Supporting Fatherhood
Prayer provides the spiritual support that is especially important for fatherhood today.
Fatherhood Today
“Fatherhood is a much diminished cultural role these days,” says Director of Development Ed Zwibel. “It has its own perils and its own hazards, and it’s somewhat neglected as an art, if you will. We have St. Joseph as our model, we have our Lord. [But] it’s something that needs support, it needs to be encouraged. And prayer is one of the chief ways we can do that.”
St. Joseph, Pillar of Families
As Zwibel adds, Our Lady’s Shrine has every reason to foster such an endeavor: “We’re providing people a way to do that here at the Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe because we are a devotional space where intentions and petitions and thanksgiving can all be made at the same place to our Blessed Mother, who entrusted her own care to St. Joseph and his fatherly providence.”
Spiritual Fatherhood
The example of St. Joseph in his “fatherly providence,” selflessly caring for his family, is one good way to show what all fathers are called to, and, indeed, all men, who find their fulfillment in one kind of fatherhood or another, says Executive Director Fr. Paul Check. For instance, Fr. Check, speaking of his spiritual fatherhood as a priest, recalls a formative episode in his vocational journey. As a young lieutenant in the Marine Corps, he was deeply impressed by the words of a senior officer: “Your Marines are your sons and you should treat them that way.”
God’s Design
“Men do have certain qualities and characteristics that are imbued in their nature,” Fr. Check explains, “that are intended to be at the service of women, and of their shared humanity, and of family life.” A man may use his masculine characteristics in a self-centered way, but this choice is an abuse or distortion; God gave him his gifts to give to others: “The characteristics that they enjoy as part of their masculinity are to be at the service of women … [and] also at the service of other men and of children and of society.”
The Fruits of Fatherhood
As with any vocation, the calling to fatherhood is not only a responsibility but a source of true happiness. “Kids are the greatest gift you can ever have,” Zwibel affirms. “They bring you joy that you couldn’t know otherwise.”
This June, Our Lady’s Shrine invites all to help our fathers, by the power of prayer, to live their vocation with love and joy, in imitation of St. Joseph and of Our Lord.
