Religious and social institutions work closely with the family unit to inform healthy people and communities in society. Even in the face of challenges, such as declining membership, the Catholic church and educational institutions have remained steadfast in upholding and embracing appropriate moral standings, ethics, and values. Most importantly, while the family unit, religious, and educational institutions have their unique roles in society, they should work in collegiality to ensure healthy communities.
Declining membership is a recent challenge commonly facing the catholic church as a globally renowned religious and educational institution. The increasing disagreements on issues surrounding social and moral conduct are entirely to blame for this problem (Teter, 2021). Similar problems have recently been witnessed in the family system, because of strict parents who want appropriate moral standings to be upheld, most teenagers are gradually unwilling to stay with their parents after graduating from high school. Educational institutions are also witnessing a spike in school dropouts for every strict moral measure implemented, such as the requirement for students to either switch their phones off or abandon them at home to avoid potential distractions in the classroom.
Social cognitive therapy is the most appropriate solution to the problem. Understandably, most youths have a myriad of mental health issues they are involuntarily predisposed to by their search for social identity (Aguirre et al., 2020). Common mental illnesses, such as depression and anxiety, can be triggered by actions as simple as implementing stricter moral measures in educational institutions and family systems, which teenagers might respond to by withdrawing their members from these institutions (Teter, 2021). The catholic church can also inflict similar effects by emphasizing moral teachings, which teenagers inappropriately interpret as an attack on them, targeting and plunging them into depression and anxiety (Scott et al., 2024). In this regard, social cognitive therapy will come in handy by providing an opportunity for social support on how teenagers can achieve appropriate behavior change to avoid moral reinforcements in religious and social intuitions impacting their mental health.
The family unit has a mutual relationship with educational institutions. The appropriate moral standings, ethics, and values children are initially exposed to by their parents and older siblings are what maintain them throughout their education. In fact, emerging research evidence indicates that educational institutions never introduce any new moral or value to a child other than reinforcing what the youngsters acquired from their families (Scott, 2024). Most importantly, this relationship is beneficial for the family unit as it forces the institution to recognize and embrace its obligation in guiding children on appropriate morals and values to increase their viability in educational institutions. Ideally, a child with poor moral and ethical family background is bound to fail academically, irrespective of the educational institution they are enrolled.
The Catholic church, educational institutions, and family system promote the Christian worldview of hope and restoration by integrating strategies for recovering morally-misled teenagers. Particularly, the Catholic church is working on strategies for delivering moral teaching to youths in friendly manner to encourage the reinstatement of youngsters who have withdrawn their membership (Teter, 2021). Similarly, educational institutions are working closely with the family unit to establish counselling programs targeting guiding school-going youths on appropriate behavioral and lifestyle choices, such as refraining from irresponsible sexual activities and substance abuse. The institutional efforts encourage healthy communities.
Overall, the family unit, religious, and social institutions should never allow challenges like the declining membership to distract them from their common objective of necessitating healthy communities. Social cognitive therapy and integration of the Christian worldview of hope and restoration should be prioritized as effective strategies for overcoming any challenge hindering the three societal institutions from realizing the highlighted goal.
Aguirre Velasco, A., Cruz, I. S. S., Billings, J., Jimenez, M., & Rowe, S. (2020). What are the barriers, facilitators and interventions targeting help-seeking behaviors for common mental health problems in adolescents? A systematic review. BMC Psychiatry, 20, 1-22. https://link.springer.com/article/10.1186/s12888-020-02659-0
Scott, W. D., Cervone, D., & Ebiringah, O. U. (2024). The social‐cognitive clinician: On the implications of social cognitive theory for psychotherapy and assessment. International Journal of Psychology, 12(7), 34-45. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/ijop.13125
Teter, M. (2021). the Catholic Church. Key Concepts in the Study of Antisemitism, 65-77. https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-030-51658-1_6