A SCHOOL principal and parent told nearly 30 other parents that differences between members of a family are due to each person's unique personality. "Every person is a unique creation with a different and special personality. However, they can all share a value system common among them," said Mrs Margaret Joseph, chairperson of the Catholic Schools' Council. The two-day parenting course conducted by Mrs Joseph at the CWS Building, S'pore. Oct 25-26, focussed on two areas of child development — freedom and acquiring right values. "Perceptions are different," she said, "So there is a great deal of differences between members of the same family — hence differences exist between parents and children because each of them is a unique personality. Responsible parenthood is nurturing a value system within the context of each person's uniqueness."
WHEN the Pope confronted the sensitive issue of birth control in India, the second most populous nation on earth, he did not cite Church teaching. Instead, he quoted from the works of Mahatma Gandhi, the late Hindu philosopher and activist who is known as the "father of the country" in India. "Moral results can only be produced by moral restraints," the Pope said, quoting Gandhi's writings. "This, ... is the Church's profound conviction," the Pope said at a Mass for families in Bombay's Shivaji Park, where 20,000 people gathered.
Madras (India). Resolutions which regard the defence of the Catholic family and t he manner of conducting Catholic education were passed at the Third All-India Catholic Congress held at Poona December 28 to 30. The text of the resolutions is, in part, as follows: "This Congress condemns all attempts, open or veiled, and from whatever source proceeding, which tend (a) to lessen the bonds of marriage or destroy its sanctity, (b) to impair parental authority and responsibility and, (c) to demoralise and disintegrate Catholic home life.
As soon as a child reaches the first milestone of his being, he is quite unlike a little animal who drinks and sleeps, or cries and smiles. He becomes then a little being endowed with reason, though that reason be still in an embryonic state. He has not yet uttered a name that his intelligence has suggested to him. Two characteristics are peculiar to this stage of the child's life: a vivid curiosity accompanied by a singularly shrewd mind and a power of imitation developed to the highest degree.
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Popular Series on the Law of the Church. What shall the baby's name be? The Church upholds the pious custom of using a Christian name at Baptism; more than that, she has allowed this custom to pass into law. It is not in accord, then, with the sentiments of the Church to seek out, after manner of movie actresses, some new-made titles that sparkle. A pretty name for a pretty baby is indeed proper; but it is one thing to adopt a pretty name that is rich with a past and quite another thing to select one that is just pretty but nothing otherwise.
(From "Psychology of Character" by Rudolf Allers, M.D.) We must not be misunderstood , in the sense of being thought to advocate the total exclusion of all so-called sexual enlightment; quite the contrary. We hold strongly that a knowledge of the facts of sex is essential, and that this I knowledge must be imparted to the child before he acquires it unsuitably from unqualified sources. This enlightenment is the duty of the parents and not that of the school authorities. Of course if the parents are incapable of this, or if they do not possess the child's confidence, it devolves upon others. But it must always be given by way of individual explanation, never in the form of class-room teaching; the latter can, at most, only prepare the ground by careful instruction in 'biology. Sexual instruction can and should only take place by stages, the moment for its necessity being shown by relevant! questions on the part of the child, always assuming that the requisite confidence is not lacking. Questions of this kind, like all children's questions, must be answered; the remark, " You cannot understand that," is more out of place here than anywhere. It would lead us too far astray were we to deal with this matter in detail, but we believe that we have hinted at the main points. - Malaya Catholic Leader, February 23nd, 1935 (1935.pdf pp80)
The attitude of the Church towards mixed marriages, it is feared, has not been clearly understood by some Catholics who feel that no harm could accrue to their faith from such unions, and interference of the kind approaches well nigh pettifoggery. It is the purpose of this article to outline, as vividly as possible, the canonical and sacramental aspects of Matrimony which set forth the well-considered objections of the Church to such unwelcome marriages. Mixed marriages being, on principle, against the wisdom and ruling of the Church she is yet willing to remove the barriers in cases where sufficiently valid excuses are offered. In a matter involving the delicate and sacred affection of those contemplating Matrimony, the Church has thought it wise, to exercise her better judgment upon occasion, provided no moral wrong may result. A concession of this nature is only made after a note of warning has been sounded to those embarking upon a mixed union, and after they have been acquainted with the lurking dangers that beset the path they mean to choose.
Any parent who stops to think at all can hardly feel happy in mind as to the way the average child has to acquire its first and most lasting impressions of the love by which God wishes the world to be populated.
The strict attitude of the Catholic Church in condemning the practice of birth control acts as setback to many. and especially to intelligent non-Catholics. The official declaratiom: of Protestant sects have been so bewildering and contradictory in this matter that Protestants in general get no sense of direction whatever from these sources. Propaganda for birth control has been clever, subtle, and insidiously effective in creating an attitude of "scientific superiority" among those who oppose the view of the Catholic Church. Now non-Catholics readily assume that there is nothing to be gained in the search for truth from such a "backward" and "medieval" institution. All claims of the Catholic Church are dismissed out of hand because of the fostered attitude that the Church is "out of touch with reality." Propaganda for birth control has studiously avoided the basic moral principles involved, while concentrating almost exclusively on the social, economic and health aspects of the problem of child bearing. Hence the shrewdly contrived programme of "planned parenthood."
Singapore City is overpopulated. The high birth rate continues. There is the brutal fact; a headache and a nightmare for the economists who have to plan for tomorrow! We absolutely agree with them in feeling the urgency and knowing the need to LOOK FOR a solution of so vital a problem; but when it comes to SUGGESTING one then the agreement ends. The question is the same but the answers proposed are very different. The word ECONOMIST means originally 'housekeeper', the person who plans the food and means of living of the household. If in this there is ignoring of the Divine Law, then all the planning and building is vain. God is the author and cause of Nature. "Fatherhood itself is the Lord's gift, the fruitful womb is a reward that comes from Him." (Psalm 126 v. 3). What God does He does well, for He is the Supreme Wisdom.
One should be very careful not to rebuke and punish when he feels cross or falls into a fit of anger and knows that his temper is out of eontrol; for then rebuke and punishment are given, more than once, not on account of the grievousness of the offence itself, but because of the displeasure it has roused. Say a child, at play, tears his Coat, or, through wildness and clumsiness breaks some furniture in the house; all these accidents, after all are not State affairs, though Mammy does not precisely like them. Yet, when such catastrophes unfortunately happen, Mammy's first impulse is rather .,. .quick. So that the poor little bungler is rebuked and even punished more heavily than he generally deserves.
It may safely be said of mothers that "more evil is wrought by want of thought" than by "want of heart." Every true mother's heart is large enough to feel for her children, and we need not be afraid that she will not do her best for them as far as she sees. But not every mother thinks sufficiently about the children's welfare; and some think "not wisely but too well !" So that, in speaking of mistakes mothers make, one is not reflecting in the least upon the mother's good feelings, for these mistakes are often made with the best intentions in the world; but they are mistakes, and. as mistakes can always be remedied, there can be no harm in thinking them over.
London. A CHARGE that at London meetings where women assemble from church tea parties to political meetings, touts solicit cases for illegal operations at prices from 3s.6d. up was made by Dr. W. J. O'Donovan in the course of a debate at the Oxford Union. The university's famous debating society discussed a motion deploring "the present attitude of the Ministry of Health and local authorities toward the provision of birth control information and facilities by the State."
BY REV. WILLIAM SCHMIDT, S.V.D. The Refusal to Produce New Men.In view of the awful dangers which threaten Europe and the world, one learns to understand the heinous character of the experiments which Judge Lindsay and other marriage reformers are advocating. Trial Marriages.One of these insane experiments is the so-called trial marriage. Could there be a greater contradiction? It is like a square circle, or a round square. It is of the essence of marriage that it endure. Candidates of marriage test and examine themselves carefully, whether they are fit for the marriage state , but in marriage itself its durability cannot be tested, for that is the blessing of those united in wedlock—that their love is so deep and strong that they can afford to enter a lifelong union without fear of separation. This essential feature of a true marriage cannot be tested by a trial marriage with its conditional, calculating,, and uncertain love, which does not deserve this name.
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