Better knowledge of faith needed for pro-life effort

Submitted on October 14, 2004

Send to friendArchbishop Raymond L. Burke cut to the heart of the matter in his keynote address at last Sunday’s Archdiocesan Pro-Life Convention. Children "in the earliest years of their life" must learn the natural moral law embedded in the Church’s teachings. Archbishop Burke, never one to mince words, referred in his keynote speech to what he’s perceived as a "shocking ignorance of the natural moral law" among many Catholics. But it’s never too late to learn and live our Catholic faith. Certainly the archbishop, as spiritual leader of the more than half-million Catholics of the archdiocese, is doing what he can to instruct people in what the Church holds is moral and true, particularly in matters affecting the sanctity of life. But it’s also up to our priests, in their homilies and other chances for education, to ensure that they are doing all they can to instruct the flock. The same goes for teachers in the Catholic schools as well as those who teach in parish schools of religion. As the center of that educational process, parents must be the first instructors of their children in the Church’s moral teachings. Parents have an added advantage — and ever more serious responsibility — over teachers and sometimes even priests through their daily contact with their children. All teachers must demonstrate the truth by both words and actions. The process of learning and living a moral life is unending. We should feel confident that the Holy Spirit is always there to guide us along that path.