CHILDREN AND ADOLESCENTS NOT ADJUSTED TO THE CONDITIONS 0F LIFE

91 The duty here cannot be considered one that is secondary or one that is taken care of elsewhere. Maladjusted children and adolescents make up no small part of the citizenry. The conditions of society today not infrequently make it difficult for young people to have a harmonious life development and to have a suitable adjustment to society.

Catechesis must provide for these young people the possibility of living a life of faith in accordance with their own state.

This is an eminently evangelical task and a witness of great value, which the Church has carried out in every age.

The education of these young people in the faith has a pastoral value, and indeed one of great importance, also because it offers the possibility of reaching very many families.

Finally, the peculiar difficulty in performing this task and the necessity of imparting to such young people only the essential elements can give catechesis in general the benefit of employing the methods and ways which pedagogical research discovers and makes available for the sake of these young people.