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We Moms Need Education Too!
"...mothers...exert the earliest and the most intimate influence upon the souls of little ones and upon their growth in piety and virtue. We need not remind you of how important and necessary is this work of education in the home, how grave is a mother's obligation not to neglect it or to perform it with indifference... but it is not enough to be conscious of an obligation and to have the desire to discharge it; it is necessary also to render oneself capable of discharging it competently..."
Pope Piuz XII, audience with Catholic mothers 26 October 1941, as found in "Papal Teachings: Education" Boston, Mass., St Paul Editions, 1960, p315
posted by Holly at 9:09 AM
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If we think of education in limited terms, then we may think our education ceases with the end of formal learning. But true education is actually more a form of 'mortification' in that, we continue all our lives to gain self-mastery and to take the time to consciously learn about what we must do. A Catholic's formation continues all his life, and God has much to tell us.
When it comes to forming and educating our children, we have a serious responsibility to learn 'how' to do this, and to keep on learning throughout the course of our parenting mission. We can't stare at our children, see their faults and strengths, ponder their needs, and not take steps to help them become all they are called to be.
I remember one Mom saying to me "Virtue? I want to teach my children virtue, I just don't know how to do that!" I know the feeling.
But we can start with the understanding of "person" in MROL - the second P - and realize all that we ourselves are called to be, so too our children. And then, we can go and get some good books to help us understand our parenting mission.
Two good books which come to mind immediately to help us Moms do our important work with our children are:
"The Catholic Family Handbook" by Lawrence G. Lovasik (Sophia 2000) and "Hints on Child Training" by H. Clay Trumbull (Great Expectations Book Co.) I also saw a woman on EWTN last week who has written a series of (4) books called "Raising Happy Children" - this looked good too.
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