Rediscovering the Power of Fatherhood

by CAPP-USA

What is Fatherhood?

Fathers represent “on earth the very fatherhood of God”. (Pope St. John Paul II, 25)

“Human fatherhood [is] rooted in biology, yet at the same time transcends it” (Pope St. John Paul II, 9) The “world of all living beings, is inscribed in God’s fatherhood, which is its source”. (Pope St. John Paul II, 6)

Fathers are stewards of the faith, tasked with nurturing their children’s spiritual and moral development. “A man does not become a father simply by bringing a child into the world, but by taking up the responsibility to care for that child.” (Pope Francis, 7)

Fathers are called to emulate God’s love, discipline, and care within their families and communities.

Do we Really Need Fathers?

“Our world today needs fathers.” (Pope Francis, 7)

Why? “The memory of God the Father…sheds light on our deepest human identity: where we come from, who we are, and how great is our dignity.” (Pope Benedict XVI)

In fact, “true brotherhood among people presupposes and demands a transcendent Fatherhood.” (Pope Francis, 1)

And we have “no use for tyrants who would domineer others”. We need the vocation of fatherhood as “[e]very true vocation is born of the gift of oneself, which is the fruit of mature sacrifice.” (Pope Francis, 7)

“Within the conjugal and family communion-community, the man is called upon to live his gift and role as husband and father.” (Pope St. John Paul II, 25)

Fatherhood is Under Attack

Pope Benedict XVI, as Cardinal Ratzinger said, “The crisis of fatherhood we are living today is…threatening man in his humanity.”

Why? “The dissolution of fatherhood…is linked to the dissolution of our being sons and daughters.” (March 15, 2000 Speech in the Cathedral of Palermo)

When fatherhood “is experienced only as a biological phenomenon, without its human and spiritual dimension, all statements about God the Father are empty.” (March 15, 2000 Speech in the Cathedral of Palermo)

“As experience teaches, the absence of a father causes psychological and moral imbalance and notable difficulties in family relationships”. (Pope St. John Paul II, 25)

Pope Benedict XVI also recognized that talking about God as father and fatherhood in general is “not always easy” because many “have experienced an excessively authoritarian and inflexible father or one who was indifferent and lacking in affection, or even absent”. (General Audience)

“[T]he oppressive presence of a father…or a wrong superiority of male prerogatives…humiliates women and inhibits the development of healthy family relationships.” (Pope St. John Paul II, 25)

Also, “the absent father figure in the life of little ones and young people causes gaps and wounds that may even be very serious.” (Pope Francis)

But children can also be “orphaned in the family, because when (fathers) are present, they do not behave like fathers.” They “don’t know what their role in the family is or how to raise their children.” (Pope Francis)

The state is also impinging on the family. “[T]he Church openly and strongly defends the rights of the family against the intolerable usurpations of society and the State”. (Pope St. John Paul II, 46) “[T]he State must not absorb the individual or the family”. (Pope Leo XIII, 35)

What Can Be Done?

“As Father, God wishes us to become his children and to live as such in his Son, in communion, in full familiarity with him.” (Pope Francis)

“Above all where social and cultural conditions so easily encourage a father to be less concerned with his family or at any rate less involved in the work of education, efforts must be made to restore socially the conviction that the place and task of the father in and for the family is of unique and irreplaceable importance.” (Pope St. John Paul II, 25)

“Public authority should regard it as a sacred duty to recognize, protect and promote it [the family]…and to favor the prosperity of home life.” (Gaudium et Spes, 52)

The state “must do everything possible to ensure that families have all those aids – economic, social, educational, political and cultural assistance – that they need in order to face all their responsibilities in a human way.” (Pope St. John Paul II, 45)

Let us “go to Joseph”

Joseph shows us how to lead, respect and protect women, teach our children, and be courageous in the face of evil.

“Joseph concretely expressed his fatherhood ‘by making his life a sacrificial service to the mystery of the incarnation and its redemptive purpose.'” (Pope Francis, 1)

Joseph “teaches us that faith in God includes believing that he can work even through our fears, our frailties and our weaknesses” (Pope Francis, 2)