Protecting children from others
and from themselves
Two weeks ago, the Holy See’s permanent observer to the United
Nations spoke in New York about protecting children. He quoted
back to the delegates the United Nations’ own documents on the
rights of the child: “... the child, by reason of his physical
and mental immaturity, needs special safeguards and care, including
appropriate legal protection, before as well as after birth.”
The Pope’s delegate then began to recite the statistics on children
killed during armed conflict: two million children killed, over
one million orphaned, five million seriously injured ... twelve
million made homeless and ten million left with serious psychological
trauma ... some 800 children per month still fall victims to landmines.
In our own country, children are also victims of violence, not
only on the streets but also at times in their own homes. FBI
statistics tell of a domestic assault every 18 seconds in this
country. Domestic violence, especially abuse of mothers and children,
is often covered up because of shame; and the stage is set for
passing on patterns of violence to the next generation. We have
begun talking of “killer kids,” very young children who kill other
children in schoolyards as well as on the streets. Schools come
equipped with metal detectors as well as desks and books.
What response can the Church make to violence against children
and violence by children themselves? Catholic Charities has many
programs designed to protect children when necessary and to give
advice and help to parents in eliminating violence from the home.
The Department of Public Health of the City of Chicago is working
on a violence-prevention strategic plan which I hope our parishes
can help implement. Especially important is the Church’s recognition
that domestic violence is a terrible sin, a violation of physical
integrity and destructive of the trust that characterizes a family
united in Christ. Preaching on domestic violence can encourage
abused women and children to come forward and get help. The Department
of Family Medicine at the University of Illinois at Chicago is
working on ways to discover patterns of domestic violence when
an abused woman comes for medical help.
Most fundamentally, the Church prevents violence against children
and violence by children themselves through the correct formation
of conscience. The last issue of Loyola, the magazine published
by Loyola University of Chicago, carries an article on “When Our
Children Commit Violence” by Ann F. Caron. She asks, “Are Americans
failing to raise civilized children? Are we trying so hard to
be non-judgmental that we hesitate to tell our children that some
issues are black and white--that some behavior is clearly wrong?”
She gives an example: “A mother told me that she has written her
daughter’s essays and term papers since her daughter was in the
fifth grade. Her reason? When she is assigned a research paper,
the daughter ‘gets a headache’ and the mother can’t stand to watch
her daughter’s discomfort. At first I thought her story was unique,
but now I think attempts to cover up children’s failures, mistakes
or misdeeds are becoming more commonplace.”
Ms. Caron writes about the responsibility of parents to help their
children separate right from wrong, good from evil. Behind that
responsibility is the mission of the Church to preach the Gospel
of truth and life. The Gospel is not just a set of ideals and
attitudes; it forms conscience around specific behavior, from
that forbidden in the Ten Commandments to that prescribed in the
Beatitudes. The Second Vatican Council called conscience “man’s
most secret core and his sanctuary. There he is alone with God
whose voice echoes in his depths” (Gaudium et spes, 16). The Catechism
of the Catholic Church explains: “Conscience is a judgment of
reason by which the person recognizes the moral quality of a concrete
act” (no. 1796).
The moment in personal development when a child can distinguish
right from wrong is called in canon law “the age of discernment,”
and it is assumed to be reached at around seven. Robert Cole of
Harvard University writes about children as moral agents. His
books keep us from romanticizing childhood, the years between
six and 12, simply as an age of innocence. It is instead an age
of moral discernment as acute as that of an adult, although with
standards that are in the process of formation.
In Catholic moral theory, the external witness to God’s Will for
us, the teaching of the Church, finds internal corroboration in
the promptings of conscience, because God does not contradict
himself. He created us and he commissions the Church. Internal
and external witnesses should agree, Church teaching and conscience
are consistent with each other, or something isn’t working. Cardinal
Newman could toast both Pope and conscience, conscience first
and Pope second, because his faith told him they will not disagree,
if conscience is well formed and personal moral development creates
a character attuned to the promptings of God’s Will.
Both Church and parents are responsible for forming children as
moral agents. The first time they cooperate explicitly in this
truly noble work is in preparation for receiving the Sacrament
of Penance or Reconciliation. This sacrament, which accompanies
us in our journey through life, should be received for the first
time when a child reaches the age of discernment, around seven
or eight. If a child is developmentally disabled and is slow in
becoming a moral agent, the sacrament can, of course, be delayed.
In any case, since the Eucharist is food for our journey through
life, it is received after a child’s first confession. The ability
to discern which makes us moral agents is the same ability the
Church requires for receiving Communion for the first time. Hence,
the discipline surrounding the reception of First Communion requires
that the child first receive the Sacrament of Penance.
This connection between the two sacraments gives us hope that
violence of all sorts can be contained and eliminated in our lives
and in society. The Eucharist is the great remedy against sin
and its effects in our lives. If children are encouraged to make
frequent use of both Penance and Eucharist, their consciences
will be well formed in preparing for confession and their purpose
will be strengthened by union with their Eucharistic Lord. Alone,
isolated from one another and from God, we become violent. United
eucharistically with Christ and his Body the Church, we find hope
and strength to live in peace and love. God bless you.
Sincerely yours in Christ,
Francis Cardinal George, O.M.I.
Archbishop of Chicago
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