much strength, healing and transformation is needed. Compassionate and compelling voices are needed to represent the family as the vital cell of society, protecting parents’ rights to bring up their children without coercion — subtle or otherwise. Peaceful venues are important for all Catholics to take the opportunity to stand up for what we believe is in lockstep with our faith and right for our families.
Yet, first and foremost, the home remains the front line for proper instruction and upbringing. From our baptism, we are brothers and sisters of Jesus Christ the king. And as a duty of that rite, we are anointed priest (to sanctify), prophet (to teach truth) and king (to rule, guide and serve) as parents and spiritual leaders. This “royalty” is a responsibility for all of us — and especially for parents — who are the primary teachers and providers of what is good for their children. Parents help provide truths, expectations and experiences of what will help their children flourish in their sacramental life. Parents can provide God’s rich soil, which sustains each child, helping them through the formidable early years of life as “one who hears the word and understands it, who indeed bears fruit that yield a hundred or sixty or thirtyfold” (Mt 13:23). Rallying the troops at home for “truth discussions” starts at that age of culpability, which those closest to their children know best — mom and dad. Certainly, grandparents, godparents and family friends are at work here, as well.
As Catholic Watchmen, we know it’s important to nurture our souls and bodies with many experiences that come in various intended or unintended ways that hopefully help us grow. Spiritual and intellectual leadership is essential at the home front, helping with tough choices, questions, challenges, and the development that comes in learning from those experiences. In the words of St. John Paul II, given in a homily during his papacy: “As the family goes, so goes the nation and so goes the whole world in which we live.”
Deacon Bird ministers to St. Joseph in Rosemount and All Saints in Lakeville and assists with the archdiocesan Catholic Watchmen movement. See heroicmen.com for existing tools supported by the archdiocese to enrich parish apostolates for ministry to men. For Watchmen start-up materials or any other questions regarding ministry to men contact Deacon Bird at gordonbird@rocketmail.com.
