by THOMAS LICKONA
What is “Catholic character,” why does it matter, and what can we do as parents to develop it in our children?
- Salvation — seeking to save our eternal souls and help save the souls of others (that salvation, the Church teaches, is God’s free gift but requires our cooperation through faith in God, obedience to his commandments, and repentance of our grave sins).
- Service — using our God-given talents to build God’s kingdom here on earth.
- Sanctity — growing in holiness.
The third of these life goals, sanctity, is central to building Catholic character. At the end of the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus says something that is stunning: “Be thou made perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect” (Mt 5:48). St. Gregory put it this way: “The goal of a virtuous life is to become like God.”
Scripture tells us, “God is love” (1 Jn 4:16). If we want to be like God, our vocation is to love. The essence of love is to sacrifice for the sake of another, as Jesus did. Love is self-gift.
What, then, is our goal if we want to develop Catholic character in our children and ourselves? The character of Christ. A life of self-giving.
In short, the ultimate mission of every Catholic family, like the mission of the Church as a whole, is to turn us into little Christs. It is to foster, with the help of God’s grace, the “transformation in Christ” that the Holy Spirit jump-starts in our baptism — a process that is meant to continue through our entire lives.
What Virtues Should We Foster?
The high goal of Christ-like character builds on a base of what the Church calls “natural virtues.” Among the natural virtues that families and schools should nurture are the four advanced by the ancient Greeks, named in Scripture (Wis 8:7), and adopted by the Church as “the cardinal virtues”:
- prudence, which enables us to judge what we should do;
- justice, which enables us to respect the rights of others and give them what they are due;
- fortitude, which enables us to do what is right in the face of difficulties;
- temperance, which enables us to control our desires and avoid abuse of even legitimate pleasures.
First, realize that to prepare our kids to follow Christ is to prepare them to take the road less traveled. Living a life of Christian virtue has always been countercultural but never more so than in today’s media-driven, materialistic, sexually decadent, and morally relativistic world.
These natural virtues are developed through effort and practice, aided by God’s grace.
In order to develop Christ-like character, however, we need more than the natural virtues. We also need the three supernatural, or “theological,” virtues:
- faith in God, which enables us to believe in God and the teachings of his church.
- hope in God, which leads us to view eternal life as our most important goal and to place total trust in God.
- love of God, which enables us to love God above all things and our neighbor as ourselves for the love of God.
The three theological virtues are considered supernatural because they come from God and have as their purpose our participation in God’s divine life.
As the Catechism (1813) teaches, the theological virtues are not separate from the natural virtues; rather, they “are the foundation of Christian moral activity; they animate it and give it its special character.”
The Catholic writer Peter Kreeft points out, “The Christian is prudent, just, courageous, and self-controlled out of faith in God, hope in God, and love of God.” The supernatural virtues, like the natural virtues, grow stronger through our effort and practice, in cooperation with God’s grace.
What can we do as parents to build Catholic character, both the natural and supernatural virtues?
First, realize that to prepare our kids to follow Christ is to prepare them to take the road less traveled. Living a life of Christian virtue has always been countercultural but never more so than in today’s media-driven, materialistic, sexually decadent, and morally relativistic world.
With that in mind, here are five fundamentals of parenting for Catholic character. (Read the entire article here)
