Gift of Fatherhood

8/6/2019 Gift of Fatherhood

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Dr Stephen Milne

June 2011Third International Symposium on John Paul IIsTheology of the Body

Let the children come to me Mark 10:14



W e will consider:

� The mission of fatherhood� Fathers and fatherhood today

� The father effect on children and family life

� The importance of sexual difference

� Three truths about fatherhood in the Theology of the Body

� Blessed John Paul IIs teaching on the Parable of the

Prodigal Son



In revealing and in reliving on earth the very fatherhood of God, a man is called upon to ensure theharmonious and united development of all themembers of the family.

Blessed John Paul II, Famil iaris C onsor tio, 25



� Most children hate the loss of contact with their

fathers and often experience substantial distress,anger or self-doubt as result

� In Britain nearly a third of all children whoseparents have separated have no contact with their

fathers three years after the separation� In the USA half of all children with separated

parents have lost touch with their fathers within 10 years

The Good C hildhood Repor t







Sociological and historical analyses clearly establishthat, beyond insemination, fathering isfundamentally a social construction, with each cohortshaping its own conception of fatherhood.

M en and Famil ies, United Nations, 2011





The woman stands before the man as a mother, thesubject of the new human life that is conceived anddevelops in her, and from her is born into the world.Likewise, the mystery of man's masculinity, that is, thegenerative and fatherly meaning of his body, is alsothoroughly revealed.

Blessed John Paul II, Theology of the Body March 12

1 80



Refusal of the father... damages not only social

dynamics but the very identity of the child. Indepriving himself of this original experience of dependence and submission, the child can no longerrecognise himself as son or daughter and loses the

supreme school of education in the real... The eclipseof fatherhood directly attacks the subject's perceptionof reality, generating a deadly anxiety.

Angelo ardinal Scola, The Nu ptial M yster y, 2004



the f irst d imension of love and election, is a mystery hidden from ages in God, is a f ather ly d imension and not a "conju gal " one... the first characteristic mark of that mystery remains connected with the very

fatherhood of God.

Blessed John Paul II, Theology of the Body, September22, 1 82.



Fatherhood is intimately connected with man'scorporeality; it is the body that makes possible theopenness of the father's life toward the child, themutual belonging of both and the fecund extension of the father's life into the future. reated fatherhood is

written in the flesh: an angel is not able to become afather.

José

Granados, C ommu

nio, 200





the love for the son the love that springs from the very essence of fatherhood, in a way obliges the father to beconcerned about his sons dignity. This concern is themeasure of his love.

Blessed John Paul II, Dives in M isericor d ia, 6



I understood that the hurch had a Heart and thatthis Heart was aflame with Love. I understood thatLove alone stirred the members of the hurch to act...I understood that Love encompassed all vocations,

that Love was everything."

Saint Thérèse of Lisieux

Documents

Gift of Fatherhood