Good Fathers Figure
by Joseph Pronechen in News on Friday, July 03, 2009 6:00 AM
There’s no avoiding it: Dads take a beating in the popular culture. When they’re not portrayed as hopelessly inept, fathers are made out to be crude, ignorant or otherwise loathsome (often in some new, shocking, “envelope-pushing” way).
The Knights of Columbus are out to fight back against the lies with their new, Web-based initiative called Fathers for Good.
“The goal of Fathers for Good is really to restore a positive image of the father and a confidence in the father,” explains the website’s editor, Brian Caulfield. “He does have this vocation, the calling by God to be a father to his children.”
Of course, many resources already exist to help Christian fathers fulfill their duties. Fathers for Good’s animating characteristic is promoting the sacraments of the Catholic Church, along with the classic virtues, in ways family men can relate to. And it’s open to all, meaning non-Knights are most welcome.
According to Caulfield, the idea for Fathers for Good came directly from the Knights of Columbus’ supreme knight, Carl Anderson. Why mainly on a website? Not only is the Internet a major source of information and ideas for many men today, but “we’re responding to the Vatican’s call for presence on the Web,” says Caulfield.
Among the website’s most popular features are the podcasts focusing on big issues fathers face. One of these has former New York Giants Super Bowl champ Chris Godfrey offering tips for fathers reticent about having “the talk” with their kids. His basic message: Be confident. God gave you these children, and, if you’ll familiarize yourself with the Church’s teachings, he will give you the words to convey the theology of the body in a way your kids will both understand and appreciate.
Reality Resonates
There are also popular podcasts from the likes of Helen Alvare, Janet Smith, Mike Aquilina and Dr. Ray Guarendi.
There are recorded videos, too. Three new ones especially connected to Father’s Day bring perspectives and advice on fatherhood from EWTN news director Raymond Arroyo, theologian Scott Hahn and legal scholar Robert George.
In Portland, Ore., David Renshaw looks forward to Fathers for Good’s words of wisdom and finds the testimonies and guidance “a real godsend.”
“If we hear from people who are going through the same things we are, or are in the same place we are, it resonates,” says Renshaw, a father of three.
Articles are plentiful too, beginning with the monthly feature. “These articles aren’t highfalutin but hit at the heart of the family, those day-to-day struggles we go through,” says Renshaw. “They make us perk up our ears and listen.”
Good Gift
Interactive features are another draw on the website. These provide a supportive online community, a father’s blog and a question-and-answer section that matches advice-seeking fathers with answering experts.
Everything works together with Fathers for Good in what Father Luke Sweeney, vocations director for the Archdiocese of New York, sees as a crucial time to re-establish the true meaning of fatherhood — and, with it, the essence of manhood.
Father Sweeney sees an additional major impact the site can have. “One of the reasons vocations have suffered,” he says, “is that the ideal of fatherhood and manhood in the Church, in society, and in our world has not been properly understood.”
He says the resulting “father wounds” evident in some seminary candidates need to be healed if the men are to become effective priests.
“When I see the website,” says Father Sweeney, “I can’t help but think what a great benefit this is for a parish priest.”
And what a wonderful post-Father’s Day gift it is — 365 days a year.
—Staff writer Joseph Pronechen is based in Trumbull, Connecticut.
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