Happy Father's Day!

And remember, Dads, you are the spiritual heads of your homes. Studies show that the greatest predictor of whether children will practice the faith as adults is whether Dad, not Mom, practiced the faith. It all starts at home: around the table praying grace -- at Mass on Sunday -- in the Confession line -- saying night prayers -- praying with your kids to do their best and practice good sportsmanship before the big game, etc.

If you love your children, let them know the faith is serious to you. And may God bless you with the grace to make your home a little domestic church where God is always first. Faith doesn't just happen. If you don't give the example and the verbal encouragement, your children are likely to fall into the statistics of lapsed Catholics later on. How will you feel on Judgment Day if God shows you all the generations of lost Catholics because you failed to do your best to pass on the faith. You are that vital, Dads!

And, kids, pray for your dads because they will be accountable to God for the job they did as spiritual heads of their families. I hope many will be praying rosaries today for all dads especially your own. Happy Father's Day to my own dad and grandfathers, brother Tom, and godfather (rest in peace), my husband Larry, father of our five children, my three living brothers, and my two sons and three sons-in-law and all my father-friends. May God bless you all abundantly. A special Father's Day greeting to son Neil whose wife gave him the greatest Father's Day gift yesterday, a new baby, Joshua. May he grow up to be a warrior for the faith like his Old Testament namesake.