Because of Our Fathers

Because of Our Fathers: Twenty Three Catholics Tell How Their Fathers Led them to Christ
Tyler Rowley
Ignatius Press
San Francisco
2020
206 pages

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This is definitely one of the very best books I’ve read in recent times. It contains twenty-three short essays written by prominent Americans about the roles their fathers played in their upbringing as Catholics. Few of them were familiar names to me – I had heard of Abby Johnson, whose story is told in the film Unplanned, the writer and academic Anthony Esolen and the late Judge Anthony Scalia whose son, Fr Paul Scalia, writes of him but that was about it. 

The others include several priests, a bishop and the sons of a man who started a hot dog stand with his wife in the 1940s and went on to build a chain of diners that now has over 1,500 outlets in the USA and as many again worldwide, and a man who went from humble origins to become Chairman of the Board of one of the world’s biggest automobile companies. Those familiar with American Football will recognise the name of Matt Birk, a mega star of that sport whose team, the Baltimore Ravens won Superbowl XLVII in 2013. He, however, refused to attend the Super Bowl winners’ traditional visit to the White House because President Obama had recently said in a speech “Thank God for Planned Parenthood.” Another extraordinary essay is that by Fr Hezekias Carnazzo, a Greek Melkite priest, married with seven children! 

Every one of the twenty-three essays is a jewel in itself. Reading it was easy – it was like reading a manual of short stories, except these were all inspirational. Many of the writers came from large families who had difficulty making ends meet. Indeed, some were quite dysfunctional but in all cases the father was a hero. Running through most of them is a theme of the father visibly and seriously practising his faith, bringing the family to Mass on Sundays and often making great efforts to rise early to attend Mass on weekdays. In some cases, the father chose a career that paid less well but afforded him a better chance of spending more time with the family. Several describe happy holidays with the whole family piled into a car for a great adventure with the Dad as centre of everything. 

In the lengthy introduction (at twenty-two pages the longest chapter in the book) Tyler Rowley praises the commitment of generations of Catholics in handing on the faith while painting a sad picture of the fall-off in religious practice in recent times and pointing to statistics from a Swiss study that reveal that when the father is not a regular churchgoer (or not practising at all) there is only a tiny chance of the children growing up as practising Catholics. Curiously, the same study found that where the father is a regular churchgoer and the mother is not, much higher proportions of children grew up practising.

As I read the book, my thoughts returned to what I once heard said of Venerable Fr Patrick Peyton by a fellow Mayo man, that his vocation to the priesthood was nurtured by the sight of his father on his knees, praying. Then, near the end of the book, I encountered a few mentions of the same Fr Peyton and throughout there were several instances of similar memories. The family Rosary featured prominently in many accounts and it was pleasing (one might almost say, inevitable) that several of the families featured Irish blood. Indeed it is uplifting for us in Ireland where we are weighed down with stories of scandals on the one hand and the onslaughts from a hostile media and political class on the other to read about fellow Catholics in the USA who are proud (in the best possible way) to publicly declare themselves as Catholics and voice support for the church’s teaching.

Not surprisingly, several of the contributors in the book, and their fathers are or were prominent in the Pro Life cause over the years. Rowley himself in the Conclusion to the book cites a conversation with a young man who felt powerless in the face of his girlfriend’s decision to have an abortion as “a metaphor for modern Catholic fatherhood and our failure to protect our children.” He describes us as having been duped into losing the sense of fatherhood as part of God’s plan and though entrusted “with the duty and power to create life and mould children’s minds, fathers today no longer believe they even have a say in whether their babies live or die.”

He does, however finish on a positive note. His final paragraph reads:

The world will be reordered and saved through the Gospel. I believe this battle will be led by the kinds of fathers described in this book, but it will take legions more of them to win. May all men take up their crosses and wield the sword of fatherhood to lead, protect and educate the souls entrusted to them by God, our Father.

I recommend this book unhesitatingly.