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responsibility when he stated: “Parents have the right and the fundamental
obligation to raise their children in the faith and values which give dignity to
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human life”.
4.1.5.3.1 Parents as Educators

Magisterium Southist Family Custom
of Pope John Paul II
Familiaris Consortio 8, 37, Special Hymns (Ch. 3.6.1.1)
41 Purification before Marriage (Ch.
3.7.3)
Blessings from the Elders on the Day of
Marriage (Ch. 3.7.4)
Singing the Syriac Hymn BarMaryam
(the Son of Mary) (Ch. 3.7.6)
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)
Elders Bless the Couple and Receive
Hand-outs (Ch. 3.7.9.4)
Blessing at the Death Bed (Ch. 3.8.1)
Special Bread on Maundy Thursday
(Ch. 3.8.4)

The detailed analysis of the above Southist customs reveal the
teachings of Pope John Paul II regarding the duties of parents as educators,
as he articulated in Familiaris Consortio 8, 37, 41. They also imply the
following teachings of the Church:

1. Parents as first teachers of faith and morality: Pope John
Paul II reminded: “Even amid the difficulties of the work of education,
difficulties which are often greater today, parents must trustingly and
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courageously train their children in the essential values of human life”. As
new-born persons in Christ through baptism, every Christian family has the

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BENEDICT XVI, Angelus, Feast of the Holy Family, St. Peter’s Square Vatican, 30
December, 2007. Accessed 10 December, 2013.
<http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/benedict_xvi/angelus/2007/documents/hf_ben-
xvi_ang_20071230_en.html>
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Familiaris Consortio, no. 37.

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