ZAGREB, December 19, 2018 – The Archbishop of Zagreb and head of the Catholic Church in Croatia, Cardinal Josip Bozanić, says in his Christmas message that it is parents who are expected to show their unequivocal standpoints and to help, through their Christian way of life, institutions in Croatian society draw up educational programmes for their children, underlining that educational and upbringing programmes and goals must not be in contravention with fundamental family values and that it is parents who have precedence over others when it comes to responsibilities and rights in bringing up their children.
In his message, he underlines that each man and each family has their special place in God’s plans and warns that “in the current times of various reforms”, it is crucial not to leave children and youth unattended on their life journeys.
If parents fail to assume this duty to care for them, many will try to step in, removing children from God and from the inherited cultural identity, offering them a deceptively shining world with void and anguish as consequences, the cardinal says.
“If upbringing and education prepare children and youth for the future life, and it is supposed to be that way, their implementation should then include all relevant institutions: the family, pre-school institutions, the society, the Church and cultural institutions,” he says.
Recalling the warning by Pope John Paul II about the separation between the family and the society and between the family and the school, the Zagreb Archbishop says that it is parents who have priority when it comes to the rights and responsibilities in bringing up children. Therefore, it is important and desirable that the voice of parents be heard more strongly and more frequently in the ongoing school reform in Croatia, notably with regard to goals, contents and school textbooks, he added.
Facing the present-day challenges in bringing up children coming from the more and more globalised culture and society, mass media and new technologies, no one can be self-sufficient in preparing educational programmes, as the general welfare of the national community and future generations is at stake, he says.
The human being has primacy over knowledge, information, tools and competences. Man does not live only to be trained for the labour market. The life of every human being is more elevated, and being prepared for life is more demanding, he says.
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