Skip to content
The Catholic Leader
  • Home
  • News
    • QLD
    • Australia
    • Regional
    • Education
    • World
    • Vatican
  • Features
  • Opinion
  • Life
    • Family
    • Relationships
    • Faith
  • Culture
  • People
  • Subscribe
  • Jobs
  • Contribute
No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • News
    • QLD
    • Australia
    • Regional
    • Education
    • World
    • Vatican
  • Features
  • Opinion
  • Life
    • Family
    • Relationships
    • Faith
  • Culture
  • People
  • Subscribe
  • Jobs
  • Contribute
No Result
View All Result
The Catholic Leader
No Result
View All Result
Home News

Fathers factor in life

byStaff writers
1 November 2014 - Updated on 1 April 2021
Reading Time: 3 mins read
AA

Urgent call: Co-authors of The Father Factor Peter O’Shea, left, and Robert Falzon at the launch of their new book in Brisbane’s Francis Rush Centre.

Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
Urgent call: Co-authors of The Father Factor Peter O’Shea, left, and Robert Falzon at the launch of their new book in Brisbane’s Francis Rush Centre.
Urgent call: Co-authors of The Father Factor Peter O’Shea, left, and Robert Falzon at the launch of their new book in Brisbane’s Francis Rush Centre.

By Paul Dobbyn

A MILLION Australian children go to bed each night without a father and more than 30 per cent of teenage boys don’t live with their biological father.

The Father Factor, a book launched in Brisbane last week, has assembled statistics and case studies to argue, at its worst, this is a social disaster.

The new book also offers a constructive way forward.

One of the book’s authors, menALIVE co-founder Robert Falzon, said evidence emerging from research he’d done with QUT’s Science and Engineering faculty Adjunct Professor Peter O’Shea had shown “the father factor is real, relevant and destiny-shaping”.

“Fathers play a major role in influencing the outcomes of people’s lives … particularly in happiness, success and health,” Mr Falzon told those gathered for the launch at the Francis Rush Centre on October 24.

“We are a country that does not have fathers, not just in homes but in every place of leadership.

“So I set about trying to find a way to wave this red flag in society and say this is a problem.”

Brisbane Archbishop Mark Coleridge, launching The Father Factor, provided thought-provoking social commentary as well as some insights into his own father’s impact on his upbringing.

“This slim volume is extremely timely and welcome,” he said.

Related Stories

Gwen has given 15,000 hours of cuddles to sick and premature babies

Helping stroke survivors earns Ozcare volunteer national recognition

Br Alan Moss remembered for a life of faith and learning

“It’s a crucial combination of heart and head.

“It’s a book which reads the state of play, the signs of the times well.

“We are living in time of enormous flux – the understanding of what it means to be human is being challenged and understanding frayed to what it means to be male and female.

“Society can’t tell you about this anymore; it’s something you’ve just got to work out; cultural osmosis is a thing of the past.”

Archbishop Coleridge said patterns of employment had changed, redefining the role of man as breadwinner.

“So the role of a father as source of authority has been redefined,” he said.

“We are at the point where many men don’t know what it means to be a father which is why I believe many are giving up trying.”

He said such trends were having theological consequences for the understanding of “God as Father”.

“This touches the very heart of what it means to be Christian and Catholic,” he said.

Mr Falzon said he had been moved by his experience of reaching some 14,000 men in various menALIVE events over 11 years to consider writing the book.

“Fatherhood didn’t just matter in the lives of these men either,” he said.

“Nearly every woman that I’ve talked to spoke significantly about the influence of their father, and the influence of the other man in their life, the biological father to their children.”

He paid tribute to co-author Professor O’Shea describing him as “the genius” who had brought a new focus to the book.

“God was good and didn’t let me run in my ideological, dreamworld approach to the method of writing the book,” he said.

“Peter said our opinions don’t matter – if we’re going to raise a subject of such significance to society we had to put our opinions aside. “And the truth did reveal itself in the evidence.”

Professor O’Shea said he found the process of researching the book “cathartic”, helping to adjust his understanding of his own father’s influence on his life.

This evidence-based approach to writing The Father Factor was important, he said.

“It’s very easy in life to do lots of things that don’t work,” he said.

“This approach helps us to adjust not only our conscious thinking processes but also our subconscious thinking processes.”

Archbishop Coleridge said the book should be used in formation in such areas as schools, seminaries and marriage preparation.

“There is a great deal in this book that I think should be required reading for seminarians,” he said.

“Because if the priesthood does not lead to spiritual fatherhood, spiritual generativity, if it’s not an experience of fathering, then inevitably it dries up.”

Mr Falzon said the archbishop must have some powers of prophecy.

“The Reverend Anthony Percy (rector of the Seminary of the Good Shepherd at Homebush, Sydney) having read the book has just bought a copy for every seminarian there,” he said.

ShareTweet
Previous Post

Love is the key to everything in life

Next Post

Popular operetta The Mikado showing in Brisbane

Staff writers

Related Posts

Gwen has given 15,000 hours of cuddles to sick and premature babies
QLD

Gwen has given 15,000 hours of cuddles to sick and premature babies

20 May 2022
Helping stroke survivors earns Ozcare volunteer national recognition
QLD

Helping stroke survivors earns Ozcare volunteer national recognition

20 May 2022
Br Alan Moss remembered for a life of faith and learning
QLD

Br Alan Moss remembered for a life of faith and learning

19 May 2022
Next Post

Popular operetta The Mikado showing in Brisbane

The contribution of Catholicism to marriage and family life

Prayer power marshalled for positive G20 outcome

Popular News

  • Angel’s Kitchen serves hot meals to the hungry in Southport

    Angel’s Kitchen serves hot meals to the hungry in Southport

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • Nationwide rosary event happening for Australia’s patroness this Saturday

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • Queensland election: The pro-life political parties committed to abortion law reforms

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • Br Alan Moss remembered for a life of faith and learning

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • Here are the stories of 10 new saints being canonised this Sunday

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
Search our job finder
No Result
View All Result

Latest News

Gwen has given 15,000 hours of cuddles to sick and premature babies
QLD

Gwen has given 15,000 hours of cuddles to sick and premature babies

by Joe Higgins
20 May 2022
0

BRISBANE grandmother Gwendoline Grant has clocked up 15,000 hours cuddling and caring for sick and premature babies...

Helping stroke survivors earns Ozcare volunteer national recognition

Helping stroke survivors earns Ozcare volunteer national recognition

20 May 2022
Br Alan Moss remembered for a life of faith and learning

Br Alan Moss remembered for a life of faith and learning

19 May 2022
Catholic relationship advisers offer five tips to look after your mental health

Nationwide rosary event happening for Australia’s patroness this Saturday

19 May 2022
Francis offers advice on politics: Seek unity, don’t get lost in conflict

Francis offers advice on politics: Seek unity, don’t get lost in conflict

19 May 2022

Never miss a story. Sign up to the Weekly Round-Up
eNewsletter now to receive headlines directly in your email.

Sign up to eNews
  • About
  • Advertise
  • Contact
  • Contribute
  • Jobs
  • Subscribe

The Catholic Leader is an Australian award-winning Catholic newspaper that has been published by the Archdiocese of Brisbane since 1929. Our journalism seeks to provide a full, accurate and balanced Catholic perspective of local, national and international news while upholding the dignity of the human person.

Copyright © All Rights Reserved The Catholic Leader
Accessibility Information | Privacy Policy | Archdiocese of Brisbane

The Catholic Leader acknowledges Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people as the First Peoples of this country and especially acknowledge the traditional owners on whose lands we live and work throughout the Catholic Archdiocese of Brisbane.

No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • News
    • QLD
    • Australia
    • Regional
    • Education
    • World
    • Vatican
  • Features
  • Opinion
  • Life
    • Family
    • Relationships
    • Faith
  • Culture
  • People
  • Subscribe
  • Jobs
  • Contribute

Copyright © All Rights Reserved The Catholic Leader

0
    0
    Your Cart
    Your cart is emptyChoose another Subscription
    Continue Shopping