Categories
- Evangelization
- School of Prayer
- Worship
- Healing and Revealing
- Catholic Renewal
- Spiritual Warfare
- Apologetics
- Obstacles on the way to God
- Reading the Bible
- Sense of life
- Covenant with God
- Community
- Catholic Church
- Business and Christianity
- Family
- Witnesses of Faith
- Danger: Occultism
- Attention! Sects
Pope: Parents to Blame for Prejudiced Kids
19-09-2008
Says Families Cause or Break Discriminatory Attitudes
CASTEL GANDOLFO, Italy, SEPT. 18, 2008 (Zenit.org).- Prejudice is learned in the home, and that is why parents have the duty to teach children respect for the human dignity of all people, says Benedict XVI.
The Pope affirmed this today in an address to the new ambassador of Bosnia and Herzegovina to the Holy See, Jasna Krivosic-Prpic.
The Holy Father first noted the difficult recent history endured by the former Yugoslavian nation.
"Reflecting its particular geographical location, Bosnia and Herzegovina also contains a rich mix of cultures and precious patrimonies," he said. "Tragically, however, cultural and ethnic differences throughout history have not infrequently been a source of misunderstanding and friction. Indeed, as each of the three constitutive peoples that make up your country know only too well, they have even been the cause of conflicts and wars.
"No person wishes for war. No parents desire conflict for their children. No civic or religious group should ever resort to violence or oppression. […] Listening to the voice of reason, however, and prompted by the hope that we all desire for ourselves and the generations which follow, every individual can find the strength to overcome past divisions and indeed hammer swords into ploughshares and spears into sickles."
Shaping a spirit
Benedict XVI went on to propose that a "state's spirit is shaped at many levels. The family home is where children learn the essential values of responsibility and harmonious coexistence. It is here too that prejudices are either born or broken. Every parent therefore has the grave duty to instill in their children, through example, respect for the dignity that marks every person irrespective of ethnicity, religion or social grouping."
"In this way," the Holy Father said, "the splendor of lives led justly -- with integrity, fairness and compassion -- can shine forth as examples for the young, indeed everyone, to emulate."
The Pope further contended that teachers and the media play key roles in disarming prejudice.
"Teachers who exercise their noble profession with a passion for truth can do much to discredit any false anthropological ideologies that contain seeds of hostility and to foster an appreciation of cultural and religious diversity in the life of a country," he said. "In this vein, I would also like to offer a word of encouragement to those working in the media.
"They can do much to overcome lingering attitudes of distrust by ensuring that they do not become tools of prejudice but rather transcend particular interests and promote broad-based and inclusive civic goals, thus becoming instruments at the service of greater justice and solidarity."
