Dar es Salaam, 09 September, 2023 / 9:00 pm (ACI Africa).
Parents and guardians have the mandate to bring up children, allowing them to discover and pursue the plan of God in their respective lives, Archbishop Jude Thaddaeus Ruwa’ichi of Tanzania’s Dar-es-Salaam Archdiocese has said.
In his speech following the Ordination Mass of Deacon Emmanuel Patrick Mushi, a member of The Congregation of Pious Workers Rural Catechists (Ardorini Missionaries), to the Priesthood, Archbishop Ruwa'ichi faulted parents and guardians who discourage young people from giving their lives to the service of the Lord as Priests and women and men Religious.
"Some parents have negative views. When their children inform them about their wish to be women and men Religious or Priests, they refuse," the Tanzanian Catholic Archbishop said during the Friday, September 8 ordination celebration at St. Theresa of the Child Jesus Buza Parish of Dar-es-Salaam Archdiocese.
He appealed to parents and guardians, “Learn to raise your children to obey what is God's plan for their life, not your plan for their life. Every child belongs to God, and every child is God's gift to his parents. The job of parents is to raise their children as God wills, not as they will.”
The member of the Order of Friars Minor, Capuchin (OFM Cap.) encouraged parents and guardians to bring their children to Church. “Raise them to be Priests”, he emphasized, imploring that families be "a nursery for nurturing holy vocations.”