Parents should be a model for children - Bishop

Christie FERNANDO,Chilaw special correspondent

"Parents should be a model for children to emulate, and guard and guide them as Mary and Joseph did, lest they go astray. They should always foster and promote their well-being and upbringing," said Bishop of Chilaw, Valence Mendis.

He was speaking at an evening service held at the grotto erected at the Chilaw round-about, in connection with the 40th anniversary of Our Lady, the Protectress of Chilaw town on August 21. The Bishop said the 32-year old man who massacred at least 93 people in Norway had admitted he was responsible for both the bomb blast in Oslo and the shooting in Utoya Island where he killed 69 people mostly teenagers.

His parents were divorced when he was one year old. His father stopped contact with him at the age of 16.

When children are estranged from their parents, their actions cannot be accounted for, because they do not get the endorsement and approval of their parents. So, the close affiliation and direction of parents were essential to mould a child from infancy.

Parents should constantly lead them and show them the way by good example and right conduct. They should watch them zealously and be their custodians. It is said that Anders Breivik, the Norweigian mass murderer tried hard to get in touch with his father, but failed. When a son cannot seek advice from a father or an elder, he could then act rebelliously and even atrociously.

A panacea for most of the ills of today is rectitude, morality and correct guidance. People go wrong, when their spirituality is at bay. Spiritual values such as love of God and man, should be nurtured, and remain foremost in the lives of every man and woman.

Hatred and disharmony which create havoc in the world should be eschewed. If people love one another and live in peace, there will be freedom from strife and order in the world, the Bishop added.