Happy Father's Day
Happy Father’s Day to all the fathers out there! I hope that you took the opportunity to be with your children, and children, I hope you took some time to be with your Dad today. May God bless all fathers and encourage them to be a great dad today. Let us pray for all the father-child relationships out there that are in turmoil, struggling or estranged. Let us pray for children who have lost their father. Let us pray for the males who haven’t taken responsibility for their children. Let us pray in thanksgiving for all the great dads of the world. Let us pray that everyone would learn to see God the Father as a loving Daddy.
The image (left) depicts St Joseph; he is our best saintly guide to what True Fatherhood and TrueManhood is all about. After all, the child Jesus learned everything he knew from his earthly father. Joseph was incredibly virtuous, especially possessing the virtues of faith and love. In this picture, we can see the tender and loving touch that he has for his child. He is carrying lilies in this case, instead of his normal carpenter’s (worker’s) tools. He carries lilies to signify his purity; we refer to St Joseph as “The Most Chaste Spouse” of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Take some time to learn more about St Joseph so that you can learn more about what manliness is all about.
I’ve had an absolutely great day (weekend, actually!). On Saturday, we went to Mass, my wife cooked my favorite Italian food, gave me some gifts (Steelers’ tickets!!!) and planned a bike trip to one of our favorite parks in the city. Today was absolutely beautiful with warm sunny blue skies. Everyone should be as lucky as me.
Here’s a little cartoon I found. I hope your dad is like this kid’s dad and I hope your kids see their dad like this kid sees his dad.
Man up!
"Take Time to Be a Dad Today"
Today, I was running at the gym and saw a commercial on ESPN for the National Fatherhood Initiative. I was really impressed, especially to see it on ESPN – a channel dedicated to sports and encouraging men to sit and watch them every hour of the day (boooo). I came home and searched for it, finding the website and some commercial clips. Check out the main National Fatherhood Initiative site. To see the commercials, click Public Service Announcements. (Note: they’ve gotta be great, considering that the voice overs are from Darth Vadar’s voice – James Earl Jones and from Magnum P.I. – Tom Selleck.) They’ve got a great slogan: “Take Time to Be a Dad Today”. Sometimes, that’s all it takes – time.
Here are two of them:
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t5bcsR74oUI]
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MpFPI2gATnw]
Man up!
A Month for Fathers
June 1, 2009 by admin
Filed under Fatherhood
June is here. Father’s Day is coming up and I want to take this month to write frequently about fathers, about what a father should be and other topics that pertain to fatherhood. Today’s topic will cover a sensitive issue of abortion. Recently, we received the regular newsletter from our local Citizen’s For Life group. Inside contained some startling information about a father’s role in the abortion process. Here’s what it says:
FATHERS PLAY KEY ROLE IN ABORTION – from LifeLine, June 2009
A study published in the International ‘Journal of Mental Health & Addiction’ has found that the relationship between women and their partners and the level of support provided by the fathers are important factors in whether or not the woman aborts their baby.
The study sample was drawn from hospitals in 16 cities around the country, which had high numbers of births to unmarried women.
The final sample was of families already having one child. The study looked at the reasons women chose childbirth or abortion for their subsequent pregnancy, and examined the decision-making process in the context of her relationship with the father of the child.
No other research on abortion decision-making has taken the family context into account.
This is an especially important issue for our future consideration, since so many abortions are currently performed on women with other living children, implying the presence of the father of the children.
The results of the study indicated that the most important factors in determing the women’s choice to abort a second pregnancy were those associated with the father’s inability – or unwillingness – to provide assistance in rearing the first child.
It found that mothers who were married to the father were significantly more likely to deliver the baby.
The prevailing opinion that women abort because of poverty and financial considerations ran counter in this study. Mothers, instead, based their decision on whether they would be supported in their role as a mother by a father.
Study results support the idea that it requires both a committed mother and father to assure the choice to deliver and care for a child.
[Excerpts from: LifeNews.com 1-16-09, Author Dr Wanda Franz]
