Parents should therefore provide for their children and teach them to live a life that is grounded in the Catholic faith and morals, the South African Priest said during the September 23 session of the marriage awareness campaign that was facilitated by Archbishop Zolile Mphambani and Fr. Mthembeni Dlamini.
“It’s also important for married couples to understand what the Catholic Church truly teaches about multiple purposes of marriage,” the member of South Africa’s inter-diocesan tribunal said, adding that the partnership between husband and wife must be characterized by human love and the love of Christ over his church, that is the purpose of marriage.
Making reference to Can. 1055, Fr. Madlala said that lifelong partnerships are naturally ordered to the good of the spouses, the procreation and education of offspring, aspects, he added, that have been raised by Christ the Lord to the dignity of a Sacrament between the baptized.
Couples who practice responsible parenthood are prudently and generously in their marital union and maintain openness to life while taking into consideration the good of prospective children and the limited nature of natural resources, the Catholic Priest further said.
“The two dimensions of conjugal union in the unitive and procreative cannot be artificially separated without damage being done to the deepest truth of the conjugal act itself,” he noted, adding that through their own experience, spouses come to learn the meaning of responsible fatherhood and motherhood.
Fr. Madlala explained that spouses can also learn responsible parenthood from the experience of other couples in similar situations.
“The subject of responsible parenthood has been extensively treated in the documents of the 2nd Vatican council,” the Catholic Priest further said, adding, “In the eyes of God, parents have a great responsibility to their families.”
As co-creators with God, parents have the responsibility to decide on the number of children they can care for as they cooperate with God in the noble task, he further said, making reference to the Catholic Social Teaching.
God commanded men and women to beget children to fill the earth, and also made them responsible for the physical, emotional and spiritual needs of the children, Fr. Madlala said, and cautioned, “Parents are able to meet these responsibilities when the number of children is reasonable and manageable.”
“Parents should not reproduce carelessly having many children yet failing to give those children the care they deserve,'' the Catholic Priest further said during his September 23 virtual address.