		Home \| About Us \| Products \| Search \| Site Map \| What's New

Protecting your child from harmful programs

Pontifical Council for the Family's

Recommendations for Parents & Educators

In the context of education in the virtues, parents thus have the task of making themselves the promoters of their children’s authentic education for love. Through its very nature, the primary generation of a human life in the procreative act must be followed by the secondary generation, whereby parents help their child to develop his or her own personality.

Therefore, summing up what has been said so far and putting it on a practical level, whatever is set out in the following paragraphs is recommended. The following recommendations have been formulated:

(a) In the light of the right of every person to believe and practice the Catholic Faith.[1]

(b) In terms of the rights, freedom and dignity of the family.[2]

It is recommended that parents be aware of their own educational role and defend and carry out this primary right and duty.[3] It follows that any educative activity, related to education for love and carried out by persons outside the family, must be subject to the parents’ acceptance of it and must be seen not as a substitute but as a support for their work. In fact, “Sex education, which is a basic right and duty of parents, must always be carried out under their attentive guidance whether at home or in educational centers chosen and controlled by them.”[4] Frequently parents are not lacking in awareness and effort, but they are quite alone, defenseless and often made to feel they are wrong. They need understanding, but also support and help by groups, associations and institutions.

Recommendations for Parents

1. Parents meet together to fight against damaging forms of sex education

It is recommended that parents associate with other parents, not only in order to protect, maintain or fill out their own role as the primary educators of their children, especially in the area of education for love,[5] but also to fight against damaging forms of sex education and to ensure that their children will be educated according to Christian principles and in a way that is consonant with their personal development.

2. Parents have a right to know, control and supervise

In the case where others help parents in educating their own children for love, it is recommended that they keep themselves precisely informed on the content and methodology with which such supplementary education is imparted.

This recommendation is derived from the Charter of the Rights of the Family, Article 5, c., d., e., because the right to know implies supervision and control on the part of parents. No one can bind children or young people to secrecy about the content and method of instruction provided outside the family.

3. Parents have a right to be present during the classes

We are aware of the difficulty and often the impossibility for parents to participate fully in all supplementary instruction provided outside the home. Nevertheless, they have the right to be informed about the structure and content of the program. In all cases, their right to be present during classes cannot be denied.

This recommendation is derived from the Charter of the Rights of the Family, Article 5 c., d., e., because parents’ participation facilitates the supervision and control of their own children’s education for love.

4. Parents may remove their children

It is recommended that parents attentively follow every form of sex education that is given to their children outside the home, removing their children whenever this education does not correspond to their own principles.

This recommendation is derived from the Charter of the Rights of the Family, Article 5 c., d., e., because the right to remove children from sexual formation gives parents the freedom to exercise their right to educate their own children according to their conscience (Article 5 a. of the Charter).

However, such a decision of the parents must not become grounds for discrimination against their children.[6]

On the other hand, parents who remove their children from such instruction have the duty to give them an adequate formation, appropriate to each child or young person’s stage of development.

Recommendations for All Educators

1. Since each child or young person must be able to live his or her own sexuality in conformity with Christian principles, and hence be able to exercise the virtue of chastity, no educator not even parents ‑ can interfere with this right to chastity.[7]

2. It is recommended that respect be given to the right of the child and the young person to be adequately informed by their own parents on moral and sexual questions in a way that complies with his or her desire to be chaste and to be formed in chastity.

· This recommendation is derived from Gravissimum Educationis, 1. This right is further qualified by a child’s stage of development, his or her capacity to integrate moral truth with sexual information and by respect for his or her innocence and tranquility.

3. It is recommended that respect be given to the right of the child or young person to withdraw from any form of sexual instruction imparted outside the home.

· This recommendation is the practical extension of the right of the child to be chaste, n. 118 above, and corresponds to the parents’ right, n. 117 above. Neither the children nor other members of their family should ever be penalized or discriminated against for this decision.

Four Working Principles & Their Particular Norms
In the light of these recommendations, education for love can take concrete form in four working principles.

[1] cf. Second Vatican Council, Declaration on Religious Freedom, Dignitatis Humanae, 1, 2, 5, 13, 14; Charter of the Rights of the Family, Article 7.

[2] cf. Preamble of the Charter of the Rights of the Family; Dignitatis Humanae, 5, Familiaris Consortio, 26, 42, 46

[3] Cf. Gravissimum Educationis, 3; Familiaris Consortio, 36; Charter of the Rights of the Family, Article 5.

[4] Familiaris Consortio, 37.

[5] Cf. Charter of the Rights of the Family, Articles 8 a. and 5 c.; Code of Canon Law, January 25, 1983, Canons 215, 223 $ 2, 799; Letter to Families, Gratissimam Sane, 16.

[6] Cf. Charter of the Rights of the Family, Article 7.

[7] (cf. Matthew 18: 4‑7). Ibid., Article 4 e.