Want to know how to raise a child who is morally virtuous, a model citizen in the community, and involved in creating good for our world and their life? Teach them from an early age to serve the needs of those around them. Catholic Schools Week is coming up next week (Jan. 31-Feb. 6, 2016). As the pastor of a Catholic faith community, I certainly see the merits of a Catholic education. In my role at CARITAS For Children, I see Catholic teaching put into practice when schools and religious education classes sponsor a child.
Studies have shown, and experts have verified that children engaged in service to others, their community, and their Church develop a whole bucket of life-long benefits, from healthier lifestyle choices, sharper critical thinking skills, higher levels of creativity, increased understanding and appreciation for others, to better social skills, a larger capacity for compassion and empathy, and greater academic success.1
I've seen these two elements come together in the religious education program in my faith community. Our Director of Relgious Education took the initiative of participating in CARITAS' child sponsorship programs with our students. By supporting Godfrey in Uganda, and Soffia in Nigeria, our children are living out their Catholic faith.
If every elementary school (Catholic, private, or public) in the United States sponsored one of our CARITAS children they’d see an amazing example of Catholic social teaching right before their eyes: the poor lifted up in the dignity of every human person, our common bond as sisters and brothers, the worldwide communion of our global human family created in divine love, and the call to care for all of us, children of our heavenly Father.
Godfrey holds the pack of letters he received from the students of Divine Savior's Religious Education classes. The students raise the funds to support Godfrey's education through CARITAS' child sponsorship programs.
As technology increases, the vastness of our world shrinks. We are closer and more aware than ever that no matter where we live, however diverse our cultures may be, there is a oneness that runs throughout our universe. Woven throughout the fabric of our human existence is a yearning for shared wants and needs, aspirations and goals, and a deep and profound desire for acceptance, respect, peace and love.
And the greatest of these is love (1 Corinthians 13)…what is more noble than to love a child? In their innocence and pure goodness, they reflect the splendor of our Creator himself in their very person. And what greater example is there than teaching children how to love one of their own and grow their love for God? Love one another as I have loved you, so our children learn to love in their very living, and ours as well – then we are not only hearers of the Word but doers as well.
1www.focusonthefamily.org, MacInnes, Teaching Servanthood, 2007.
