Happy Fathers day to all fathers especially my father, husband, brother,son, and son-in-law.  And Happy Father’s day to all Priests, who are spiritual father’s , especially Msgr’s. Bognanno and Beeson.

Our culture does not value fatherhood.  It underestimates the crucial role that father’s play in their children’s lives.

When Deacon husband is asked for advice on being a good father, his answer is take care of your marriage first; love your wife.

I will never forget the sadness that I felt for an eighth grade girl who told Deacon and me, in religion class, that her father told her that it was impossible for men to be faithful.

Impossible.  Gee I know a lot of men who have done the impossible, husband, father, brother, son, son-in law, friends etc.

Here are excerpts from Archbishop (of Denver)  Chaputs’ 1999 address, The Importance Of Fathers In Our Search for God:

There’s an old saying that the greatest gift a father can give his children is to love their mother.

That’s the importance of a father: the witness he gives through his love. I have many memories of my own father. But above all, I remember and cherish his love for my mother. I always believed in it, because it was always there. My father taught me that fidelity was not just possible, but a source of joy and freedom, satisfaction and friendship. I might have learned that without him, but not in the same way, and not with the same intimacy. He also taught me how to choose to love. Fathers choose to love and choose to remain with their children in a way mothers do not, because mother-love is frankly just more intense, more natural, more organic. Nothing in fatherhood is as automatic, or as biologically directed, as motherhood. Real father-love is entirely a free-will act of self-sacrifice. Lived well, it gives us a window on God’s own fatherhood.

And:

Preparing these remarks, I noticed that I’d be speaking with you on the Feast of St. Joseph the Worker. This is one of my favorite feast days, because Joseph was a man’s man — a man accustomed to labor, sweat and the burden of supporting a family. Scripture says, “Unless the Lord builds the house, those who build it labor in vain” (Ps 127:1). It’s always struck me that God the Father put His only Son into the care of a carpenter, a builder. And Joseph, in his faith and obedience, allowed God to use his own human talents to build the Living Tabernacle. Joseph protected and taught, formed and provided for, the Redeemer of the world.

Joseph was a living witness of the meaning of manliness; the nobility of human labor; and the dignity of married love. Surely, Jesus must have admired and loved him with all his heart. So if we hope to restore the identity of fathers in our families and in our culture, if we hope to rebuild the integrity of family life in our communities . . . we should look first to Joseph.

We have no better model.

Prayer to Saint Joseph for Fathers

Saint Joseph, guardian of Jesus and chaste husband of Mary, you passed your life in loving fulfillment of duty. You supported the holy family of Nazareth with the work of your hands. Kindly protect those who trustingly come to you. You know their aspirations, their hardships, their hopes. They look to you because they know you will understand and protect them. You too knew trial, labor and weariness. But amid the worries of material life, your soul was full of deep peace and sang out in true joy through intimacy with God’s Son entrusted to you and with Mary, his tender Mother. Assure those you protect that they do not labor alone. Teach them to find Jesus near them and to watch over Him faithfully as you have done. Amen.
Pope John XXIII

God our Father, in your wisdom and love you made all things.
Bless these men, that they may be strengthened as Christian fathers.
Let the example of their faith and love shine forth.
Grant that we, their sons and daughters, may honor them always with a spirit of profound respect.
Grant this through Christ our Lord.

Amen.

— from the Book of Blessings.