DUTY OF PARENTS REGARDING THE RELIGIOUS VOCATION OF THEIR CHILDREN.
Q. Are not some parents unjust towards children that wish to enter the
religious state?
A. Yes; unfortunately some parents are both unjust and unreasonable
with their children in this matter.
Q. How is this unjust and unreasonable conduct of parents more clearly
shown?
A. When there is question of marriage with a rich, or an influential
person, many parents not only make no objection, but even urge the
matter, whether such a marriage is the will of God or not; and yet
when the children are evidently called by Almighty God to higher and
holier states--to become spouses of Jesus Christ--these same parents
object, and place obstacles in the path of their children.
Many parents, having allowed their own faith to become deadened by
contact with the world, lose sight of the snares and pitfalls before
the feet of their children.
Q. What do the Fathers of the Church say of parents who oppose
children that wish to enter the religious state?
A. Speaking of religious vocations, St. Thomas says: "Frequently our
friends according to the flesh are opposed to our spiritual good."
St. Liguori says: "Parents often prefer to see their children damned
with themselves rather than to see them saved away from them."
On this subject St. Bernard exclaims: "O hard-hearted father! O cruel
mother! Unfeeling souls! You are not parents, you are murderers; for
you grieve to see your son saved, and you rejoice at the sight of his
eternal perdition."
This is one of the ways in which, as Our Lord tells us: "A man's
enemies shall be they of his own household." Hence the touching
admonition of the Holy Ghost is particularly applicable to a person
called to the religious state: "Hearken, O daughter, and see, and
incline thine ear; and forget thy people and thy father's house."
Again, our blessed Lord says: "He that loveth father or mother more
than Me, is not worthy of Me."
Q. Do parents commit sin in preventing their children from entering
the religious state?
A. If children themselves incur imminent danger of losing their souls
by neglecting a divine vocation, parents that prevent a vocation to
the religious state incur the danger of damning both themselves and
their children. Such parents will have to answer also for the eternal
loss of all those souls that their children would have saved in the
religious state.
Q. What is the exact teaching of theology with regard to parents
preventing their children from entering the religious state?
A. St. Liguori gives the following, not only as his doctrine, but as
the teaching of theologians in general: "Parents who, without a just
and certain cause, prevent their children from entering the religious
state cannot be excused from _mortal sin;_ and not only parents, but
any one who prevents another from following a religious vocation,
_sins mortally._"
Q. What does the Council of Trent teach on this point?
A. The Fathers of the Council of Trent place under anathema (as
accursed) "those who shall in any way, without a just cause, hinder
the holy wish of virgins or other women to take the veil or make their
vows." (18th chapter, 25th session.)
Q. Does God, even in this life, punish parents for having prevented
the higher vocations of their children?
A. Yes; in punishment for thus thwarting His designs God often
punishes parents by some misfortune, such as the premature death or
the reckless life of their children.
Q. Is not long deliberation as well as the advice of many friends
necessary in order to avoid mistakes?
A. St. Thomas says: "Long deliberation and advice are required in
doubtful matters, but in those things which are certain and evident no
counsel is required."
St. Thomas concludes his article on the religious state with these
beautiful words: "It is a sweet yoke, and those who bear it on their
shoulders have the promise of being one day consoled by the delightful
enjoyment of God and the eternal repose of the soul."