Page 32 - LOTN Issue 45

FAITH AND CULTURE

As Bishop Hugh pointed out in his talk: "A skewed weak a job, order his life and not waste it? One American Pastor
masculinity skews femininity." had a term for a lot of the men in his church – boys who
can shave. As Sam Baker says: "We aren’t suffering a crisis of
Some statistics ... masculinity so much as a crisis of boyhood, where more and
To give you a glimpse of some of the issues facing men more men in our society are crowding around the doorway
let's look at some statistics from the UK and US to illustrate of mature manhood unable to step over the threshold."
the problems. These are by no means exhaustive! Immature men become a problem for women in the
Three quarters of all suicides in the UK were men. In Church, especially if, as is quite common, they take their faith
Scotland there were 784 deaths due to suicide, 581 of them less seriously than their girlfriend or wife. This is an issue for
were men (2019). many young faith-filled women in the Church - the lack of
Fifty five percent of all homeless applications in Scotland men with the same sort of faith as them. I know personally
from March 2019 to March 2020 of many examples of this and all it does
were from men. is cause pain. This also ultimately causes
The Scottish Government tried issues for the Church. Sam Baker writes
to quantify the overlap between in his online essay "Is there such thing as
homelessness, substance abuse "...we men have the inconceivably an authentic Catholic man?"
and offending – referred to as terrifying and breath-taking task "… research which shows that, if the
severe and multiple disadvantages. of transmitting the reality of God’s father is the primary church-goer and
What they found was that if you paternity to others – specifically to living example of faith, his children have
are white, under 40, male and with the children in our care – so that they a greater likelihood of practising the faith
some other additional factors like come to know who God the Father is! into adulthood than even if both father
disability and singleness, you were Through us! God has let us loose with and mother regularly practise their faith.
likely to come into this category. His paternity! We are the primary Where just the mother attends church,
There is also a large amount of manner by which others upon this there is the least likelihood that the
well documented research on the earth come to know God the Father." children will continue practising their
effects of absent fathers in the faith into adulthood."
lives of their children. Research Please take a look at this article from
from the Children’s Bureau, an The Christian Post from 2019 by John
established US charity revealed Stonestreet and G. Shane Morris,
that: about Dads taking children to church:
"Father engagement reduces https://www.christianpost.com/
the frequency of behavioural problems in boys while also voices/dads-take-your-kids-church.html
decreasing delinquency and economic disadvantage in What is clear from the research is that if dad goes to
low-income families. church, the kids are more likely to go and stay in the church
Fathers occupy a critical role in child development. Father as they get older.
absence hinders development from early infancy through
childhood and into adulthood. The psychological harm What a man needs
of father absence experienced during childhood persists So what do men need? I could say a lot but I will just
throughout the life course." say two things; peer role models and the knowledge that
God truly loves them. Role models are deeply important
Fatherhood – the calling of a Man throughout our lives. In general, we all need to surround
The Catholic Church has much to say about fatherhood ourselves with good, faith-filled friends and acquaintances
and why as men we are ultimately called to be Fathers, who provide a community in which we can all seek to attain
whether that is spiritually or biologically. Sam Baker, the holiness of God and to find our purpose in life. That is
contributor to The Highland Gathering and founder of why a couple of us, early last year, decided to set up a men’s
Catholic Man UK and Ireland writes: group in Inverness and Dingwall. The idea was to provide
" ...we men have the inconceivably terrifying and breath- a Catholic space for men to relax and to be able to share
taking task of transmitting the reality of God’s paternity to with one another. It was also to be a space where we, as
others – specifically to the children in our care – so that they men, could talk about faith which is also why we start our
come to know who God the Father is! Through us! God has meetings with confession and Mass. It was from this group
let us loose with His paternity! We are the primary manner that the idea of a conference took shape.
by which others upon this earth come to know God the What about God’s love? We all need that; it is not specific
Father." to just one gender after all! But for lots of reasons men
Human beings require role models and if boys have had seem to find it a bit harder than women to accept it. We
poor or non-existent male role models it is no surprise that need to embrace the love our Father in heaven has for us,
they grow up with dysfunctional traits. But I am not just especially if we ourselves are fathers. The excellent retreat
speaking of crime or substance abuse. No, who teaches a Ged Farrell and the Dominican Sisters in Elgin organise
boy to love and respect his future wife if he does not see once a year for men focuses on this – The Father-heart of
this in the men in his mum’s life? Or that he needs to get God for men. These retreats show us that it is okay to drop
our guard when it comes to Jesus, that actually if we want

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