National Republican. (Washington City (D.C.)) 1872-1888, 1886-01-25

Rov. Father Walter preached upon tho
duties Of parents toward their children, at
st. Patrick's Church yesterday morning,
mass being sung by Rev. Father Whelan.
"'1f any man hath not care Of his own
those Of his house, he hath denied the faith
and is worse than an inndel.' These words
Of the great apostle" said Father Walter,
care full of great import Every father OF
family should weigh well these words.
'If any man hath not care Of his own, he
hath denied the faith and is worse than an
inGdel. 1 doubt whether any one here
present would like to incur this sentence Of
st. Paul. No one would like to say that Il
have denied the faith and am worse than
an inildel; but II you have not a care Of
your own you have denied the faith and
you are worse than an inddel, or the apostle
has not spoken truly. This day, two weeks,
/ addressed you on the duties of children
toward their parents. To-day shall address
parents in regard to their duties toward
their children.
1--WE wonder why there is so much wick
edness In the world. We need not 20 far
TO ascertain the cause DO you suppose II
parents did their duty toward their children,
brought them up as God wishes them to
be brought up, that the world would be as
u lie nowp Not In the least. 1t is one OF
the great evils Of the age that parents neg
lect their most important duties toward
their children, and hence we have so much
disorder In the world. For, IL children
were brought up in the love and fear OF
God, everything would go smoothly in this
world. Now, let us see what are these OBJ
legations which you have taken upon your
selves. Remember that God has given you
the charge OF these children. Remember
that II is a precious gift from His hand. It
is not gold and silver and precious stones,
but something more valuable than these.
They are precious souls that God has in
trusted in your charge. Look how you
jewels that He has given. There are
three things which you have to do to fulfill
your duty as parents. The first is to In
struct your children, the second to correct
your children, and the third to give an ex-
ample to your children, and when you have
done these three things you have done every
thing that God will require Of you.
~ will not speak about the temporal
welfare OF your children, because the nat
ural law teaches you as to these things.
Yet there are some parents who neglect this
duty. There are parents who squander
their means in drunkenness, rloting, and
extravaganza, and leave their families In
abject poverty TO be taken care Of by the
public. There are some such, fortunately
very few Of them.
"But will come TO the great thing.
Your duty In regard to the souls Of your
children. You ought to instruct them. That
is the first thing. When must this instruc-
ton beginp In their earliest years. The
instruction must begin at the knee Of their
mother, when children can scarce whisper
the name Of mother. The child is to be
taught, even when not having attained the
age Of reason, that there is God, the
Father Of us all, The child is to be taught
that God is In heaven; that He died ON the
cross for the salvation Of our souls, and
they should be taught to pray. As the chill
dren advance in years you are still to con-
tinue the instruction. Teach them the cate
chism. Teach the children the truths of
our hoy religion, and their duty to parents,
and above all the duty they owe TO God. 1t
is not worth while to say that this is to be
accomplished merely by sending them to
school. You must send your children to
Catholic schools. Yon cannot accomplish
this as 1t has TO be done except in Catholic
schools. The child is to be reminded
Of God every day, and can this
be accomplished outside Of Catholic
instruction In Catholic. schools? You are
dence every day Of this fact will give
you one example. A child came to con-
fession last night, and did not even know
the creed / have had children come to
me IA years OF age, never having been to
confession Do not these Catholic parents
know the law In regard to confession ? AS
soon as the child arrives at the age of rea-
son 1t must go TO confession. These chill
dren have not fathers and mothers who are
degraded and ignorant, they are OF respect
able. parents, whose education was wofully
neglected.
"Just think of children Of respectable
parents Of ~ and 10 years Of age not know
ing their Catholic prayers Do you tell me
these parents do their dutyP No, my dear
friends, say what you please about It, you
have to send your children to Catholic
schools II you want to fulfill this obliga-
ton Of giving them that instruction re-
quired by the law Of God. l can say moth
ing more on this point. It is sufficient ;or
your children Catholicsreligious instruction
and to send them to such schools where
they can receive such instruction.
SIN regard TO correction. You ought to
correct your children. II you had brought
up your children as they should have been
brought up-to know their duties from
their earliest years and to respect them
you would have no correction to give your
children later. There are children i have
seen who never need correction. 1t II
sufficient for the parents to express a wish
Why Is this sor Because these children
were brought up from their earliest years
properly Instructed, in their duties. Il
you must give II. think som etimes yol
must be stern and severe, but without being
cruel. There are parents who are so Low
ingly attached to their children that they
cannot say single word to them In correc
tion-cannot correct a single fault They
imagine that, their children are perfect
They overlook their faults. What Is the
res,iltP The children that go uncorrectet
will get worse and worse every day, ant
win defy the authority Of the father anC
mother, and will go from bad to worse
until they bring their parents to the gravt
in shame by their conduct.
"There are parents who correct some o
their children and not the others. Do no
you know In almost every family, am
sorry to say, there is pet child that neve
gets corrected; and that child is the wors
In the flock. You never correct that loved
one. He or she never does wrong. Yor
never think IL Is like the other children
Why make this distinction between you
childrenp Why should one be the pet ant
the others be used harshlyY Some parents
will never correct the pet, but will be sever
on the others. You know the result. w,
have a Seriptural.parallel in the example o
Joseph. His father loved him above hi
brothers, and what is his history is the his
tory Of every family. Do you wonder tina
the children who are corrected cannot un
derstand that their every fault should b
corrected and the other one allowed to d
just as he or she pleases9
"Then there are parents who seldom cor
rect any fault of their children. They ar
sweet-tempered and don't wish to 'ge
angry as they term 1t. But you must no
correct your children In anger, becaus
they will think you punish them becaus
you are angry, and not because they hay
done wrong. Take time and wait until 20
are cool and collected, and then punis
them, not with harshness or undue severity
but In accordance with the offense whic
they have committed. Certainly your chill
dren, II they are not corrected, will ru
wild, and, unless you use this correction 4
time, they will get beyond your control