{"id":42689,"date":"2013-12-05T07:56:14","date_gmt":"2013-12-05T13:56:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.austincnm.com\/?p=42689"},"modified":"2013-12-05T07:56:14","modified_gmt":"2013-12-05T13:56:14","slug":"pope-francis-teaching-parenthood","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/index.php\/2013\/12\/pope-francis-teaching-parenthood\/","title":{"rendered":"Part 5 of 6 – Pope Francis, Teaching, and Parenthood"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Pope<\/a>As with previous Popes, Francis teaches. \u00a0It’s his job so to speak. \u00a0As parents, we also are called to be the first and primary teachers, the “first heralds” of the faith to our children. \u00a0We can learn a great deal about fulfilling that role by watching him do his job. \u00a0In order to help us remember that teaching is more than just delivering content, we developed an acronym for the word TEACH that reflects what we’ve learned from Pope Francis regarding teaching:<\/p>\n

T\u00a0<\/strong>– Tell. \u00a0All teaching should use words. \u00a0St. Paul puts it this way, “faith comes from what is heard” (Romans 10:17). \u00a0We need to take the time to tell our children what we believe. \u00a0We have to deliver the content of the faith. \u00a0For example, from the earliest age, we should tell our children both outside of and during Mass (of course, in a whisper) that the Host that Father is holding up after the consecration is Jesus. \u00a0At three years old, we don’t have to get into the definition of a Sacrament or the biblical proof of Christ’s presence, we just need to tell them simply, “that is Jesus”.<\/p>\n

E\u00a0<\/strong>– Every. \u00a0Every is meant to remind us that we should always be looking for teachable moments. \u00a0In Deuteronomy, Moses says that parents should diligently teach our children when walking or sitting, when you lie down or when you rise (cf. Deuteronomy 6:6 -7). \u00a0In other words, teaching should be done everywhere, every time. \u00a0So, next time you pass a Catholic Church, say a prayer and cross yourself, explaining to the children why. \u00a0Next time, you’re stuck in traffic because of a wreck, say a prayer with your children for the people in the accident and their families. \u00a0Teachable moments abound. \u00a0They’re everywhere. \u00a0Just be looking for them and then use them.<\/p>\n

A\u00a0<\/strong>– Actions. \u00a0As parents, we must strive to act in ways that are consistent with what we’re telling our children we believe. \u00a0In a sense, we’re called to be signs to our children of the truth we possess and profess. \u00a0Pope Francis, from the day of his election, has been telling us to care for the poor and the needy, the less fortunate and the marginalized. \u00a0If you watch, his actions absolutely convey this teaching. \u00a0He washes the feet of incarcerated teen agers in prison. \u00a0He stops to embrace a disabled child and to speak with his parent. \u00a0These small actions give flesh to the concept. \u00a0They make the concept incarnate. \u00a0We, too, should do this for our children. \u00a0If we’re talking about Christ’s presence in the Eucharist, go to adoration with them or simply and piously genuflect before you enter the pew. \u00a0These actions make a difference.<\/p>\n

C\u00a0<\/strong>– Call. \u00a0As parents, we should call our children to live what they believe. \u00a0If there is a child in the neighborhood who gets teased, encourage them to reach out to that child lovingly. \u00a0As they get older, encourage them to look for ways to serve. \u00a0Our daughter volunteers as a “mentor” for a 3rd grader at a local elementary school. \u00a0Call them to help separate gifts and wrap them at the local parish as the parish prepares to deliver presents to the less fortunate. \u00a0Call them. \u00a0Include them from as early an age as is prudent and possible.<\/p>\n

H<\/strong> – Help. \u00a0We must be willing to help our children live out the call. \u00a0For example, our high school daughter is not able to drive yet. \u00a0In order to be a mentor, we have to drive her to the school. \u00a0We have to help her. \u00a0When, as a mentor, her phone was stolen out of her back pack and ultimately deposited in the toilet by a first grade boy while she was talking with her 3rd grader, we had to help her walk through how to handle the first grade boy. \u00a0We helped her by pointing out his less fortunate background and the fear he must have felt when he realized he was caught. \u00a0According to the teacher who witnessed her meeting with the “perpetrator”, our daughter was gentle and forgiving while also offering instruction to the child. \u00a0She handled it gracefully, and she handled it by herself. \u00a0We merely helped.<\/p>\n

Hopefully, by keeping this acronym before us as well as by watching the Holy Father in action, we will continue to embrace our role and responsibility as teachers of our children. \u00a0If you’d like to hear more about this acronym, you can go to the Relevant Radio Archives for Morning Air with Sean Herriot and listen as Trey has a conversation with Sean. \u00a0It occurred during the 6:30 am slot today, December 5, 2013.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As with previous Popes, Francis teaches. \u00a0It’s his job so to speak. \u00a0As parents, we also are called to be the first and primary teachers, the “first heralds” of the faith to our children. \u00a0We can learn a great deal about fulfilling that role by watching him do his job. \u00a0In order to help us… [Read More]<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":157,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"_wpas_customize_per_network":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[671],"tags":[1905,2107,62,50,2890,45,1505,1054],"class_list":{"0":"post-42689","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-column","7":"tag-catholic-parenthood","8":"tag-christian-parenthood","9":"tag-evangelization","10":"tag-faith","11":"tag-family","12":"tag-liturgy","13":"tag-pope-francis","14":"tag-teaching","15":"entry"},"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":41875,"url":"https:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/index.php\/2013\/10\/pope-francis-and-parenthood\/","url_meta":{"origin":42689,"position":0},"title":"5 Things Pope Francis Can Teach Parents About Parenthood – Part 1 of 6","author":"Trey and Stephanie Cashion","date":"October 9, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Pope Francis has taught us quite a bit about parenthood. \u00a0In word and deed and in just the first six months as \"Papa\", his words and his actions have taught us and can teach any parent something about raising children. \u00a0Today, we'd like to share some of what we've learned\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Column"","block_context":{"text":"Column","link":"https:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/index.php\/category\/acnm\/column\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Pope Francis and Holy Spirit","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.austincnm.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/07\/Pope-Francis-and-HS-300x221.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":154956,"url":"https:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/index.php\/2015\/09\/mind-blown-top-quotes-from-pope-francis-visit-to-america\/","url_meta":{"origin":42689,"position":1},"title":"Mind Blown: Top Quotes from Pope Francis’ Visit to America","author":"Britt Echtenkamp","date":"September 28, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Unless you're living under a rock\u00a0that doesn't get Wifi, you've heard about Pope Francis' visit to the United States of America. His visit was historic. It was inspiring. It was filled with surprises and joy and humility. Everything he said could be turned into a semester-long study on theology or\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "World and News"","block_context":{"text":"World and News","link":"https:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/index.php\/category\/acnm\/blog\/news\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1115280,"url":"https:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/index.php\/2018\/09\/on-disagreeing-with-the-pope\/","url_meta":{"origin":42689,"position":2},"title":"On Disagreeing With the Pope","author":"Matt Sullivan","date":"September 10, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"On August 2, in light of an address last October to the Pontifical Council, Pope Francis made a modification to the Catholic Catechism declaring that \u201cthe death penalty is inadmissible because it is an attack on the inviolability and dignity of the person\u201d. As an officially declared teaching of the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Faith"","block_context":{"text":"Faith","link":"https:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/index.php\/category\/acnm\/blog\/faith-blog\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/atxcatholic.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/francis.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/atxcatholic.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/francis.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/atxcatholic.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/francis.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":153108,"url":"https:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/index.php\/2015\/09\/7-lessons-i-have-learned-serving-in-youth-ministry\/","url_meta":{"origin":42689,"position":3},"title":"Lessons I Have Learned Serving in Youth Ministry","author":"Crist\u00f3bal Almanza Herrera","date":"September 23, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Fall is an active time around most of our parishes, and it\u2019s a time full of incredible hope for another year of catechetics. I\u2019ve been blessed with almost a decade of working in youth ministry and witnessing the incredible ways that the Lord can work in the lives of high\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Faith"","block_context":{"text":"Faith","link":"https:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/index.php\/category\/acnm\/blog\/faith-blog\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Lessons I have learned in youth ministry","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.austincnm.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/09\/LessonsLearnedinYouthMinistry-550x275.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.austincnm.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/09\/LessonsLearnedinYouthMinistry-550x275.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.austincnm.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/09\/LessonsLearnedinYouthMinistry-550x275.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":42494,"url":"https:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/index.php\/2013\/11\/part-4-6-pope-francis-parenthood-importance-admission\/","url_meta":{"origin":42689,"position":4},"title":"Part 4 of 6 – Pope Francis, Parenthood, and the Importance of Admission","author":"Trey and Stephanie Cashion","date":"November 21, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"By knowing how to acknowledge their own failings to their children, parents will be better able to guide and correct them. (Cathechism of the Catholic Church, 2223) Early in his pontificate, Pope Francis has given parents yet another tip \u00a0- admitting our failings to our children. \u00a0One of the common\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Column"","block_context":{"text":"Column","link":"https:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/index.php\/category\/acnm\/column\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Pope Francis and Holy Spirit","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.austincnm.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/07\/Pope-Francis-and-HS-300x221.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":42971,"url":"https:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/index.php\/2013\/12\/pope-francis-parenthood-relationship\/","url_meta":{"origin":42689,"position":5},"title":"Pope Francis, Parenthood, and Relationship","author":"Trey and Stephanie Cashion","date":"December 19, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"\u00a0 The end of our parenting should be to build relationships with our children. \u00a0Without a relationship, teaching, questioning, admitting, and giving example - the topics addressed in the previous columns - become less effective. \u00a0This is part of the point the Pope Francis has been trying to make with\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Column"","block_context":{"text":"Column","link":"https:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/index.php\/category\/acnm\/column\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Pope Francis","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.austincnm.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/09\/Pope-Francis-010-300x180.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42689","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/157"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=42689"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42689\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=42689"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=42689"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=42689"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}