God raised fathers and mothers to the sublime dignity of giving a natural existence to their children. In raising them to this dignity, he obliged them to bring them up to perfection.

The same cause which has produced any given effect, must also carry onward that effect, as far as it can, to perfection. Hence St. Thomas says, in his marvellous book against the Gentiles :

“There are effects of two kinds, distinct from each other. Some of them are no sooner produced than they reach the full perfection of their nature; others, on the contrary, have to reach perfection gradually in the course of time.

“To the class of effects reaching the fall perfection of their nature, belong all lifeless creatures. The cause, or, as it were the mother, after having begotten them, keeps them no longer with maternal affection close to itself; it does neither train nor tenderly cherish them, but immediately abandons them.

“To illustrate. Look at a fountain when it has brought forth the water. The fountain lets the water make its escape at once and flow to the streams.

“Look at the flint when it has brought forth fire; it lets the fire fly off and seize upon the tinder. Now the fountain and flint act in this manner because neither the one nor the other has it in its power to keep its offspring close to itself and promote in any way its perfection.

“But the reverse takes place in all those effects which are endowed with life. These are all born into the world in a state of imperfection, and therefore remain under the care, and, as it were, folded in the arms of their mother for a considerable time in order that she may lovingly cherish and bring them to perfection; for instance, apples, flowers, corn, grapes and all such like productions of nature, are born small in size, deficient in taste, in color and in form and needing therefore the utmost management. See how long apples cling to their bough, flowers to their stem, ears of corn to their stalk, grapes to their branches, and every other fruit adheres to the bosom of its own parent; so that it requires more strength and force to separate the apple from the tree when it is unripe than when it is ripe, as if the child felt a reluctance to be separated from its mother, and the mother a reluctance to abandon its child before the one has given and the other has received the full requisite perfection.

“This same fact is still more clearly seen in the case of animals which also enter the world in a state of imperfection. Of these it is only the ostrich that makes an exception. She unfeelingly deserts her offspring after having brought them to day-light. ‘She leaveth her eggs on the earth’ says Job (xxxix., 14). It is on this account that she serves as an example of foolishness and insensibility. ‘She is hardened against her young ones’ says Holy Scripture, ‘as though they were not hers, because God has deprived her of wisdom and understanding’. None of all the other brute animals is left without tender nursing care.

Some of them receive their education from the mother alone, others receive it both from the father and mother united; for instance, dogs, horses, lambs, calves and other sucking animals are educated by the mother alone. The mother’s milk suffices of itself for the purposes of their nutrition; and therefore the father, feeling his services not to be wanted, generally does not concern himself about them, or even take notice of them.

“We see the contrary in regard ~to birds. There is not a single one of their species that nature has provided with breast and milk. A weight of this kind would greatly hinder their rapid flight through the air. They must, therefore, obtain their living, as it were, by plunder and contrive to support themselves by finding food, as occasion offers, for the maintenance both of themselves, and of their helpless young ones. But how can the weak female bird lay in so large a store ? The father, therefore, also bears a part in catering for the family, as we see in the case of doves, partridges, swallows, sparrows and other like birds, especially of those of a tamer species.

“And not only do all brute animals provide their young with food until they can procure it for themselves, but they also assist them with advice, with directions, with the results of their experience, according to the different modes of living they have to be taught.

” The sparrow-hawk, for instance, instructs its offspring in the chase; the dolphin teaches its progeny how to swim; the lioness hers how to pursue the prey; the hen hers how to scratch for food; the eagle hers how to mount on the wing sublime, ‘enticing her young to fly’ (Deut. xxxii., 11). Nevertheless, as a rule, brute animals never receive any token of acknowledgment from their young; but no sooner is the term necessary for education completed, than the parent no longer recognizes the offspring and the offspring no longer recognizes the parent, but they separate, each one going whithersoever its own interest may invite it.

“Now, if brute animals, in spite of the want of acknowledgment on the part of their young, take so great a care of them as soon as they have brought them into the world; if they perform every duty of sympathy and affection towards them; if they nurse, feed, protect and assist them to the best of their ability, can any father or mother be so blind as not to see that this same law of rendering his or her offspring as perfect as he or she possibly can is a law of nature written by the hand of God on the heart of every parent?

“Nature herself, therefore, or rather God, the author of nature, demands the observance of this same law — yea, she demands it more strictly of mankind than she does of the brute creation. For, on the one hand, man is born in a state of less perfection than the brute animal is; he enters the world, naked, helpless and exposed, whilst animals, at their birth, are in a measure clothed, more or less armed and defended; on the other hand, man is born with a capacity for higher degrees of perfection, which, how ever, they can reach only by slow degrees. This education, therefore, cannot, like that of the brutes, be completed within a short time, but must be prolonged for a very long time, or rather, as St. Thomas observes, for the whole life; it is this fact which renders matrimony indissoluble in its own nature.”

From this teaching of St. Thomas it is evident that parents are bound by the very law of nature to educate their children — a law which is far more strictly binding on them than on any other persons who may share in the grave parental responsibility, as for instance, the masters who ground children in their first lessons; the tutors who form their manners; the pastors who instruct their consciences; the priests who awaken their piety; and even ecclesiastical and civil rulers, who should, in a special manner, provide by legal enactments for the welfare of the young, just as gardeners take the greatest care of the most tender plants.

Besides the natural law binding parents to bring up their children to perfection, there is also the Christian law which imposes upon them the same duty.

By the sacrament of baptism, children are solemnly dedicated to the service of God forever. Hence parents contract another obligation to bring up their children for God. The Lord leaves them for a time in their care. It is his will that as they were the instruments in his hands to call their children into existence, they also should continue to be the instruments of bringing their children to that perfection of soul which they are able to give them, and which leads to eternal happiness. We come into this world under the greatest disadvantages as to eternal salvation. We are ignorant of the great truths of religion that lead us to everlasting happiness; we are strongly bent upon evil, and surrounded by many enemies that endanger our salvation. Like the earth of which we are formed, we can naturally produce nothing but weeds, tares, and noxious fruit. But, as the earth when cultivated yields valuable produce, so, if by proper care of parents, the fear of God is planted in the hearts of children, if they are instructed in the great truths of salvation, if their natural inclinations to evil are subdued and the seeds of Christian virtue are sown in their souls, then it is that they are able to reach by degrees that height of Christian perfection to which God has called them. It is clear, therefore, that the eternal happiness of children as well as of parents depends in a great measure upon the manner in which parents discharge this duty towards their children.

God declared, through the prophet Ezekiel that if any one of his people is lost through the fault of their pastors, he will require the blood of the lost man at their hand. (Chap, iii., 18.) Now the ties of parents to their children are in several respects much stricter than those of pastors to their people. God, therefore, will require more severely from parents the blood of those children who, through their parents’ fault, have been lost.

Our dear Saviour has pronounced a terrible woe upon him who scandalizes little children by inducing them to commit sin. What will not be the woe of parents if, through their fault, their children are lost ! Let parents never forget this great truth.

On the day of judgment they will not be asked if they have left great riches, commodious dwellings, etc., to their children. The great question will be: What has become of the souls of your children? What will be their answer to this question? Christ tells us that he will deny those who deny him. What will he do to those who are worse than infidels? Now, parents who do not take proper care of their children, are worse than infidels; says St. Paul the Apostle, “If any man have not care of his own, and especially of those of his house, he hath denied the faith, and is worse than an infidel.’ (1 Tim. v., 8.)

We are told in the Gospel that the man who received but one talent, was condemned because he had not turned it to account. What would not have been his condemnation, if he had destroyed it, or given it to his master’s enemies? Now the talent bestowed upon parents is not gold or silver, but the immortal souls of their children redeemed by the most sacred blood of Jesus Christ. What then will be the condemnation of those parents who ruin the souls of their children and give them up to the enemy of God — the devil?

Parents, therefore, are under the strictest obligation to take all necessary care of the trust committed to them, in order that one day they may restore it to God in such a condition as he requires.

Dignity, Authority, And Duties of Parents, Ecclesiastical and Civil Powers-Their Enemy (1883) 
~Father Michael Müller