Dadness: The Call, The Craft, The Cross

Forget the dads you see on Television: selfish, workaholic, lazy, absent, bullying, pushover dads. They do not deserve the name. Real dadness is bigger than that. It’s as big as Our Father who art in Heaven.
The call to be a Catholic dad is a call to suffer—as a husband, as a father, as a Catholic. As Christ is the head of his Church, the Catholic dad is the head of his household, and his is a head crowned with thorns. This is not a chance to blow your own bugle. This is a chance to lay down your life for your family. Fatherhood is frightening. But it’s also fabulous, and that’s why we need to showcase Catholic fatherhood to a world that’s forgotten what a dad is for.
The Call
God invented fatherhood for a purpose. He has affirmed this purpose time and again, from Adam to Noah to Abraham to David to St. Joseph to our Father in Heaven. The Catholic dad is called to do four things, in particular: to worship God, to proclaim the Gospel, to teach and maintain the Faith, and to administer means of grace. In other words, a dad’s job is liturgical, evangelical, doctrinal, and pastoral. Whew! That’s a mouthful. Let’s take em’ one at a time.
Liturgical. Dads, lead your family in worship. Your children were created to enjoy the most adorable Trinity through worship. And God designed the family as a special place for us to worship him. Liturgy comes from an old word that means “public work,” and by it Catholics usually mean the form to which worship is conducted. Do not think that the liturgy of the Television, or the liturgy of late nights at the office, or the liturgy of endless extracurricular activities, is not forming your children’s souls. People are always