The World Needs Fathers

Nov. 1, 2023

Strengthening bonds of faith and fraternity can help Catholic men grow in holiness and respond to the ‘crisis of fatherhood’

By Supreme Knight Patrick E. Kelly

Nov. 1, 2023

Supreme Knight Patrick E. Kelly (Photo by Michael Collopy)

In late September, we launched a new video series on marriage and family called Into the Breach: The Mission of the Family. The aim of this five-part series is to help all of us — but particularly husbands and fathers — embrace the Catholic vision of marriage and family life amid the challenges of the modern world.

Why is this a priority for the Knights of Columbus? Quite simply, as the world’s largest organization of Catholic men, we have a duty to help them become the husbands and fathers that God is calling them to be. This is especially urgent now, amid what is rightfully called a “crisis of fatherhood” in our society. For anyone with eyes to see, it’s obvious that the absence of strong fathers is having a profoundly negative impact on our families, our parishes and our society.

Recent polls paint a bleak picture. More than a quarter of millennials in the United States (27%) say they have no close friends, and 22% say they have no friends at all. Younger generations struggle with depression at a rate that’s at least three times higher than it is for older generations. At least nine out of 10 men under age 24 view pornography at least monthly. The rates of substance abuse and overdose are skyrocketing — along with rates of suicide. Young men, in particular, are said to be dying “deaths of despair.”

Faced with this grim reality, our work as husbands and fathers is more urgent than ever. Without good fathers and strong families, our children search for meaning and love in all the wrong places — and they are far more susceptible to the lies of the world and the evil one. What our children need more than anything else are the love and acceptance that come from strong family bonds that are rooted in Christ and the sacraments.

As fathers, it is our job to provide this solid footing. The evidence shows that when a father believes in God and lives out his faith in his daily life, his children are 10 times more likely to be committed Catholics as adults. A living faith inspires. And for our sons and daughters, no one has more power to inspire than a faithful father.

If we want our children to rise above the moral chaos of this world, we need to be fathers who introduce them to the joy of a Christian life.

The great challenge of our time is to give men the tools to be good fathers — the kind of fathers who believe in Christ and raise their children in the faith. If we do that, we’ll ensure a brighter future for our children, while dramatically improving the health of our society — one family at a time. If we want our children to rise above the moral chaos of this world, we need to be fathers who introduce them to the joy of a Christian life.

None of us should try to pursue this noble vision of fatherhood alone. All of us were made with a need for community. Scripture tells us that “a threefold cord is not quickly broken” (Eccl 4:12), while “Iron sharpens iron, and one man sharpens another” (Prv 27:17). We make each other better when we unite as brothers in Christian friendship.

We’re living in a time of endless moral traps and constant impediments to family life. If we hope to avoid those pitfalls and overcome those obstacles, we must do so together. Christ himself formed a band of men to carry out his mission. The Apostles didn’t choose one another, but they certainly needed one another — and so do we.

The Knights of Columbus can be that place of unity and fraternity. Through the Cor initiative, we are redoubling our commitment to helping Catholic men deepen their faith while building bonds of friendship that can sustain them on the journey. None of this is easy, but we weren’t called to a life of ease. Let us ask the intercession of St. Joseph, patron of fathers, and Blessed Michael McGivney to help us embrace our noble vocation, for the sake of our children and grandchildren.

Vivat Jesus!

The World Needs Fathers

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