Pope John Paul II greets children who received holy communion in the Holy Family Church in Zakopane, Poland on June 7, 1997. (AP Photo / Massimo Sambucetti)

In 1994 the UN proclaimed 1994 the International Year of the Family. Pope John Paul II issued a Letter to Families in response. Father to Father begins reviewing this letter this week.

As summer winds down, most of us can reflect and express gratitude to the Lord for the extra time we have spent with our families, on vacation and around the home. All of us recognize the importance of family. I am fairly certain all of us wish civil institutions would do more to recognize its importance.[...]

Father to Father is a weekly feature, appearing each Wednesday, examining what the church, through the office of the Pope, is saying to us fathers. You can subscribe to the newsfeed here.

Pope John Paul I was pope for a very short period of time, but in that time he had something specific to say about the importance of family, particularly across generations.

Father to Father is a weekly feature, appearing each Wednesday, examining what the church, through the office of the Pope, is saying to us fathers. You can subscribe to the newsfeed here.

Recently I read a blog post by Eric Sammons about suffering and self-denial and teaching our kids the same. In the post, Eric writes Countless times I have seen parents employ what I call the “switcheroo” method of parenting; by this I mean that if they want to deny their child something he or she [...]

As many of you know, St. Josemaria Escriva – the founder of Opus Dei – is often invoked for assistance in finding a job or in doing/completing a job well. This was, in part, because he worked tirelessly “to spread the message that work and the circumstances of everyday life are occasions for growing closer [...]

Father to Father is a weekly feature, appearing each Wednesday, examining what the Church, through the office of the Pope, is saying to us fathers. You can subscribe to the newsfeed here. ========== In less than two weeks, most of us will be sending our children back to school or increasing and expanding the lessons [...]

Check out this great video from a couple in Ireland with five children. In it, they discuss seeing each of your children as a treasure, keeping the marriage young, and being a good father. I particularly enjoyed the bit about spending time with your children. “Marriage is our Path to Heaven”

Following our first foray into the writings of Pope Leo XIII, we turn again this week to the venerable and long-serving pontiff to provide us with more insight into some of the duties and responsiblities of fatherhood. Just after Christmas in 1878, Pope Leo released Quod Apostolici Muneris. This encyclical deals with socialism and its [...]

Last week, we looked at the brief but powerful words addressed to us by St. Peter – Pope #1. Today, we examine some words of fatherly wisdom from Pope Leo XIII. He was the oldest reigning pope, dying at 93 years old. His pontificate lasted more than 25 years and is the third longest… which [...]

As noted in the first post, I will be delving deep into the patrimony of the Church to unearth the various tidbits of wisdom that the Popes through the ages have imparted to us fathers on the front lines. When I first proposed this topic, I thought I would either start at the beginning and [...]

A few days ago, Eric Sammons at The Divine Life wrote a post about the parish “shop and hop”. (Read it all here: http://ericsammons.com/blog/2010/07/28/the-parish-shop-and-hop/) I was struck by this: When I first became Catholic, I was in the group that felt that you should attend your territorial parish unless the pastor there was preaching outright [...]