Litany of St. Joseph: A Role Model for Fathers Today I

1. The Family as a Fundamental Building Block of Society: Vision of the Church

The Catholic Church has long taught that the family is the fundamental cell of society. It is within the family that children first encounter love, responsibility, sacrifice, and the knowledge of God. As Saint John Paul II affirmed, “The future of humanity passes by way of the family” (Familiaris Consortio, 86). Families are the first schools of virtue and the original communities of faith. Without strong families, the broader structures of society become fragile, susceptible to disorder, and eventually to disintegration. Fathers and mothers serve as the primary educators and protectors of their children. It is through their example and care that the next generation learns how to live virtuously and work for the common good. This ecclesial vision sees the health of society tied intimately to the health of family life.

Witnessed destruction of fatherhood often portrayed in sitcoms (cultural education)

Incompetent, buffoon, predator type of husband.

30-40s years

Ratzinger Crisis of Fatherhood

• In a 2000 address in Palermo, Ratzinger stated: “Human fatherhood gives us an anticipation of who God is. But when this fatherhood does not exist, when it is experienced only as a biological phenomenon, without its human and spiritual dimension, all statements about God the Father are empty. The crisis of fatherhood we are living today is an element, perhaps the most important, threatening man in his humanity.”


• He argued that human fatherhood reflects God’s fatherhood, and its dissolution obscures our ability to relate to God, damaging the “basic structure of human existence.”


• In his book The God of Jesus Christ(1973 homily), he wrote: “Where human fatherhood disappears, it is no longer possible to speak and think about God. It is not God who is dead; what is dead (at least to a large extent) is the precondition in man that makes it possible for God to live in the world.”


• He saw fatherlessness as linked to the “dissolution of our being sons and daughters,” undermining family and identity.

Advent Sermon (Second Sermon, December 10, 2021): “The Holy Spirit’s Role in Our Prayer as Children of God”

• In this sermon, Raniero Cantalamessa reflects on God’s fatherhood, emphasizing the Holy Spirit’s role in helping believers recognize God as “Abbà, Father.” He discusses how the Spirit transforms the perception of God from a distant figure to an intimate, loving Father, addressing the “terrible distortion” of viewing God as detached. This sermon connects to the theme of rediscovering God’s fatherhood, which could relate to the idea of “loss” if one feels distant from God.


• Relevance: While not titled “Loss of God the Father,” it addresses the spiritual danger of losing a sense of God’s intimate fatherhood and how to reclaim it through prayer and the Holy Spirit.

Being aware of cultural deficits, makes proactive action possible. Know better do better.

Culturally, Roseann Barr Kramer, ship is off kilter, need to right the ship.

LA rioting, sign of absence of holy good Fatherhood in these peoples lives

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