Fathers and Sons (and daughters)

ROLE OF DADS

“It is the religious practice of the father of the family that, above all, determines the future attendance at or absence from church of the children.”

The study reports:

1. If both father and mother attend regularly, 33 percent of their children will end up as regular churchgoers, and 41 percent will end up attending irregularly. Only a quarter of their children will end up not practicing at all.

2. If the father is irregular and mother regular, only 3 percent of the children will subsequently become regulars themselves, while a further 59 percent will become irregulars. Thirty-eight percent will be lost.

3. If the father is non-practicing and mother regular, only 2 percent of children will become regular worshippers, and 37 percent will attend irregularly. Over 60 percent of their children will be lost completely to the church!

https://www.romancatholicman.com/dad-takes-faith-god-seriously-will-children/

WHY PRACTICING FAITH MATTERS

Practicing religion has been linked to LOWER rates of depression, suicide, lonleiness, poverty, incarceration, substance abuse, out of wedlock births, and divorce. It has also been linked to higher levels of "Happiness," stronger marriages, more education, and many other benefits. 

Getting your kids to practice the faith is linked to much better outccomes than tutors, trainers or coaches. And the biggest influence is what dad does.

Good Men Do Not Arrive by Accident

[He] it is shall reconcile heart of father to son, heart of son to father; else the whole of earth should be forfeit to my vengeance

"It is no secret that the Church has struggled for decades with bringing young men into the mature life of faith.  Alongside this problem there has been a staggering exodus of men from the Church.  These two problems are the same problem.  Boys can only learn to be men from men, and men are fully men when they live the fatherly mission that is uniquely theirs. The strengthening of men will be the strengthening of boys, and the mentoring and fathering of boys will be the strengthening of men.  And, just as we understand the problems unavoidably related, so too we must understand the solution."
From Fraternus

"The masculine soul is sometimes tempted by violence because man experiences his virility as a certain power. He is called to develop moral fortitude, that virtue that will let him expend his energy in the service of the good. Then he discovers that he is strong so as to be the servant of the good for others, especially the good for his family and for society."

Cardinal Robert Sarah