TO RESUSCITATE OUR YOUTH

Dear Friends and Benefactors,

The flower of a society is its youth, the fragile promise of fruit for
tomorrow. Do we still dare to hope for tomorrow's fruit? We do - by the
virtue of hope that demands that we laugh daringly at pessimistic omens and
defy the sarcastic remarks of cowards. We cannot deny that the cancer of
liberalism has increased the weakness of our young. But if the misfortunes
of the present times hide the deep reality of things, they do not remove
that reality and we must rest upon it to heal a misled youth: the key to the
resurrection of our youth is education.

The first and absolutely necessary remedy is to return authority to its
fundamental role as custodian of order. Without authority, the attempt to
raise a building that will resist the ravages of time becomes impossible.
Too many parents and teachers are saturated by a liberal spirit and have
thus, either by weakness of conviction or of character, lamentably given up
their task. The slogans of the cultural revolution of the Sixties
impregnated a whole generation which, on becoming parents, is still
convinced that "any authority is criminal". And thus, too often we see the
painful spectacle of adults degrading themselves by treating their children
or pupils as equals, even while those children or pupils expect them to be
solid columns on which they can find support to rise. But they will not be
able to do so unless they admire their parents and teachers. Yet how could
that happen when the superior abdicates his authority, leading to the
contempt of his prestige? It becomes only normal, consequently, for the
child to scorn anyone who gives him such an example.

The essential foundation of any education resides in the educator
recognizing himself as depositary of authority and exercising it calmly but
firmly. There is no other foundation. The child will subject himself
naturally to it, and will receive an indelible imprint which will enable him
to recognize his natural limits and will give him the habit of judging
rightly. Only through the practice of obedience can we learn to command,
because this virtue is the expression of the noblest and rarest authority:
that which we exert upon ourselves by freely subjecting our will to
another's.

Thus, under the effects of the simple exercise of authority, the child's
intelligence is properly formed by the discovery that the criteria for a
right judgment are real, external to him, and demand his obedience according
to inviolable laws.

Let us insist upon this: we are indeed talking of the exercise of authority,
not of the appearance of authority. Exercise includes a constant, tireless
vigilance, clear structures and punishment - tactful but strict - of any
deviation, because the child will test our endurance, waiting for any
weariness on our part to break free... This constant vigilance may seem
heavy to some, but if the educator is not a watcher ready to give the alarm
and organize the defense, what is he? If he watches tirelessly, there are no
dangers that cannot be avoided: any attack that loses the element of
surprise loses much of its force.

This essential firmness of authority is unfortunately not enough to
completely cure the two mortal wounds that afflict man's intelligence and
will. We must also launch out into a spiritual conquest.

The intellectual soil of our souls is today a shameless web of lies -
philosophical, historical, economic. Our first task must be to free our
youth from this swamp, teaching them how to recognize the truth and giving
them a sense of the beautiful, which reflects the truth; but also by giving
them a deep horror of what is false and ugly. Let us dare to say more: it is
our duty to teach our children to hate falsity and ugliness with all their
strength. Error is a mortal poison and nobody can drink it with impunity:
only an absolute loathing will keep us away from it. Truth cannot remain
whole in contact with error. This point is of extreme importance, and those
who claim that truth is never stronger and more beautiful than when it has
been touched by error show themselves to be intellectually coarse and
incompetent, for the veracity of a thing depends on the wholeness of all its
causes.

We insist on this, even at the risk of being wearisome: we are persuaded,
more than ever, that the men of today are not sufficiently formed and that
these words of Cardinal Pie summarize our profound deficiency: "The strength
of the wicked comes from the cowardice of the good". Therefore, it is
extremely important to see that our children receive a thorough intellectual
and disciplinary formation, both at the natural and supernatural levels.

This intellectual and disciplinary formation must be based on principles.
But it is not enough to discover principles: they must also be applied in
concrete - otherwise, they will be only words thrown to the wind and not
seeds striking deep roots in good ground. From this arises the importance of
those Catholic youth movements where the adolescent has to "incarnate" in
practice what he has learned only in theory. It is in practical activities
that our youth discover the unique joys of effort and sacrifice, and realize
that man is made for service and not simply for pleasure; is made to rise
above himself and not to abase himself. "Life is made to be overcome, not to
be lived," as René Bazin said. Life is a hard struggle, and we have the duty
to prepare our children for it. To hide from them this reality is criminally
negligent. If we do not do our duty, at the first skirmish they will
surrender their weapons without even having engaged in the battle.

In these youth movements, moreover, the force of example is a powerful and
important stimulant: the tree falls on the side where it leans, as the
proverb says. We tend to forget that a moral inclination follows the moral
examples received. Our constant experience shows the almost mathematical
certainty of this. Therefore, we must always be vigilant of the company that
our children keep, encouraging good companions and prohibiting any that are
of even questionable character. On this point a great severity is needed and
does not admit any exception: the soul is a pearl that dissolves at the
contact with a few drops of vinegar.

This necessary rigor is, in the end, nothing else but the most authentic
sign of a profound love. If we genuinely love our children today, we will
prepare them to be the men of tomorrow. Let us be rigorous in the education
of the child, in the principles that direct him and in the details of their
application. Let us not be afraid of exercising our authority, because it is
the force that allows a child's intellectual training to be founded on solid
principles.

Rigor, that is what will allow us to leave the present dead-end and to avoid
sinking tomorrow into an indescribable chaos.

In Christo sacerdote et Maria,
Fr. Yves le Roux