Post-COVID-19: Cleric Urges Parents, Society To Emphasise Morality In Child Upbringing

LAGOS - Rev. Fr Godfrey Udeh, Parish Priest, Saints Peter and Paul Catholic Church, Tedi, Ojo, Lagos, has appealed to parents and society to concentrate on moral teachings in the upbringing of children for a better society.

Udeh made the appeal during an orientation session for parents ahead of their children baptism and induction into the church in Lagos.

The cleric, who blamed parents and the society for the global health crisis of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, said that childhood moral teachings was the anchor of just and violent free world, where love for one another reigns supreme above every other interest.

The parish priest said that the failure of parents and society in teaching children the Word of God and moral values gave rise to the collapse of family and societal values.

He said that it had resulted in a man-made weapon of mass destruction such as coronavirus pandemic that had continued to kill peoples and the global economy since the third quarter of 2019.

“If the parents and the society have taken sound child moral upbringing above every other thing the world will not have experience this imminent global human extermination ravaging the universe.

“Every perpetrator of this crime against humanity is a product of family and society, therefore both have failed in their obligations to God in probing the character of the child, who are today’s adults and leaders of the world where love for one another has become elusive.

“Because of materialism, parents have today delegated their parental duties to caregivers thereby alienating themselves from their toddler child, who gets acquainted with strangers he spends much time with.

“Within the ages of one to five, the child bonds with the person close to him or her, this is the formative period of the child’s character and parents are to be with them to enable good bonding to make a better person,” he said.

According to him, the high rate of rape and gender-based violence should be condemned by society and stiffer punishment meted to offenders to help in correcting the abnormal.

Ude, who regretted the many losses of human lives to the subsisting pandemic, called on religious bodies to reemphasise moral teachings to revamp family and societal values to make the post-COVID-19 world a better place.

He said that those causing violence in the society belonged to major religious bodies and not pagans, adding that none of the religious bodies preaches violence, therefore, leaders should use the provisions of the religious norms to groom people for a better society.

Besides, advised parents to heed to the teachings of the Holy Books in raising up children, warning that further neglect to the gospel would spell grievous doom to the entire human race.

©The Sun