To be a good and loving father is a great vocation

On Father’s Day, we make a special effort to honor fathers. Our society honors fathers. Our church honors fathers. Our parishes honor fathers. Our civic organizations honor fathers.
On Father’s Day, we recognize the dignity of fatherhood. We recognize the sacredness of fatherhood. We recognize the holiness of fatherhood. We acknowledge the nobleness of fatherhood.
On Father’s Day, we acknowledge that to be a good and loving father is a great vocation. It is a challenging vocation. It is a sacred vocation.
On Father’s Day, we are conscious that we live in an age of runaway fathers. We live in an age of part-time fathers. We live in an age of missing fathers. We live in age of non-supportive fathers.
On Father’s Day, we recognize that more than 20 million children in America are fatherless. They are growing up without fathers. On Father’s Day, we are painfully aware that millions of children are experiencing a void in their lives. This void is caused by the absence of a father. It is caused by the disappearance of a father. It is caused by the abandonment of a father. It is caused by immaturity of a father. It is caused by the self-centeredness of a father.
On Father’s Day, we recognize that to be a good father requires a lot of hard work. It takes a lot of listening. It takes a lot of compassion. It takes a lot of understanding. It takes a lot of forgiving. It takes a lot of pardoning. It takes a lot of time. It takes a lot of energy. It takes a lot of attention.
On Father’s Day, we are keenly aware that a good father faces hard choices in the daily routine of parenting. Fathering is about making choices. It is these choices that shape the family. It is these choices that determine what we become.
On Father’s Day and every day of the year we thank the millions of moms who are forced to fill the void left by a missing father. They are trying to provide the needed love and the needed discipline.
On Father’s day and every day of the year children need a father’s love. Children need a mother’s love. Children need a father’s discipline. Children need a mother’s discipline. Children need a father’s modeling how to be good and how to be moral. Children need a mother’s modeling how to be good and how to be moral.
On Father’s Day and every day of the year children need to hear from both parents that you are the bone of my bone. You are the flesh of my flesh. I will always love you. Nothing you do will make me stop loving you.
Children need the love and discipline of both parents. They need a father’s influence. They need a mother’s influence. Then, they grow up healthy and then they grow up whole.
Randy Pausch, a father and an award winning professor at Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, who died of pancreatic cancer in 2008, inspired fathers and mothers how to parent well when he wrote, “Parents want to teach their children right from wrong; want to teach their children what they think is important; want to teach their children how to deal with the challenges of life, want to teach their children how to deal with adversity; want to teach their children team work, perseverance, sportsmanship, how to tell the truth and how to value hard work.”

Msgr. Thomas J. Morgan is a retired pastor.