Today the Church celebrates the Solemnity of St. Joseph, Spouse of Mary. We of course we do not refer to him as Jesus's Father, because that is the first person of the Trinity, God the Father. Despite the fact that he knew he was not the biological father, he raised Jesus as his son. Many countries including Italy, Spain, Portugal, Belgium, Bolivia, Honduras, Croatia, and parts of Switzerland celebrate Father's Day today.
While there may be some who take offense, it is a simple statement of fact that children particularly boys need fathers and women cannot be fathers. This is in no way an indictment of single mothers, but a call on this St. Joseph's Day for all men, especially men of faith to step up in imitation of St. Joseph be a model and father figure to the many boys who are struggling to understand what it means to be a man. They need someone who can not only talk to them but someone who can show them by example. Someone who shares their experience.
In all of the discussion of single mothers, we rarely hear talk about the deadbeat dads. Men who biologically father children and walk away. We want to blame women for having babies our of wedlock as if they did it on their own.
Every man can in some way be a father. Today on this Solemnity of St. Joseph it is a call of all men to ask how they might be able to better imitate Joseph.
