John was defined by this moment. Later in life, Wooden mentored generations of young men with the same quiet virtue he learned from his dad, once saying, “My father was the most influential man in my life — not by words, but by example.”

Modern secularist and liberalist narratives are deliberately patricidal; thus, it is no surprise that manhood and fatherhood are attacked. The media minimizes or ridicules fathers. TV shows like The Simpsons, Family Guy, and Everybody Loves Raymond depict dads as lazy, incompetent, and clueless — turning them into comic relief rather than strong parental figures.

This cultural trend extends beyond entertainment. In 2019, Gillette’s “The Best Men Can Be” ad portrayed men as bullies, catcallers, and aggressors — framing these behaviors as typical masculinity, villainizing all fathers. The phrase “toxic masculinity” is now often used broadly to include even virtuous male traits. In fact, a 2019 American Psychological Association guideline labeled “traditional masculinity” as “psychologically harmful.”

This erosion of respect for fathers is also reflected in policy. Government language increasingly sidelines fatherhood, replacing it with euphemistic labels like “non-birthing parent” and “birthing parent,” a deliberate attack on the father’s identity.

Fathers suffer bias in family law. The U.S. Census Bureau (2020) reported that 80 percent of custodial parents are mothers, with only 20 percent being fathers. Courts often assume mothers are the default care-givers, even when fathers are fit, present, and willing.

These cultural and structural attacks on fatherhood contribute directly to rising fatherlessness — and the data on the consequences is alarming. According to the National Fatherhood Initiative:

• 90 percent of homeless and runaway children come from fatherless homes.
• 71 percent of high school dropouts and 63 percent of youth suicides come from fatherless homes.
• Children without fathers are four times more likely to live in poverty and twice as likely to suffer from obesity or behavioral disorders.

Dr. Warren Farrell, in The Boy Crisis, wrote: “Dad-deprived boys are more likely to be depressed, suicidal, ADHD, and have academic and behavioral problems.”

Barack Obama, once said: “Children who grow up without a father are five times more likely to live in poverty and commit crime … We know the statistics, but behind them are real lives.”

Conversely, the presence of a loving and involved father is a powerful predictor of a child’s success. Children with engaged fathers are 39 percent more likely to test exceptionally, and more likely to have higher IQs and better language skills. A Journal of Marriage and Family study found that children in two-parent families with present fathers were significantly less likely to abuse drugs, engage in crime, or suffer depression.

The 1994 Swiss study on religious practice found that if a father is a regular churchgoer, 67 percent to 75 percent of his children will remain practicing, but if he is non-practicing, only 2 percent to 3 percent will continue the faith. (Werner Haug & Phillipe Warner, Population Studies, 1994) Fathers have a vital role in the eternal salvation of their children.

The Catholic Church has long taught that fatherhood is a sacred vocation. In Familiaris Consortio, Pope St. John Paul II writes: “Within the family the man is called upon to live his gift and role as husband and father.” (§25) A father’s presence is more than a natural commission — it is a supernatural mission. As the pope also wrote in Letter to Families (1994): “In revealing and in reliving on earth the very fatherhood of God, a man is called upon to ensure the harmonious and united development of all the members of the family.”

Fatherhood, then, is a theological call —not just a biological fact. The father teaches his children who God is, simply by his presence, his strength, and his love.  

Fatherhood is not optional — it is essential. No government document, TV show, or social movement can rewrite the influence of a father in the life of a child. The Church reminds us that every child deserves to see a glimpse of God the Father through his earthly father.

These are some very pragmatic steps that fathers and families ought to take to right the ship and reclaim the dignity of fathers in the home:

1. Fathers must lead the spiritual life of the family in Mass attendance, daily prayer, teaching and studying the faith, reading Scripture, conversations, and devotions.
2. Fathers should reorient their priorities according to God’s vocational design in this order:
   1. God and his spiritual life
   2. His wife
   3. His children
   4. His work
   5. His other relationships and activities
3. Fathers must strive to live out and model virtue themselves and to lovingly and consistently call that out in their children.
4. Fathers should strive to be tender and generous in affection and lovingly firm in discipline.

If we are serious about rebuilding society, we must begin by rebuilding the home — and that starts with reclaiming the dignity and vocation of fathers. Fatherhood must be upheld not as a cultural relic, but as a divine mandate for all men that echoes the very heart of God.

These are some resources that are helpful in reclaiming the narrative of the dignity of the Father in the home.

• catholicparents.online/resources/

• catholicgentleman.com/

• TV Show: “My Catholic Family” on EWTN

• Book: Behold the Man  by Deacon Harold Burke-Sivers

• Book: The Catholic Gentleman by Samuel Guzman

• Book: BeDADitudes by Dr. Greg Popcak