The catechesis of infants and young children

 (⁶³)

The important context of infancy and childhood

(⁶⁴)

177. This age group, traditionally divided into early infancy or pre-school age and childhood, possesses, in the light of faith and reason, the grace of the beginnings of life, from which "valuablepossibilities exist, both for the building up of the Church and for the making of a more humane society".(⁶⁵) As a child of God, in virtue of the gift of Baptism, the child is proclaimed by Christ to be a privileged member of the Kingdom of God.(⁶⁶) For various reasons today, rather more than in the past, the child demands full respect and help in its spiritual and human growth. This is also true in catechesis which must always be made available to Christian children. Those who have given life to children and have enriched them with the gift of Baptism have the duty continually to nourish it.