`CHILDREN A JOINT TASK'

BY A SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT
LTHOUGH sex education was essentially a parental responsibility, the family had a right to look beyond itself for support in this task—to religion, to the law and to the schools—it was emphasised by two lecturers at a conference of priests and school heads in the Nottingham diocese.
Both speakers—Mr. B. A. Harrington and Mr. Brookes. lecturers in education and sociology at Notre Dame College of Education, Liverpool— advocated organised programmes to involve parents more directly through schools in the formation of their children.
More than 30 parish priests were among 120 people attend. ing the conference. which was at Loughborough University of Technology.
Tracing the development of moral judgment in the child as a prelude to his ability to distinguish between right and wrong before making his First Confession, Mr. Harrington said: "If Confession is concerned with 'moral becoming,' all parties involved in the child's development, parent, teacher and priest, must take note of the psychological and sociological ingredients which, from the child's point of view. affect not only his action in any situation but also his ability to judge it morally."
`GRAND ISOLATION
Supporting a programme for parental involvement, Mr. Brookes said: "in the years past we in education may have felt that it was up to us, in grand isolation, alone against the world, to correct the attitude that religion is a hindrance to all forms of selfassertion which adolescents often have.
"To influence the attitudes of the young we have to influence the attitude of parents, for no school can take on single-handed the task of preparing the young for life. Is it just an unhappy coincidence that loyalty to the Church has in many areas declined since the last war?
"Could this trend have
evolved because the State has in this period virtually taken over social welfare and because the Church, both priests and laity, have found fewer practical opportunities to show sympathy and understanding with the unfortunate and the oppressed in our society?
"Community service enables the Catholic school, its teachers, parents, pupils and associated priests, to become involved in a practical manner with the social problems of our age. By showing a sympathetic and practical approach the Church may win back this loyalty."