Poslanje roditelja kao vjernika laika u službi kršćanskoga odgoja vlastite djece

The aim of the paper is to illuminate the educational mission of parents and their pastoral activity in the Church and society through Christian upbringing of their own children. This mission has its deep theological and magisterial foundations. Our reflection starts with a depiction of the parents’ mission as lay believers. The Church has launched a general call to actively participate in the Church’s pastoral mission and to be the salt of the earth and the light of the world, and to sanctify the world in their everyday life as workers in the vineyard. Here the family plays an important role in the world. It reveals its identity in the Holy Trinity and is based on the sacramental marriage, and as a domestic Church it lives the experience of love and communion which it then relays to its children. Parents have the inalienable right to raise their children in accordance with their own moral and religious beliefs by promoting the welfare of the child. Integrated education for a mature person includes both Christian and universal human values that intertwine. It is important that the Church, through its pastoral care, offers the marriage and family a full support in their mission of Christian upbringing of their own children, thus supporting their contribution to the development and creation of the future both for the Church and the world