Sunday, June 21, is Father’s Day. Of course it follows by several weeks the celebration of our mothers. Perhaps it seems only right and fair that we honor dad as well.

Still, there is something about this celebration that we deeply need in society and in the Church. There are many crises that we are passing through in our day. But one of them is a crisis of fatherhood.

It has often been noted that in recent decades the portrayal of fathers in the media is overwhelmingly negative. In movies and on television we are frequently shown a man tolerated by his wife and kids but not honored, out of touch with what’s modern and hip, not an accumulation of experience or wisdom.

But what really happens when fathers are not an integral part of life, faith and family?

In real life, many single mothers are heroic in their sacrifices to raise their children. Still, the studies show us that children who grow up without a father demonstrate higher rates of personal problems that result in events such as incarceration, suicide or educational challenges.

Studies and statistics detail this problem as compounded by the declining number of marriages. Young people are often cohabitating, opting for a relationship offering sexual gratification, limited commitment in case of problems, and the postponement or complete exclusion of children resulting from the union. The societal contributions by young men in the role of fathers cannot even begin to be offered in such circumstances.

There is another area where the involvement of the father is enormously important: the transmission of the faith between parents and children. Yes, of course each generation must exercise its free will to choose the faith. But the impact on the faith of children from the father in the family who embraces the faith and attends church regularly and prays with his children is exceptional. Perhaps surprisingly, even more than the faith of the mother, the father’s faith is key to the transmission of religious practice from generation to generation. As we see the declining numbers of young people (not just Catholics by any means) who are falling away from religious faith, perhaps we need to look a little wider and connect the dots.

The celebration of Father’s Day is a chance to rededicate ourselves to just how important fathers are.

Spiritually, our earthly fathers must be a reflection of God the Father. Just as God the Father is loving and providing, a good earthly father is self-sacrificing for his wife and the children. They come before his personal interests.

God the Father is also demanding of us His children. So too, doesn’t an earthly father naturally discipline and set expectations for his children? We often hear of the “fear of the Lord,” that sort of reverential desire to please God. It is natural to learn that same sort of desire not to disappoint as a motivation for excelling in a child’s relation to his or her father.

God the Father is also patient with us, giving us the time to repent, to seek forgiveness, to more completely fulfill His will. A good father exercises human patience with his children as well. The contribution of a father in his children’s lives builds over time. Children’s love for their fathers builds and grows over a lifetime.

Of course we should not idealize dads or fatherhood. That would fail to appreciate how difficult it is to be a good father. Dads are human beings and like all of us they have their weaknesses, their sins, their shortcomings. They need our prayers and our encouragement to live up to the great task that God’s plan has entrusted to them. They need, as well, our support for God’s plan for marriage so that a husband and a wife, a man and a woman each make their complementary contribution to marriage, to society, to family, to children.

We also need to consciously teach our young men to aspire to be good fathers in the future. We need to foster in them a love for chastity, respect for women and, appreciation of the beauty of marriage and of children. Above all, we need to teach them a religious outlook that helps them to see themselves in the Father of Jesus.

To all dads, a very Happy Father’s Day.