“Fostering faith in our children” is the title of the pastoral letter of the Irish bishops, published yesterday by Martin Drennan, Bishop of Galway and chairman of the Committee for Catechesis of the Irish Bishops’ Conference. “The future of the Church depends on today’s children, and the future of today’s children depends on today’s adults”, said the bishop on presenting the pastoral letter in a school in Dublin. The choice of the venue was not casual, pointed out Drennan, because “one of the central points of the document concerns the fact that the faith of children is best fostered when home, school and parish cooperate together”. So there is a need “to reinforce the links between parents, grandparents, teachers, chaplains, priests, religious, pastoral workers, and members of the community”: all are jointly responsible for the message aimed at “addressing words of encouragement” at children. Drennan then underlined the central role of the family, “within which the witness of love represents an indispensable foundation for the faith of children, because it is from the love expressed by parents to them that children learn the message of Christ for the first time”. “Very important in this regard says the pastoral letter is family prayer, in which even the youngest child can take part”. In the “hectic pace of our lives, many seek moments of silence and opportunities for developing their relation with God”, say the bishops, indicating as valid responses “attendance at mass, Christian meditation, novenas and pilgrimages”. Pilgrimages, in particular, “are increasing in the country”, and in the view of the bishops form one of the “many signs of hope and growth of the Irish Church today”.
