At 12:10pm today (6:10am EDT), in the Paul VI Hall, the Holy Father, Pope Francis received in audience the members of the Italian Association of Parents (AGE) who are celebrating the 50th anniversary of their Association.
Dear brothers and sisters, good morning!
I am pleased to welcome all of you, representatives of the AGE, the Italian Association of Parents, which has existed for 50 years. This is a special milestone, a precious opportunity to confirm the motivations for your commitment to family and education: a commitment that is carried out according to the principles of Christian ethics, so that the family is an increasingly recognized subject and protagonist in social life.
Many of your energies are dedicated to being close to and supporting parents in their task of teaching, especially in reference to school, which has always been the main partner of families in the education of children. What you do in this field is really meritorious. In fact, when we talk about an educational alliance between school and family, we are talking about it above all in order to denounce its decline: the educational pact is fading. Families no longer likes appreciate work of teachers - who are often poorly paid - as they once did, and who feel that the presence of parents in schools is annoying intrusiveness, ending up keeping others on the edge or considering them adversaries.
To change this situation, someone must take the first step, looking past the fear of the other and holding out their hands generously. For this reason I invite you to cultivate and always nurture trust in the school and among teachers: without them you risk remaining alone in your educational activity and being less able to face the new educational challenges that come from contemporary culture, from society, from mass media, from new technologies. Like you, teachers are engaged every day in the educating your children. If it is right to complain about the possible limits of their action, it is our duty to esteem them as the most precious allies in the educational enterprise which they bring forward together. Permit me to recount an anecdote. I was ten, and I said something bad to the teacher. The teacher called my mother. The next day my mother came, and the teacher went out to receive her; they talked, then my mother called me, and in front of the teacher she repremanded me and told me: Apologize to the teacher. I did it. Kiss the teacher, my mother told me. And I did it, and then I went back to the classroom, happy, and the story is over. No, it was not over ... The second chapter happened when I came home ... This is called collaboration in the education of a child: between the family and the teachers.
Your responsible and available presence, a sign of love not only for your children but for the good of all that is our schools, will help to overcome many divisions and misunderstandings in this area, and to ensure that families are recognized for their primary role in the education and development of children and young people. In fact, if you parents need teachers, the school needs you and can not achieve its goals without carrying on a constructive dialogue with those who have the primary responsibility for the growth of their pupils. As the Exhortation Amoris laetitia points out, the school does not substitute for parents but is complementary to them. This is a basic principle: any other collaborator in the educational process must act on behalf of the parents, with their consent and, to a certain extent, also on their behalf (AL, 84).
Your relevant experience has certainly taught you to trust in mutual help. We remember the wise African proverb: It takes a village to educate a child. Therefore, in school education, collaboration between the various components of the educational community must never be lacking. Without frequent communication and without mutual trust, community cannot be built and without a community it is not possible to educate.
Helping to eliminate the educational solitude faced by families is also the task of the Church, which I invite you to always feel as being at your side in the mission of educating your children and making the whole of society a family-friendly place, so that each person is welcomed, accompanied, oriented towards true values and being able to give the best of itself for common growth. Thus you have a double strength: the one that comes from being an association, that is people who unite not against someone but for the good of all, and the strength you receive from your bond with the Christian community, where you find inspiration, trust and support.
Dear parents, children are the most precious gift you have received. Know how to care for them with commitment and generosity, leaving them the necessary freedom to grow and mature as people who in turn can one day be able to open themselves to the gift of life. The attention with which, as an association, you watch over the dangers that threaten the lives of children does not stop you from looking confidently to the world, knowing how to choose and indicate to your children the best opportunities for human, civil and Christian growth. Teaching your children moral discernment, ethical discernment: this is good, this is not so good, and this is bad. Teach them to distinguish between these things. But this is learned at home and learned at school: together, both.
I thank you for this meeting and I willingly bless you, your families and all members of your Association. I assure you of a remembrance in my prayer. And you too, please, don't forget to pray for me. Thank you!
Speech of the Holy Father, Pope Francis
addressed to Italian Parents
Dear brothers and sisters, good morning!
I am pleased to welcome all of you, representatives of the AGE, the Italian Association of Parents, which has existed for 50 years. This is a special milestone, a precious opportunity to confirm the motivations for your commitment to family and education: a commitment that is carried out according to the principles of Christian ethics, so that the family is an increasingly recognized subject and protagonist in social life.
Many of your energies are dedicated to being close to and supporting parents in their task of teaching, especially in reference to school, which has always been the main partner of families in the education of children. What you do in this field is really meritorious. In fact, when we talk about an educational alliance between school and family, we are talking about it above all in order to denounce its decline: the educational pact is fading. Families no longer likes appreciate work of teachers - who are often poorly paid - as they once did, and who feel that the presence of parents in schools is annoying intrusiveness, ending up keeping others on the edge or considering them adversaries.
To change this situation, someone must take the first step, looking past the fear of the other and holding out their hands generously. For this reason I invite you to cultivate and always nurture trust in the school and among teachers: without them you risk remaining alone in your educational activity and being less able to face the new educational challenges that come from contemporary culture, from society, from mass media, from new technologies. Like you, teachers are engaged every day in the educating your children. If it is right to complain about the possible limits of their action, it is our duty to esteem them as the most precious allies in the educational enterprise which they bring forward together. Permit me to recount an anecdote. I was ten, and I said something bad to the teacher. The teacher called my mother. The next day my mother came, and the teacher went out to receive her; they talked, then my mother called me, and in front of the teacher she repremanded me and told me: Apologize to the teacher. I did it. Kiss the teacher, my mother told me. And I did it, and then I went back to the classroom, happy, and the story is over. No, it was not over ... The second chapter happened when I came home ... This is called collaboration in the education of a child: between the family and the teachers.
Your responsible and available presence, a sign of love not only for your children but for the good of all that is our schools, will help to overcome many divisions and misunderstandings in this area, and to ensure that families are recognized for their primary role in the education and development of children and young people. In fact, if you parents need teachers, the school needs you and can not achieve its goals without carrying on a constructive dialogue with those who have the primary responsibility for the growth of their pupils. As the Exhortation Amoris laetitia points out, the school does not substitute for parents but is complementary to them. This is a basic principle: any other collaborator in the educational process must act on behalf of the parents, with their consent and, to a certain extent, also on their behalf (AL, 84).
Your relevant experience has certainly taught you to trust in mutual help. We remember the wise African proverb: It takes a village to educate a child. Therefore, in school education, collaboration between the various components of the educational community must never be lacking. Without frequent communication and without mutual trust, community cannot be built and without a community it is not possible to educate.
Helping to eliminate the educational solitude faced by families is also the task of the Church, which I invite you to always feel as being at your side in the mission of educating your children and making the whole of society a family-friendly place, so that each person is welcomed, accompanied, oriented towards true values and being able to give the best of itself for common growth. Thus you have a double strength: the one that comes from being an association, that is people who unite not against someone but for the good of all, and the strength you receive from your bond with the Christian community, where you find inspiration, trust and support.
Dear parents, children are the most precious gift you have received. Know how to care for them with commitment and generosity, leaving them the necessary freedom to grow and mature as people who in turn can one day be able to open themselves to the gift of life. The attention with which, as an association, you watch over the dangers that threaten the lives of children does not stop you from looking confidently to the world, knowing how to choose and indicate to your children the best opportunities for human, civil and Christian growth. Teaching your children moral discernment, ethical discernment: this is good, this is not so good, and this is bad. Teach them to distinguish between these things. But this is learned at home and learned at school: together, both.
I thank you for this meeting and I willingly bless you, your families and all members of your Association. I assure you of a remembrance in my prayer. And you too, please, don't forget to pray for me. Thank you!
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