Young people who are serious about their faith think a fair amount about the importance of finding their vocation. This seems to imply that everything before your vocation is simply a long waiting process. It’s like waiting for your ticket to be called at the DMV....
Is St. Joseph a Father?
Catholics often think of St. Joseph as the obvious exemplar for fatherhood. However, like many Christian mysteries that we take too easily for granted, I think we often overlook how counterintuitive it is to place St. Joseph as the model of fatherhood. First, the...
The Heroic Fatherhood of Priests
Fr. Paul Schulte, Oblate of Mary Immaculate (©"The Flying Priest Over The Arctic" by Fr. Paul Schulte, Harper & Bros, 1940.) Meet Fr. Paul Schulte, an Oblate of Mary Immaculate and the sort of priest you’d love to have had for your spiritual father. Paul was in...
Spiritual Priesthood for Every Man
Twenty-some years ago, I was flying back from speaking in the Caribbean when God suddenly decided to speak to me. Sometimes, when God invades my being so personally, I cry profusely. This was one of those times. As we flew over the turquoise-blue water of the Bahamas,...
Learning to Imitate God the Father
From The Body Is Good In June, we take time to honor and appreciate fathers in a special way; it is fitting that we take a moment to consider the real significance of fatherhood. For many, the notion of fatherhood has become an increasingly outdated and uncomfortable...
Spiritual Fatherhood
"To maintain a joyful family requires much from both the parents and the children. Each member of the family has to become, in a special way, the servant of the others." –Saint John Paul II It's dinnertime for the family. Kids bring over dishes and help set the table....