Divini illius Magistri

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Divini illius magistri is an encyclical of Pope Pius XI. of December 31, 1929 “on the Christian education of the youth ”.

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In a time of increasing material prosperity , many people hoped that their education would perfect their development . In doing so, they often forget that man is not only created in the image of God , but is also designed for him, so that any education that is based solely on human strength necessarily loses sight of man's salvation . True education, however, is only Christian education . Only they guarantee the highest good , namely God , for the soul of the individual and the highest degree of earthly well-being for the human community.

Man was born into two natural communities, into the family and into the state ; through baptism he becomes part of a supernatural community, the church . The family, as an entity created directly by God, takes precedence over civil society ; this precedes the family only in matters of the common good . Finally, the supernatural communion of the church is of the highest order as a perfect and comprehensive society.

In its claim to educate people, the church is not subject to any earthly judgment and also has the right to choose or reject all other means to achieve its ends. Therefore the Church promotes literature , science and the arts . Although the church offers the states the greatest advantages by being ready to adapt to their laws, it retains the inalienable right and duty to watch over all subjects relating to religion and morality in all public or private institutions . This mission extends to all peoples; first of all to the believers, for whom the Church has provided educational establishments , schools and universities for centuries , but then also to the non-believers who achieve their missions .

The family has been given by God the inalienable right and obligation to raise their children and care for them until they are able to use their common sense . State claims should and should be fought off, especially if the children run the risk of moral harm. This primacy of the family over state education was even recently (1925) recognized by the Supreme Court of the United States in accordance with the principle of natural law .

The state can only register claims based on the common good. It must therefore protect the right of families to a Christian upbringing and, if necessary, ensure the right of children to an appropriate upbringing if the parents fail morally or physically. However, compulsory schooling should not be enforced against the will of the parents .

The mission of the church does not collide with the natural demands of the family and the state. The identity of the interests of church and family is just as given as the identity of the interests of church and state. The former is evidenced by the large number of parents who give their children an ecclesiastical upbringing; the latter is due to the fact that in the Roman Catholic Church, in the God of God , the good citizen and the righteous person completely coincide.

The same relationship exists between church and science, since according to the words of the First Vatican Council it is impossible that faith and reason could contradict one another. Rather, they helped one another by science proving belief and belief correcting science and freeing it from errors. Therefore, the church has the ultimate oversight over all education, especially of children.

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Any upbringing that denies original sin and relies solely on the forces of nature and claims the child's autonomy is mistaken. The same applies to the request to subject the special grace of the religious or priesthood to scientific experiment and an assessment based on it.

The co-education of boys and girls is just as dangerous as sex education , which can only take place outside of school and even there with great caution .

The most important upbringing takes place in the Christian family. Small children should not be snatched from the family's lap in order to place them under government supervision. In its educational work, however, the church embraces the parental home and works through the sacraments and ceremonies , through its schools, associations and numerous institutions.

It is precisely the neutral, secular school, which stands in stark contradiction to the original motivation of the school lessons, which arose from family and church, sooner or later become a school that is hostile to religion. Also simultaneous schools in which children of mixed denominations are educated together had to put up with greatest reservations.

In mixed denominational countries, the state should support the Catholic Church in setting up and running its own schools, or at least not prevent them from doing so. Catholic schools would not represent any special interests vis-à-vis the state, but would ensure that adolescents would not be confronted with content that contradicts what they have learned in religious education.

Good teachers must love Christ and the Church, whose favorite children are the little ones, and guard them from the dangers of junk literature , bad movies, and immoral broadcasts through surveillance .

The real goal of Christian education is the training of the perfect true Christian who is at the same time the best possible citizen . The greatest example must be that divine teacher Jesus Christ , especially for young people. The essence of the Church, the perfect educator, lies in the totality of these educational treasures.

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