Dear Parishioners:
We wish all our Fathers a very Happy Father's Day! We celebrate the great gift of Fatherhood with prayer and thanksgiving this Sunday. Fatherhood is a tremendous gift from God. I know this because of my own father’s love for me and because of our Heavenly Father’s love for me. The love my earthly father showed me throughout his life is merely a fraction of the love that God has for each one of us.
Fatherhood is not just a job or a position within the family. Being a father is a vocation and a calling. We know that the primary role of parents is to get their children to heaven, and fathers are a critical part of that. Children need fathers to guide them in the faith and to teach them about our Father in heaven. When children feel that their father is trustworthy, honest, dependable, merciful, and loving, they are more likely to believe the same about our Heavenly Father.
Today, we celebrate the importance of the vocation of Fatherhood. However, the New York State Assembly recently passed a bill that erases the terms 'mother' and 'father' from state child custody and parental laws. 'Mother' would be replaced with 'gestating parent' while 'father' becomes 'non-gestating parent' in family court and also in domestic and education law.
Words matter, and radical changes to legal language serve only to undermine the importance of these roles in society. Mothers are mothers and fathers are fathers. To suggest otherwise is delusion at best and evil at worst.
Pope Leo has highlighted the vital and irreplaceable role of fathers in his messages to families. He has also described fathers as the foundation of the family unit, adding, "Dear Fathers, on this special day, I want to encourage you in the complete gift of your life for the good of your marriage and family.”
Speaking of Pope Leo, he recently returned from Spain and took time off to rest at Castel Gandolfo, about 15 miles south of Rome in the Alban Hills. It is the Papal Summer Residence, and Pope Leo typically stays there in July until the Feast of the Assumption. He offers a good witness of the need to rest, recreate, and renew during the summer.
Summer also means more time for reading. The Holy Father recommends reading “The Practice of the Presence of God.” Written by the 17th-century French Carmelite friar Brother Lawrence, it is a slim volume that runs just 131 pages. Ascension Press has recently reprinted it. It includes a foreword by Pope Leo, and each chapter is also accompanied by commentary from Fr. Gregory Pine, a Dominican friar, and theology professor, and his sister, Rebecca Dougherty, a theologian.
In addition to my spiritual reading with Brother Lawrence’s book. I hope to read a new book entitled Converts: From Oscar Wilde to Muriel Spark, Why So Many Became Catholic in the 20th Century by Melanie McDonagh. It examines the lives of notable converts, such as Oscar Wilde, G. K. Chesterton, and Graham Greene, from the perspective of their faith.
The semiquincentennial anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence is this July 4, so I am reading a new book, National Treasure: How the Declaration of Independence Made America by Michael Auslin.
Finally, I plan to read A Murder in Springtime, the latest installment in Martin Walker's Bruno, Chief of Police series. It just came out last week on Amazon. The Bruno Detective series always makes for a great beach read, preferably with a cigar. What are you reading this summer?
The newly paved St. Patrick Cemetery road.
This summer, several youths from OLM will attend the Steubenville Youth Conference in Ohio. Transportation costs have risen sharply due to gasoline prices. We are seeking sponsors to provide scholarships for this life-changing, faith-filled opportunity. Please contact Fr. Brodeur if you can help our youth financially.
As you may have seen, St. Patrick Cemetery has a beautiful, newly paved road. It was certainly needed and helps keep that sacred ground beautiful. The Grateful for God’s Providence Capital Campaign funded the $40,000 cost. My thanks to the Lynch Family of the J. H. Lynch and Sons Construction Company for a job well done!
Be well. Do good. God bless. Happy Father’s Day! May God bless all Fathers!