Amoris Laetitia 264: Shaping Good Habits

amoris laetitia memeThis section suggests a way somewhat deeper than imparting information about good and bad. How can parents use inductive reasoning when our culture, even the Church at times, is so steeped in deduction? Pope Francis seems to be suggesting that the personal experience of a child who takes joy in right and suffers wrong can be part of the formation.

264. Parents are also responsible for shaping the will of their children, fostering good habits and a natural inclination to goodness. This entails presenting certain ways of thinking and acting as desirable and worthwhile, as part of a gradual process of growth. The desire to fit into society, or the habit of foregoing an immediate pleasure for the sake of a better and more orderly life in common, is itself a value that can then inspire openness to greater values. Moral formation should always take place with active methods and a dialogue that teaches through sensitivity and by using a language children can understand. It should also take place inductively, so that children can learn for themselves the importance of certain values, principles and norms, rather than by imposing these as absolute and unquestionable truths.

For your reference, remember that Amoris Laetitia is online here.

About catholicsensibility

Todd lives in Minnesota, serving a Catholic parish as a lay minister.
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