The father plays a singularly important role in the life of a family. Children need a father. Fathers have a God-given responsibility to their children.

There was a time when this seemed to be a truism. Today, that cannot be taken for granted. We live in a culture where the family is under tremendous pressure, not to say assault. Under the banner of personal freedom, more and more individuals, fathers and mothers, are walking away from their mutual responsibility to their children and leaving them to the care of either one of them or a third party. Hollywood, movies, television and sitcoms too often emphasize the single-parent family and increasingly exclude the role of the father.

In some segments of our community it has become commonplace for fathers to walk away from their responsibility to the children they have generated. What makes this all the more disconcerting is the silence on the part of so much of our society. This is construed too readily by younger people as approval.

The contrast between the dysfunctional culture that beckons us to the future and the family values that are woven into our tradition challenges us to pay more attention to family life today. We need to examine more carefully the role of father and the vocation to fatherhood with all of its joys and responsibilities.

On Aug. 15, 1989, during the 11th year of his pontificate, Pope John Paul II wrote an apostolic exhortation titled “Redemptoris Custos,” on St. Joseph and the Catholic understanding of fatherhood. Aware of the significant cultural changes in societies around the world and against the backdrop of the assault on family life, the pope holds up St. Joseph as an example for our age.

In his introduction to the exhortation on St. Joseph, the pope points out that the parallel between Joseph and the Holy Family and Joseph and the church are rooted in the mystery of the Incarnation. Just as “St. Joseph took loving care of Mary and gladly dedicated himself to Jesus Christ’s upbringing, he likewise watches over and protects Christ’s mystical body, that is, the church ...” (1).

As we begin our reflections on St. Joseph, spouse of Mary and patron of the universal church, we need to examine the relationship of the church itself to the mystery of God coming among us — the Incarnation.

In God’s eternal plan, he chose to be with us as one of us. At the Annunciation, the angel told Mary she would conceive by the Holy Spirit and bring forth a child who was to be both God and man. In the Nativity, this divine intersection of earth and heaven took place. Jesus, who was the son of Mary, was also the Son of God. “The Word became flesh and dwelt amongst us” (Jn 1:14).

Because of Mary’s role in the Incarnation, her place in the church would be equally significant. The church continues the mission and presence of Christ in the world. It, therefore, is made up of human members. Yet it is Christ who heads this body and his Holy Spirit who is its soul.

The first chapter of the apostolic exhortation on St. Joseph underscores his marriage to Mary. This is the foundation of his role in salvation history. Joseph, a son of David, was asked by God to take Mary as his wife. She was to bear a son, conceived by the Holy Spirit, whom he was to call Jesus (Mt 1:20-21).

The pope points out that the divine messenger “introduces Joseph to the mystery of Mary’s motherhood” (3) but Joseph was to have a singular role in the unfolding of the mystery of our redemption. He would join Mary in being the “first guardian of this divine mystery” (5). Together with Mary and in relation to her, he is intimately involved in this final stage of God’s revelation that takes place in Christ.

To accept all of this, Joseph, like Mary, had to be a person of faith. What strikes us when we look at the pages of Scripture and see the figure of Joseph — even if he is sketched somewhat faintly against all the other dominant figures — is his great faith.

When the angel comes to him in a dream and says to him that he is to take Mary as his wife, he never hesitates (Mt 1:24). When he has to set out with very little provision to Bethlehem, where his wife’s child will be born, he does so unflinchingly and without complaint (Lk 2:4). And when God tells him to flee with the child for its safety, his response is total and complete (Mt 2:13-14).

Joseph’s role in salvation history is linked to Mary because of Joseph’s marriage to her. The pope tells us that this marriage is the “juridical basis of his fatherhood.” While Joseph was not the natural father of Jesus, nonetheless he was spouse of the Blessed Mother and, therefore, in that capacity, he assumed responsibility for the child Jesus and for Jesus’ mother.

The apostolic exhortation refers to “the service of fatherhood” and holds up Mary’s marriage to Joseph and their relationship to each other as the starting point for our understanding of Joseph’s relationship to Jesus. “The son of Mary is also Joseph’s son by virtue of the marriage bond that unites them” (7).

In a society where family life is collapsing and our social order is unraveling the church’s teaching on the indissolubility of marriage and the obligation of parents to their children is a timely remedy.

Today we observe the spread of surrogate families and proliferation of gangs and at-risk youth who feel alienated. We experience the growing expectation that somehow the state or society is supposed to assume the responsibilities of the family. In a time like this the wisdom of the church’s teaching becomes more apparent.