Strong families make for happy people. I always subscribed to this sentiment, even though, or maybe because, my own parents had divorced. But ask me how to strengthen a “troubled” or dysfunctional family and I would have been at a loss. I was absolutely sure, however, of what wouldn’t work: parenting classes. They were unacceptable interventions into hearth and home, the tools of statist ideologues and social engineers.
They were not for ordinary parents – and, in particular, they were not for Catholic parents. We can rely on our tight-knit families, values-laden upbringing and schools to raise model children. We know what to do when little Mary bops her younger brother on the head to get at his ice cream. We know what to say when little Benedict is caught cheating in his exam. Don’t we?
