Dear Andrew:

God does not punish us by making our children sick. That is utterly ridiculous. Whoever suggests this is very ignorant.

Illness is what is called a "material evil". It is one of the consequences of Original Sin. God does not particulate in sin, He does not perpetrate material evil. God allows sin and He allows the consequences of Original Sin, which includes sickness, because He loves us so much as to give us Free Will.

Without Free Will we could not love each other, or love Him, as love requires a free choice of consent of the will. The problem is that in order for God to give us the gift of the freedom to choose to love Him and each other, that gift comes with the possibility that we will not choose Him or choose love.

Adam and Eve chose to rebel, they chose to sin. This decision was made from their Free Will. The consequences of that first sin was catastrophic -- it change the whole world. The consequence of that Original Sin includes the concupiscence we inherit that is the tendency for us to personally sin. The consequence includes not only the effects of personal sin on ourselves and on others, but also all the effects from acts of nature. These things cause all the suffering, illness, infirmity, and evil we see and experience in this world.

The reason children have cancer or any illness is because of natural causes present in our biology that is effected by a fallen world or because of the sin of others (such as companies illegally dumping toxic waste that causes cancer, or a parent neglecting or abuse his child).

to that last point, our children can suffer because of their parents' sin. But, this is not God punishing anyone; God has nothing to do with it. Such suffering or illness, is the result of the sin of the parents (e.g., domestic violence, drug/alcohol abuse, physical and/or emotional abuse, neglect, etc.).

God Bless,
Bro. Ignatius Mary