Parents ruin simple Easter fun

Because I've been in youth ministry for a number of years now, I'm often asked a question something along these lines: "What's wrong with kids today?"

It's a loaded question, of course, and carries with it all sorts of presumptions, which - in my experience - are not generally true.  Even so, when asked this question I usually answer, "Their parents."

As one piece of evidence for my answer, consider this story (it's a bit old, I know, but I've been otherwise occupied) about the cancellation of an Easter Egg Hunt in Colorado Springs because of the behavior of the parents:

Parenting observers cite the cancellation as a prime example of so-called "helicopter parents" — those who hover over their children and are involved in every aspect of their children's lives — to ensure that they don't fail, even at an Easter egg hunt. 

"They couldn't resist getting over the rope to help their kids," said Ron Alsop, a former Wall Street Journal reporter and author of "The Trophy Kids Grow Up," which examines the "millennial children" generation. 

"That's the perfect metaphor for millennial children. They (parents) can't stay out of their children's lives. They don't give their children enough chances to learn from hard knocks, mistakes" [more].

Parents, please don't ruin your children's fun by being obnoxious.

Capello tip to Deacon Kandra.

Blessed Damien cautions parents

Thanks to the wonders of inter-library loan, I am currently reading Charles Warren Stoddard's Father Damien: The Martyr of Molokai (San Francisco, California: Catholic Truth Society, 1901).

It is a short little book (only 30 pages), but it includes several of Father Damien's letters, which are a great pleasure to read.

On Christmas Day 1858, then Joseph De Vuester wrote to his parents, asking their permission and blessing for him to pursue his vocation. His words may seem harsh:

My dear parents: I cannot hesitate to write to you on this grand Christmas Day, for the great feast has brought me to the certainty that God has called me to quit the world and embrace the religious state. Therefore, my dear parents, I ask you again for your consent; for without it I cannot venture to enter on this career. God's command to obey our parents does not apply only to childhood.

Do not think that in choosing the religious state I am guided by own will; I assure you that I do but follow the will of Divine Providence. I am not afraid that you will refuse me, since it is God who calls, and I am obliged to obey his call. For you to hinder your child from following God's will, would expose yourselves to terrible consequences from His anger, and would expose me to the irreparable misfortune of losing the vocation for which God has destined me from infancy, and would put in jeopardy your eternal salvation.

You know, my dear parents, that each individual is bound to conform himself to the designs of God in choosing a state of life, if he wishes to make his future happiness secure; do not, therefore, distress yourselves at God's designs for me. Augustus [his older brother] writes me that I should certainly be admitted in his Congregation as "Frere de Choeur," that I should not fail to speak to the Superior at the New Year, and should begin my novitiate a little later.

Hoping for this great happiness, I sign myself, your obedient son.

Joseph at the time was eighteen years of age.

His words may be a bit harsh, but they are also true. Parents must not only help their children to discern God's will for their lives; they must also help and enable their children - to whatever extent possible - to respond generously to God's design for their lives.

Pope speaks to parents of seminarians

The Holy Father visited the Roman Major Seminary Friday, 1 February 2008. In his homily at Vespers, Pope Benedict XVI addressed the parents of the seminarians, showing his usual pastoral sensitivity and genuine concern:

Dear parents, you are probably the most surprised of all at what is
happening in your sons. You probably imagined a different career for them than
the mission for which they are now preparing. Who knows how often you find
yourselves thinking about them: you think back to when they were children, then
boys; to the times when they showed the first signs of their vocation or, in
some cases on the contrary, to the years in which your son's life seemed remote
from the Church. What happened? What meetings influenced their decisions? What
inner enlightenment guided their footsteps? How could they then give up even
promising prospects of life in order to choose to enter the Seminary? Let us
look to Mary! The Gospel gives us to understand that she also asked herself many
questions about her Son Jesus and pondered on him at length (cf. Lk 2: 19,
51).

It is inevitable that in a certain manner, the vocations of children
become the vocations of their parents too. In seeking to understand your
children and following them on their way, you too, dear fathers and dear
mothers, very often find yourselves involved in a journey in which your faith is
strengthened and renewed. You find yourselves sharing in the marvellous
adventure of your sons. Indeed, even though it may seem that the priest's life
does not attract most people's interest, it is in fact the most interesting and
necessary adventure for the world, the adventure of showing, of making present,
the fullness of life to which we all aspire. It is a very demanding adventure;
and it could not be otherwise since the priest is called to imitate Jesus, who
"came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many"
(Mt 20: 28).

These are beautiful and true words and ought to be given to the parents of every seminarian, and even to the parents of men and women in formation for the consecrated life. Pass them on!