Review: The Role of a Christian Father

A review of "The Role of a Christian Father" by Keith Chappell, published by Catholic Truth Society.

Another great booklet produced by CTS on a topic so important in today's society and climate. I first read this shortly after the birth of my first child, when I was really diving deeper into the faith and how to best live it out.

This isn't a book on "how to be a dad," but how to live out your Christian faith as a father and head of the household. As it says right in the Intro, "It is not the purpose of this booklet to tell the reader how to be a father...but perhaps it will lead you to reflect on your role as a father and to become aware of the huge internal resources each father has which are given by the grace of the one Father we all look to."

An important section of this booklet touches upon "work-life" balance. As a police officer, we're told in speeches that we'll miss birthday parties, holidays, life events, etc. While its a very noble sentiment, sacrificing for the sake of others, it really doesn't need to be that way, unless you only have a handfull of officers in your department. There are always single or older guys willing to work for the younger ones with families. Anyway, the importance driven home in that section is that for our own sake and the sake of our families, we must be more than our jobs and salaries. Again, in a profession where sacrifice is a way of life a big complaint we hear from "cop kids" years down the road, which can resonate to other professions too, is that "You weren't there." The defense is often, "But I was making money so you could do XYZ." This way of thinking needs to be put out to pasture. Luckily younger generations value time over money, a concept that will take a while to become the norm, but with every silver haired administrator that retires and is replaced, we get closer. Nothing against the older folks, but some can be sticks in the mud. The important takeaway is to prioritize time beign present.

The section "Father as patriarch" was illuminating because as it points out, the idea of what a patriarch is has been clouded with time. There are great biblical patriarchs which we can draw from for inspiration. The watered down or warped idea of the patriarch has done much damage in recent times. The later larger section "Shaping the father" was also very illuminating. It hilights three important factors in this formation, our own parents, our choices and our children.

The later sections do a great job at framing fatherhood through scripture and the sacraments and how they interact with our role as father. I would not do it justice to rehash each one of these sections since they contain so many great nuggets of guidance.

In closing, if you are an expecting father, or a fairly new father, consider getting this booklet. I bought several to give out to some friends that were in similar or earlier stages of fatherhood and hope it will help guide them well. Society will tell us we need to just figure it out or conform to a myriad of societal stereotypes about fatherhood that can either be detrimental or outright toxic. Being a Christian father has much more substance to it than these hollow idols of fatherhood. Be better, your kids deserve it. Your kids need it. Your wife needs it. You need it. All for the greater glory of God!