FAT H E R S F O R G O O D
Keeping Your Kids Catholic Catholic fathers must take seriously their role in fostering lifelong faith in their children
EDITOR’S NOTE: This article is adapted from an interview with the author that appeared on Fathers for Good (fathersforgood.org), the Knights of Columbus fatherhood website, in February 2010.
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hen considering what Catholic parents can and should do to foster a lively faith in the hearts of their children, I often use an analogy of growing tomatoes. If left to grow naturally, the tomato vine will simply grow along the ground and produce inferior, often diseased, tomatoes. If, however, the plant is fastened to a stake and forced to grow upright, it produces healthy fruit. True, there are still dangers that need to be counteracted, but they can do far less damage to the tomato vine that has been tied firmly to the stake. As Scripture says, “Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it” (Prov 22:6). Children need firm guidance and good example from their youngest years so they will grow straight and “upright” in their knowledge of and love for God. LEAD BY EXAMPLE A father must make a diligent and purposeful effort to impart a basic knowledge of the Catholic faith and to
teach his children how to really live out that faith. You don’t need a theology degree to do this. Instead, you need a conscious awareness of God’s will for you as a father, an abiding love for him, and at least a basic knowledge of your Catholic beliefs coupled with a desire to learn more (the Catechism of the Catholic Church is a helpful tool for accomplishing this task). First, you have to let your children know that the Catholic faith involves more than an hour a week on Sunday. While Sunday Mass should be the highlight and absolute obligation of the week, a commitment to the faith does not end there. Rather, a Catholic home is called to be a “domestic church,” as John Paul II and others have noted. This does not mean there should be Gregorian chant and incense at the dinner table, but it does mean that faith should inform the daily routine and decisions in the home. I always strongly encourage praying the family rosary. If you, the father of the family, trustingly invoke the powerful intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary each day (she knows quite a bit about parenting, after all), you can rest assured that she will be there to help you, no matter how bumpy the road of life becomes. Other acts
THE KNIGHTS OF COLUMBUS SEEKS TO GUIDE MEN ON THE JOURNEY TO BECOMING TRUE FATHERS FOR GOOD. 12 ♦ C O L U M B I A ♦
JUNE 2010
PHOTO: Thinkstock
by Patrick Madrid