The personal spiritual life of parents and teachers is most single important factor determining their effectiveness in educating children. Admittedly, it is one matter for an educator to teach and quite another for children to learn. Both must do their parts, and even if a parent teaches well, the self-willed child might obstinately refuse to learn. Yet, even in such a case, the spiritual life of the educator gives power to persuade the child to benefit from his or her influence. If the spiritual life of the parent, the principal educator of children, is in a shambles or even dead in mortal sin, the children are spiritual orphans who must learn in spite of—not because of—their parent's influence, much as children whose parents will not or cannot feed them must learn to provide for themselves.