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4.1.5.3 Transmit Morality, Justice, and Education

Magisterium Southist Family Custom
of Pope John Paul II

Familiaris Consortio 8 Special Hymns (Ch. 3.6.1.1)
Blessing at Death Bed (Ch. 3.8.1)
Most Solemn Blessing by the Mother of
the Bride (Ch. 3.7.9.3)
Song of Blessing (Vazhu Pattu) (Ch.
3.7.9.3.1)
Special Bread on Maundy Thursday
(Ch. 3.8.4)

Pope John Paul II said: “...parents must trustingly and courageously
train their children in the essential values of human life. Children must grow
up with a correct attitude of freedom with regard to material goods, by
adopting a simple and austere lifestyle and being fully convinced that man is
more precious for what he is than for what he has”. 43 Since the Christian
family is the sanctuary of human life and its growth, the primary
responsibility of parents rests in educating their children in the faith and in
human values. The Ceremonies of Blessing at the Death Bed, Most Solemn
Blessing by the Mother of the Bride, Song of Blessing (Vazhu Pattu), and
Special Bread on Maundy Thursday are also moral catechesis, so these
traditions show their conformity to the above words of Pope John Paul II.
Through them, the younger generation is given values like justice, love,
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equality, and sacrifice as pointed out by Pope John Paul II.
From this analysis, it is clear that Knānāya family traditions consider
family as an ideal agent of education and action for social justice. The same
idea is conveyed by the CBCI when it states: “From the very first years of
their life, children in Christian homes should be imbued with the spirit of
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justice without which love is fruitless and impossible”. Also, Pope
Benedict XVI provided further confirmation of the importance of this

43
Familiaris Consortio, no. 37.
44 Cf. Ibid., no. 8.
45
CATHOLIC BISHOPS CONFERENCE OF INDIA, CBCI Communication to the Synod of
Bishops 1980 on its theme “The Role of the Christian Family in the Modern World”,
Ranchi, 17-25 October, 1979, in DONALD H. R. DE SOUZA (ed.), Final Statements of the
General Body Meetings of the Catholic Bishop Conference of India 1966-2002, New Delhi,
2002, p. 69.

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