This is an outstanding article by Fr. Roger Landry on the crisis of fatherhood in our society and how it impacts our relationship with God the Father. Please take a moment to read and reflect on this article.

Responding to the Crisis of Fatherhood

Today, Catholic Americans mark two celebrations: Holy Trinity Sunday and Father’s Day. The feast of the Holy Trinity is an occasion on which not only Catholics seek to deepen their appreciation of the mystery, and enter into the reality, of the communion of persons who is our Triune God. In particular, it’s a day on which normally special attention is given to God the Father, since on Pentecost we focus specifically on the Holy Spirit and throughout the year we normally concentrate on the life, words and works of Jesus. The Gospel reading the Church gives us this Sunday facilitates this focus on God the Father, because it shows how God the Father “so loved the world that he gave his only Son” (Jn 3:16).


This attention to the fatherhood of the first Person of the Blessed Trinity — especially on Father’s Day — is particularly timely and important. The future Pope Benedict, not one ordinarily prone to hyperbole, once said that this failure to see, appreciate and grasp the link between human paternity and the fatherhood of God is one of the greatest threats to the modern world.

“The crisis of fatherhood we are living today is an element, perhaps the most important, threatening man in his humanity,” Cardinal Ratzinger said in a remarkable March 15, 2000 speech at the Cathedral of Palermo, Sicily. The crisis of fatherhood facing modern society — a true “dissolution of fatherhood” — comes, he continued, from reducing paternity to a merely biological phenomenon, as an act of generation, sometimes even carried out in a laboratory, without its human and spiritual dimensions. That reduction not only leads to the “dissolution of what it means to be a son or a daughter,” but, on a spiritual plane, impedes our relationship to relate to God as he is and revealed himself. God, Cardinal Ratzinger stressed, “willed to manifest and describe himself as Father.” Human fatherhood provides us an analogy to understand the fatherhood of God, but “when human fatherhood has dissolved, all statements about God the Father are empty.” The crisis of fatherhood, therefore, leaves the human person confused about God and himself. That’s why, he argued, the crisis of paternity is perhaps the most important element threatening the human person and society.

Click here to read the rest of the article.

My Father's Day Reflection - Men as Warriors

I came across the following two articles recently. Please take a minute to read them.

Bill Bennett: America has a ‘man problem’

Masculinity Reduction Surgery

The common theme in both is that men in our society have forgotten what it means to be a man. Let's be honest here. A quick view of male role models in our society today easily proves my point. Turn on the TV and what do you see? Men are portrayed as either juvenile oafs, barbarians, drunks, womanizers, selfish, irresponsible, effeminate, or gay. I really have a hard time recalling any recent TV show that portrays a man as a responsible, strong, heterosexual father.

A quick search online will also reveal some eye opening statistics regarding men and fathers. The following excerpt is from WithoutaFather.com:

In the United States alone, 21.2 million children (26% of all children) are growing up in a household with only one custodial parent.¹
Among Black children, 48.5% are growing up with a single custodial parent.²
5 out of every 6 custodial parents are mothers (84%), 1 in 6 are fathers (16%).³

Click on the link above for more statistics on how children from homes without fathers are far more likely to live in poverty as well as fall into problems with the law and substance abuse.

But how do we as a society continue to respond to this? We keep our heads in the sand while politicians and Hollywood continue to tell us that traditional families should be redefined and that fathers aren't really needed anymore.

My question about all of this is simple: When are men going wake up and finally re-embrace the role that God created us for, a warrior? Now, I'm not talking about men acting like violent barbarians or testosterone crazed macho men. My definition of a warrior is a man who lives according to virtue and honor and is not afraid to defend his family and his faith at all costs. A warrior is a Godly-man who willingly sacrifices everything for God, his wife and his children.

We need to look no further than St. Joseph and Jesus Christ for the ultimate examples of this. When we think of St. Joseph, we usually think of those statues and prayers cards depicting him as a humble and gentle foster father to Christ. What he forget is that he worked with his hands as a carpenter. He was probably a rugged man. St. Joseph was a warrior in that he risked his own life and gave up his job and everything he had to protect the Holy Family. How many men today would be willing to sacrifice their careers and comfortable lives today for the good of their families as he did?

Then there is Jesus Christ as an example of true manliness. Too often we hear that Jesus just loved everyone and practiced tolerance and forgiveness. While this is true, it also overshadows that Christ also boldly spoke out against sin and ultimately died for His bride, the Church. Let's not forget that while Christ was the model of compassion and forgiveness, He also was unafraid when He drove out the money changers who defiled the Temple. He also called the Pharisees a "brood of vipers", knowing that this could cost Him his life. Even in the face of His own execution, Christ stood their in front of those persecuted Him and never lost faith in the Father.

This Should Surprise No One

Just in case you need one more reason to get rid of your TV: 

TV Executives Admit in Taped Interviews That Hollywood Pushes a Liberal Agenda

Several years ago a Franciscan priest, Fr. David Engo, was conducting a parish mission at my Church. He said that the best thing a person can do about the trash on TV is to put on a pair of steel-toe boots, kick the TV as hard as possible in the screen and throw it in the garbage.

After reading the above article, I have a serious urge to go shopping for some boots.